ASU first-generation student success program featured on PBS

“About 40 percent of Arizona State University’s undergraduates are first-generation students,” said Laurie Mook in a recent interview. First-generation students come from families where neither parents completed a four-year college degree.

Mook, assistant professor in the School of Community Resources and Development, and Lindsay Romasanta, assistant director for the ASU First-Year Success Center, were interviewed on the PBS Channel 8 program Horizonte about ASU’s First Generation Pathway to Success (1GPS) program.

“ASU is committed to making sure students succeed,” Romasanta told host José Cárdenas. She described a freshman class in which about one in three were the first in their families to go to college, and about one in four came from low-income families.

The 1GPS program provides support and a sense of belonging by linking undergraduate students with mentors and role models to help them navigate the university system. It also emphasizes the benefits and opportunities of advancing to graduate school.

Written by Lizzy Ackerman