Pam Gehrke, associate professor in the School of Nursing, Denise Seigart, chair of undergraduate and MN/MS nursing programs, and Jaime Sand, interim director of interprofessional education for the College of Health Sciences and associate professor and co-chair in the School of Allied Health Sciences Department of Community and Environmental Health, served as speakers for the First Forward Program on Jan. 15.
The First Forward Peer Education Program was created by Multicultural Student Services. It’s aim is to help first-generation college students develop the skills and relationships they will need to thrive throughout their postsecondary education. Through First Forward, faculty and peer educators work to familiarize students with campus culture and the resources that exist for student utilization, as well as provide special programs to help promote individual success at home, in the classroom, and on the job market.
Gehrke, Seigart, and Sand spoke primarily about being first generation college students themselves, what that experience was like, the things they learned during their first year of Undergraduate education that they wished they’d known sooner, and gave them tips on how to be successful in their pursuit of a college education.