刚开始的几个月很难熬。 直到我找到了一个社区，找到了朋友，事情才变得简单了一些。

作为第一代学生，挑战我的是14年后重返课堂。 我高中毕业了，20天后我进入了海军新兵训练营。

这是一个不同类型的动物回来后，在现实世界中，生活在国外，并在军队服役。

Coming from a small high school where you knew everyone, then going to college with a hundred-plus students in the classroom — you don't know anyone, and nobody knows you.

我对大学有了一个全面的了解。 But knowing what the role of an advisor is, and why I need to see an advisor often, learning about resources like the library — those were all foreign to me because I didn’t have anybody at home to talk to me about what to expect.

A lot of people feel like if they don’t have anyone in the household or anyone who’s been in school, then they can’t excel or do what their relatives before them haven’t — and that’s just not the case.

I remember at first having that impostor syndrome, where I felt like everybody else knows what they’re doing — I don’t. And then realizing later on that that’s normal, and that having confidence and saying, “I can do this. I know what I’m doing,” makes a difference.

要知道你并不孤单。 如果你觉得没人能理解你的感受，那么一定会有人和你有同样的感受。

Even if you feel like you don’t belong here — you really do belong here. 这里的人关心你，希望你成功。

Really harness your strengths to find out what you’re good at. 那就去吧。 Find where you excel and what you’re passionate about. 这会让你更容易成功，让你的人生之路更加美好。

If you can find a buddy at the institution — whether it’s a student, faculty member, or staff member — that can help guide you, that’s very helpful.

联系s and friends I made — I would’ve never met anyone from Nigeria. 然而我有一个来自尼日利亚的同学，我们成为了好朋友。 That’s still a special memory for me.

尽可能向任何人和所有人伸出援手。 参加培训，参与博彩平台活动，找一个可以结识朋友的俱乐部或组织。

对课程、项目和学校做出承诺。 Because if you don’t put your whole heart into it, you’re not going to get everything out of it that’s there for you to acquire.

你必须在课堂上自如地提问。 You can’t be afraid to let someone know that you might be struggling.

We have so many resources — from free tutoring, to mentoring, to the personnel in the library, to gas cards and food certificates. 我们有很多东西可以帮助你度过难关，从你的基本身体需求到你的学术需求。

Once I finished college and graduation came, it was like the entire family celebrated — grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins...

我有三个孩子，他们都长大成人了。 All three of them have their master’s degrees. I don’t think they would have ever done that had I not gone to college and been able to help them along the way.

博彩平台，对于我的孩子，我对他们的期望和我父母对我的期望有点不同。 I’ll be able to support them in a different way than my parents were able to.

作为第一代学生对我的家庭来说意味着一切。 这是我获得就业机会的一步。 但对我来说，这也是影响儿子的一步。

It was really incredible to see how not only my success was impacted by my achievement, but my entire family’s success and story was also impacted.