Hello Reader,
One of the disadvantages of being a first-generation college student is not knowing what you don’t know. One of the advantages of being a first-generation college student is not knowing what you don’t know.
You read that right! The fact that you don’t have the necessary knowledge can work against you or in your favor depending on how you choose to approach your particular circumstance.
As a community college student, I chose to ask for help at every turn, not because it was easy but because it was necessary. That’s how I learned, integrated, and, soon, excelled.
At first, I felt fearful, doubtful, and intimidated by attending community college. After all, I was a high school dropout, a first-generation college student with a weak academic background and many personal responsibilities as a wife and the mother of three children.
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I chose to ask for help anyway. If I had any chance of making progress in my learning, I needed support and a lot of it.
Asking for help can take you from weak academic skills to excellence, from not knowing how to pay for your studies to securing financial aid and scholarships, from feeling out of place at your college to being a fully involved member of your campus community. In the process, you’ll build or strengthen other skills without even realizing it, among them confidence, communication, and resilience.
You have what it takes to achieve any level of academic progress you desire. Your willingness to ask for help, your ability to take full advantage of the resources available to you, and your consistent hard work will yield results beyond your imagination. I share how to ask help in this month’s article, Scared to Ask for Help at Community College? Here Is How to Do It.
If you find this article helpful, share it with community college students and invite them to subscribe to my newsletter.
Do you want to know more about how I went from a high-school dropout to a master’s degree? Grab a copy of my memoir, Destined: A Story of Resilience and Beating the Odds, set for release in February 2025. I would appreciate your review of it when it appears on Amazon!
Thank you for reading. Wishing you all the best.
Keep going!
Aminata Sy
Author of Destined: A Story of Resilience and Beating the Odds
