Thread by @drannamvaldez

I’ll share my #firstgen story. I did not even consider college because I did not think I would be “eligible” even though I did well in high school. No counselor every talked to me about college. I think it was because I was poor and had worked in high school 1/

https://twitter.com/saragoldrickrab/status/1365084949674659843

I got pregnant at 16 and was told “I would never be anything”. I dropped out of HS in my junior year and had my daughter at 17. I had no idea how I could support her. 2/

When I was pregnant I saw a newspaper story about the local LVN program. The story said most of the graduates were poor, first gen, minoritized ppl. There was a photo of the class. They were my ppl. 3/

I thought I could do this too. These were young ppl like me and the newspaper said they made a livable wage after graduation. It would be enough to feed my daughter. 4/

I went to the community college and had no idea where to go or who to talk to for help. Luckily, a kind counselor showed me how to apply and guided me to financial aid. They also told me I should be an RN. It was only one more semester so I said okay. 5/

I did not know how to do a FAFSA but there was a 1 page fee waiver so I could register. I started school at 17 with an 8 week old and no childcare. Some professors let me bring my baby to class. 6/

I took out loans so I would not starve. No exaggeration here. I did not understand what interest was or what to do with a loan. I was hungry and signed. 7/

I am lucky that I was able to make it though school. It was hard. No one had passed down generational knowledge to me about how to go to college. I had no generational wealth. I figured out scholarships were free money and learned to write a good letter though. 8/

I started with an associate degree in nursing. I had to go to work right away so I did not return to college for another 9 years. I had to work full time while I earned my BSN so I did it online at a proprietary school with a lot of debt. 9/

When I earned my BSN I had almost 200 units because I did not know what classes to take or how to petition for a course substitution. I just kept signing loans and took what I was told to take. 10/

Graduate school was not much better but by the time I got to my doctoral program I had it down. Unfortunately, I had a lot of debt and units by then. I will be paying until I can no longer work. I work two jobs. The p/t one pays my school debt. 11/

I did not have generational wealth or knowledge. I was in a little boat alone on the ocean with no map. By luck, I got to where I was headed but it was a long trip.12/

I know how hard it is to be #firstgen so I try to teach nursing students the things I did not know. Be kind and don’t assume ppl know things. How would they? 13/13