Elon senior Carlos Gomez Lopez was first introduced to Elon University in ninth grade, when his teachers encouraged him to apply for Elon Academy, a college access program offered to Alamance County high schoolers. Students stay on Elon’s campus for three weeks during the summer, living in residence halls, eating in dining halls and meeting members of Elon’s staff.
Gomez Lopez said the program helped him become familiar with the school and was one of the reasons he chose to be a student at Elon.
Since his freshman year, Gomez Lopez has been involved in multiple organizations on campus, such as being a student coordinator for El Centro, a hub for students to engage with Latin American cultures. He is also vice president of the Latinx-Hispanic Union and a mentor for high school students in the Elon Academy program.
Sophomore Andres Roldan Alvarado was not as familiar with Elon when he submitted his application during his senior year of high school. After attending Phoenix Fusion, an event for admitted high school seniors to stay on campus, Roldan Alvarado said he felt Elon was the school for him. He is also a student coordinator for El Centro, an Elon Academy mentor and one of the co-founders of the Alpha Association of Latino Professionals for America.
Both students came to Elon through different paths, and have been involved in different organizations at Elon. This involvement also extends to the first-generation community on campus. Elon considers students first-generation if neither of their parents earned a four-year bachelor’s degree.
Last year, Gomez Lopez was part of the First Phoenix Living-Learning Community. An LLC allows students with similar interests or backgrounds to live with one another and participate in specialized floor activities. First Phoenix is made up of first-generation students.
“I was part of the first cohort to ever live on that as part of the LLC, and I feel like there’s a lot of support there,” Gomez Lopez said. “Because I was an older student, I was part of the mentorship program that was implemented on the floor. So I was assigned a first-year student, and we would just check in every month.”
Roldan Alvarado said he became familiar with the first-generation community on campus when he met Kenneth Brown Jr., the assistant director of first-generation student support services, during the Phoenix Fusion weekend.
Roldan Alvarado said Brown is a constant figure in the Odyssey lounge and in the Center for Access and Success in Mooney.
“It’s great,” Roldan Alvarado said. “Knowing that you go to a little space, maybe you’re not feeling the best, but then Kenny comes in, ‘Hey, how you doing?’ He just makes it all better.”
Gomez Lopez has shared similar experiences with Brown, who encouraged him to apply to live in the First Phoenix LLC.
“I remember I was really put on through Kenny, just because I would just frequently come in just to talk about life, and that was one of the moments where I just came in stressing about housing, and he just recommended the program to me, and ended up working out and I’m glad I went through with it,” Gomez Lopez said.
Brown said he sees himself as a connector for students on campus.
“Whenever I’m talking to people about my job and the types of things I do, I tell people that I’m building a stronger first-generation community,” Brown said. “Which expands from things like our mentorship program and organizing that, connecting students to students, students to faculty and staff, our major first-gen celebrations.”
While Brown’s role deals with planning events, facilitating the first-generation mentorship program and advising the First Phoenix LLC, he said he spends most of his time forming connections with students to better support them.
“Lots of my time is just forming relationships with students and hearing about what is going well for them, also what’s not going well, and how might we work together to solve any issues that they have, whether it’s academic, social, professional,” Brown said. “Then also, who are the people in the places on campus that might be available to them to help be a bridge for them with whatever situation that they might be facing.”