In these "Meet the Host" episodes, each of our current hosts will introduce themselves and share with our audience a little about their own personal first-gen stories. 

In this episode, you’ll hear how a local scholarship program, called the George Washington Gale Scholars, helped Cody discover that he was a First Generation student and helped him pay for his college degrees at Carl Sandburg College and Knox College. You’ll also hear about the highs and lows of his college experience and how a post-college experience helped lead him to his eventual career as a Postsecondary School Counselor. He takes all of the lessons he has learned along the way and uses those to assist the next generation of first gen students and help them find career clarity and success. 

In this episode, Luz chats with fellow first generation college students about their approach to financing their college education with scholarships and some of the tips they offer to help students with finding and applying to scholarships as well as additional benefits that can come from the scholarship application process.

Guests: High School - Mohamed; College - Jennifer; Graduate School - Heather 

In this episode, Norma chats with two first generation college students (Arturo and Denise) about the complexity associated with being a first gen undocumented student and what DACA meant for both of them. Check out our website  for more resources!

In this episode, Cody chats with 3 fellow first-gens who highlight their experiences of completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and navigating the financial aid process for college.

In this episode, Dan chats with 3 fellow first-gens who highlight their experiences when taking a leave of absence or when deferring graduate school for a year.

In this episode Joseph chats with fellow first gen Jessica, who has been working through a work study job on top of an additional clinical job to both get experience in the field of medicine to prepare her for applying to med school and to help her fund her educational expenses so she doesn’t have to ask her parents for money.

In this episode, Luz chats with a fellow first generation college grad Mr. John about his experience as an immigrant, figuring out college during the 70s, his journey post college, and his thoughts of seeing his own daughters go to college as a first-gen turned parent.

In this episode Norma chats with fellow first gen and friend Tiffany, who moved to Houston for college and eventually made her way to Northern Ireland where she has been transforming the coffee in her village with her own coffee and bunk house business.

In honor of National First Generation College Students Day on November 8, in this episode, our four How to College: First Gen founders (Norma, Luz, Mijin, and Joseph) have a conversation about what it means to be first-gen, why this podcast was started, and some fun facts to get to know each other.

In this episode, Norma chats with fellow first generation students on some of the gaps they observed at their schools and how by becoming self-starters and innovators they have been able to leave behind a legacy.