On November 10 at 11 a.m., Tiffin University will honor students who are first in their families to attend college. The event, First-Gen and a Friend, coincides with National First-Generation College Celebration Day, an initiative of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Suder Foundation. The event will be held in Osceola Theatre, and is free and open to the public.
The celebration will feature a panel of former first-generation TU students and faculty members. The group will share words of wisdom and advice with attendees. Chari Mullen, class of 2006 and 2010, will be the keynote speaker. Mullen is the Director of Diversity and Inclusion for the City of Fremont and is a Ph.D. student at Walden University.
Members of the panel include:
- Jessica Palmer (`20), School-based Mental Health Therapist at National Youth Advocate Program
- Professor Nicholas Reinhard (Heidelberg University ’08), Assistant Professor of Social Sciences at Tiffin University
- Richie Fox (`16 and `18), Commercial Finance Manager for Whirlpool Corporation
- William D. Stinchcomb, LPCC-S, CDCA (`07), Director of Clinical and Supportive Services at LSS Health Center
- Betsy Linton (`08), Supervisor of Accounting for Cardinal Health
- Derek Thomas (`97), District Parts Manager at Hino Trucks
- Mitchell Kramer (`21), Law Student at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law
“This is our third year hosting festivities for National First-Generation College Student Day and each year, our celebrations gather more people. Being the first in your family to do anything is an accomplishment, but being the first in your family to go to college is breaking barriers for generations to come. This day is all about celebrating student success so that they know how proud we are of them and how fortunate we are to have them on our campus,” said Dr. Kylie Skeel, founder and faculty advisor of the First-Generation Dragons campus club.
To learn more about NASPA and the history of the national holiday, visit firstgen.naspa.org/engagement/first-generation-college-celebration.
To support TU’s first-generation student scholarship, please consider donating at: crowdfund.tiffin.edu/project/38250/wall.
For more information about the event, contact Dr. Kylie Skeel at 419.448.5868 or skeelk@tiffin.edu.