Northwest Missouri State University’s admissions and student success unit is partnering with TRIO and Student Senate to host a campus-wide celebration of first-generation students Monday, Nov. 8.

The event, which is free and open to the public, starts at 3 p.m. in the J.W. Jones Student Union Living Room.

Students are invited to sign banners in the Student Union, and the first 150 participants to attend the event will receive hot cocoa bars in first-gen cocoa cups. Other participation raffles include care baskets sponsored by Student Senate and a first-gen $250 scholarship sponsored by the Office of Scholarships and Financial Assistance. Students are entered in the raffle by attending the Monday event.

“The percentage of first-generation students attending Northwest has increased in recent years – something we are thrilled to see,” Dr. Allison Hoffmann, Northwest’s assistant vice president of admissions and student success, said. “Northwest departments, schools and units are working collaboratively to ensure our first-generation students have the necessary support resources to retain, persist and graduate.”

As part of the University’s focus on first-generation students, the University Seminar program is piloting three sections this fall for new students that self-identify as first-generation. The sections are taught by first-generation faculty and staff and support the successful transition and mentorship of first-generation students.

At Northwest, 36 percent of undergraduates are first-generation students, and 42 percent of the University’s first-time freshmen this fall identify as first-generation college students. Students are first-generation college students if their parents or legal guardians did not graduate from a four-year college or university.

Northwest’s celebration coincides with a nationwide initiative sponsored by the Council for Opportunity for Education and the Center for First-generation Student Success to recognize first-generation students. Their fifth annual First-Generation College Celebration marks the 56th anniversary of the signing of the 1965 Higher Education Act, which has helped millions of people become the first members of their families to earn college degrees. To learn more, visit https://firstgen.naspa.org/.