It is hard going away to college with the times of homesickness and trying to get adjusted to college life. It is slightly more difficult for first generation college students because they have no one to tell them what college life is about.
In fact, most first generation college students are not sure how to apply for financial aid or what to expect once they arrive on campus. In fact, Shania Guy, a first year (and first generation) student, says that she expected mean girls and rude people, but instead, when she arrived on Salem’s campus, she received nothing but love and “instead I felt right at home when I was greeted by nice people”. Shania decided, like many other students who attend Salem, she “needed a change of an atmosphere” and that Salem could provide and foster that positive change in her life.
Shania is also a part of the Salem Firsts, a program that offers mentoring from upperclassmen to first year, first generation students like her, to insure that she is adjusting to college life well. Her mentor serves to answer any questions she may have and to provide her with guidance and a venting space. Shania, like many of the other students at Salem, says that she feels very included in all of the events that she has participated in and she feels, as a first generation student, she has “smoothly transitioned from high school to college”.
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