River Hawk Scholars Academy Offers Support in Achieving Success
Image by Tory Wesnofske
11/12/2020
Contacts for media: Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664 or Christine_Gillette@uml.edu and Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell joined institutions around the country this week in celebrating First Generation College Student Day, recognizing the importance of supporting this population in achieving academic success.
While such support exists across the university, UMass Lowell’s River Hawk Scholars Academy (RHSA) brings a range of services together for first-generation students, from academic advising and mentoring to events and programs.
When Emily Crespo joined the RHSA three years ago, the first-generation college student from East Boston was just looking for some extra help in navigating her transition to college. That’s what the RHSA offered.
But Crespo, now a senior double-majoring in English and music composition, found so much more, from close friendships to guidance on living on campus. “I felt that love and companionship. I call it the RHSA family,” Crespo said.
The nonprofit Center for First-Generation Student Success, which encourages institutions to celebrate First Generation College Student Day, recognized UMass Lowell as a model for other colleges and universities across the U.S., designating the university as a First-Gen Forward Advisory Institution for the 2020-21 academic year.
“This university has always welcomed first-generation college students, but today they face even greater challenges, so we are increasing our efforts to provide them with the support and resources they need to succeed and excel,” said Julie Nash, vice provost for student success. “We’re pleased that the Center for First-Generation Student Success has recognized our efforts and we're honored to serve as a model for other institutions.”
On Monday, Nov. 9, the university held the First Gen Week@UMass Lowell Celebration, the finale of a series of virtual events uniting RHSA participants and others from the campus community with shared stories of persistence, strength and hope. UMass Lowell students, campus leaders and faculty participated in the event. The program was followed by the first induction ceremony for the new UMass Lowell chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha, a national honor society for first-generation college students.
More than 100 students were inducted into the new chapter. To be eligible, students were required to have earned at least 30 credits toward their bachelor’s degree, have at least a 3.2 grade-point average and be a first-generation college student.
When Crespo joined in fall 2017, the RHSA was a pilot program that attracted nearly 100 first-year students. The following year, the academy expanded its offerings to include a special orientation introducing participating students to campus resources, along with more events and programs.
In just four years, the RHSA has expanded dramatically and now serves more than 300 first-year students annually across all six of UMass Lowell’s schools and colleges. Mentoring programs connect students one-on-one with faculty, staff members and adults in the workforce who share their experience as first-generation college students.
Multiple sections of the required first-year writing courses, College Writing I and II, cater specifically to RHSA students, said Matthew Hurwitz, RHSA director and an associate teaching professor of English.
But the heart of the RHSA’s success is the peer-to-peer mentoring system through which RHSA “graduates” serve as mentors for first-year students, helping them get to know each other and the university, Hurwitz said.
While many of this year’s new entrants to the RHSA are studying online and living at home, peer leaders are holding one-on-one virtual meetings with first-year students, too, Hurwitz said.
“We’re trying to focus on building up relationships of trust among our peer leaders and new first-year students, and also trying to connect them with faculty,” he said.
First-year student Tien Pham of Boston, who is exploring different majors, said he feels connected with his peer leader and the other RHSA students in his group. He’s also learning more about resources offered by UMass Lowell by attending events that the RHSA promotes, including workshops with the Career and Co-op Center.
“I’ve gotten a sense of community out of it,” he said. “It actually gives me a lot of comfort knowing that there are a lot of other people like me and that there are RHSA-specific classes that I can take.”
Monica Kong of Dracut, a junior majoring in public health, mentored 18 health sciences students last year and is peer leader to another 12 this year. She loves the job and her connections with faculty and staff.
“I really want to be the type of person I needed when I first came to college; someone they can relate to and talk with and not be too formal with, like a big sister,” she said. “And the faculty members, I’m inspired by them. It’s a nice, big community. We all like to help each other out and support each other.”
For the first time, every college has designated faculty advocates this year. They will work with River Hawk Scholars to build their support networks and help them learn about all of the different opportunities available on campus, including academic and career pathways; research with faculty; internships, service learning and co-ops; and bachelor’s-to-master’s programs, Hurwitz said.
Gifty Kessie, a sophomore mechanical engineering major from Worcester, describes herself as shy, but said that the RHSA has helped her gain confidence in asking professors for help when she needs it.
Kessie said that her peer leader pushed her to step outside her comfort zone. She did, in part by joining several campus organizations, including the National Society of Black Engineers and the Association of Students of African Origin. Now she’s an RHSA peer leader herself as well as a student ambassador for the Francis College of Engineering.
“I learned to never say ‘No’ to any opportunity that comes my way,” she said.
Yahayra Michel, a UMass Lowell graduate who is now an assistant teaching professor of criminal justice, was a first-generation college graduate herself. Now she mentors RHSA peer leaders. She says Kessie’s feelings are common among first-generation students.
“They are all absolutely amazing. They’re so resilient, and so good, and so hard on themselves, so a lot of the work that we do is to contextualize their achievements,” Michel said. “We mentor them in the way that we want to see them mentor their peers.”
UMass Lowell is a national research university offering its more than 18,000 students bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in business, education, engineering, fine arts, health, humanities, sciences and social sciences. UMass Lowell delivers high-quality educational programs and personal attention from leading faculty and staff, all of which prepare graduates to be leaders in their communities and around the globe. www.uml.edu