January 11, 2011

Honors student develops strategies for success for 1st generation college students

Lindsey Weber ’11 welcomed high school seniors from Blackstone Academy to campus last week to experience a mock class and learn about college life.

Not long after a group of 30 high school seniors from Central Fall and Pawtucket settled into chairs in a lecture hall on the Bryant campus last week, Lindsey Weber ’11 told them, “Today, you are being treated as college students.”

She organized the visit to campus for the students from Blackstone Academy, a Pawtucket, RI-based charter school, as part of her Honors Senior Capstone project exploring the challenges faced by first-generation college students. The trip to Bryant was one of six sessions she is conducting with the students. Her goal is to alleviate some of the stress the students may have regarding their transition to college. (Learn more about the Blackstone Academy.)

As part of the day on campus, the high schools students participated in a mock class and learned about the resources that would be available to them through the Academic Center for Excellence and the Douglas and Judith Krupp Library.

“Being a first-generation college student myself, I know the challenges that these students are facing,” says Weber, whose project is titled: “The Development of Strategies for Success in College Among First-Generation College Students: An Examination of a Focused Intervention. “I hope they saw that college is not a scary place but a fun and enriching environment that facilitates student growth.”

Education as a social institution

An applied psychology and sociology and social research double concentrator, Weber’s research developed from her interest in education as a social institution.

“While education is supposed to be ‘the great equalizer,’ there are many student populations that are not adequately served in higher education, first-generation and minority students being examples,” she says.

During the mock class, Associate Sociology Professor Sandra Enos posed a quandary to the students. In a class of 30, two students would receive As and all of the remaining students would receive Cs. In another instance, all the students, regardless of how hard they worked, would receive Bs. Enos asked in which situation they would work harder.

The goal with any reward system, Enos explained, is to reward hard work, while ensuring that achieving success is not so difficult that people get discouraged. She finished by asking the students what they thought was a better indicator of educational success: effort, quality of a school, or parent’s income and education level, which is an issue at the crux of Weber’s study.

“As I read the current research on this topic, I am learning that public education is not meeting the needs of all of our youth,” explains Weber. “We are sending mixed signals telling them that their futures are in their hands, while simultaneously tying their hands behind their backs.”

‘High achiever, hard worker’

After participating in the mock class, the students visited the Academic Center for Excellence and the Douglas and Judith Krupp Library to learn about the services and support that would be available to them as college students. “The resources are available,” explains Weber. “You must take the initiative to seek out the help.”

At the beginning of the session, Bryant President Ronald K. Machtley told the students that college transforms people. “You have to decide that you are not going to let barriers get in your way,” he stressed.  

During a lunch panel discussion, Shontay Delalue King, director of the Intercultural Center, told the students that programs like 4MILE provide students a foundation for success. “The sky is the limit for you whether or not someone in your family has gone to college,” she says.

Through the project, Weber says she is learning firsthand the challenges of being an instructor. “I am constantly thinking of ways to increase engagement and motivation when I visit the students,” she says “I also realized how much I truly enjoy working with students, and I am confident that my true passion is education,” says Weber.

Enos, who is serving as faculty sponsor for Weber’s research, praised her work. “Lindsey is one of our best students,” says Enos. “She is a high achiever, hard worker, and she cares about the community.”