Because the first-generation identity represented a particular knowledge gap for the Office of Institutional Diversity, and because we had only heard the metanarrative of success as told by UGA and the OID, we chose to focus our research on the voices and stories of the students themselves. Informed by class readings and discussions on ethnographic research methods and ethics, we decided that in-depth interviews and photography would allow us to best capture the lived experiences of first-generation UGA students.

​

We disseminated information about our project through departmental listserv emails, student group message forums, and informal exchanges with friends. We also used a Google Form to collect the contact information of interested students and used this information to schedule interviews. In total, we conducted interviews with 17 participants either in person or on the phone, and two of our group members submitted written reflections on their own experiences as first-generation students. We approached each of our interviewees with openness about our project, as students interviewing students. Those of us who are first-generation students ourselves attempted to keep our own opinions out of the project, but some of us did participate as interviewers as well as interviewees. The group members who identify as first-generation students also participated in mock self-interviews in order to assess the effectiveness and delivery of our interview protocol. A majority of our interviewees were our friends or acquaintances; we hope that this provided the participants with a more relaxed atmosphere where they felt they could be open and honest about their experiences. 

​

Over the course of the interviewing process, each of us gained substantial insight into the lived experiences of our participants. For many, family, culture, and heritage made them feel simultaneously driven and alienated. Many of the students also felt alone in their college experiences, given their dissimilar backgrounds compared to the majority of their peers. We also found that these students and their families encounter significant obstacles in their paths to success both on and off campus. As a result of their first-generation status, many of the participants lacked the cultural capital required to navigate college life, including financial aid, course preferences, housing, Greek life, etc.

​

We selected the structure and content of our presentation with the intention of amplifying the voices of the first-generation students that we interviewed. We included headshots of the participants in a gallery format to make all of them collectively visible, hoping to convey that there is not one single face or experience of first-generation students. On our “Stories” page, we chose to focus on the three most salient themes that emerged from our interviews: definitions of success, barriers to success, and support systems. We also used audio clips from our interviews to make our participants’ voices heard and to add a human element to their stories. We also included family photos submitted by our participants in order to reflect the significance of family in many of their narratives. 

 

In assembling and sharing this multimedia story collection, we intended to shed light on the lived experiences of first-generation students at UGA, and to explore how their unique circumstances have shaped their paths to success. We hope that our findings will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of first-generation identity and inform future policy decisions at UGA and beyond. In closing, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to all of our participants, who generously shared their time and their experiences with us. We could not have completed this project without them, and we hope that our work has done their stories justice.

​

The audio clips used in this project represent a small sample of the stories shared by our participants. To hear the full, unedited interviews, click here.