Leaving her home and family in San Antonio, Margarita Avila moved to Austin College in the north Texas city of Sherman to make her place. She chose the school for its esteemed teacher program, where a student can complete a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and a Texas teaching certification in only five years. She is the first in her family to attend college, and for that, and many other reasons, they are so proud of her.

There are many firsts for college students, and it’s not uncommon for failure to be one of them. So, despite her successful academic background and extracurricular experience, she felt ill-equipped at first. It was especially disconcerting for Margarita as she carried her own hopes and the pride of her family on her shoulders as a first-generation college student.

“For us, family is everything. You treat your family with respect. You love and you care for them,” Margarita says of her close-knit, Hispanic family. “We try hard not to hurt each other’s feelings. We show up for the events they invite us to and have a good time with each other.”

Austin College is a private, liberal arts school on the threshold of its 175th anniversary. Decades of Texas history have unfolded across the state and around the campus. Despite wide swings between economic crisis and favor, changing expectations about who is educated and how, and job markets that may or may not have been favorable, Austin College continues to move forward—like a family.

Of the 1,184 students at Austin College for the 2022-2023 academic year, Hispanics make up the second-largest ethnic group with 26%, following whites at 49%. For a private liberal arts school, it is a notable and favorable demographic. Still, it is not San Antonio, where 89.9% of the San Antonio Independent School District are Hispanic/Latino, as reported by U.S. News and World Report. Margarita felt that difference right away.

At her high school counselor’s urging, Margarita visited the school on a field trip organized by the San Antonio Independent School District. “I said, ‘OK, let’s go and see.’ And, when I came, I thought, ‘Wow! I want to be here,’” Margarita said. “I knew I didn’t want to go to a big college. There are a lot of people there, and I get overwhelmed. Our tour guide said that there were a lot smaller classes and professors would get to know you more and can help you out. It was appealing to me."

Baylee Kowert, vice president for institutional enrollment, says it’s much more than the size that makes Austin College so appealing. “The sense of home and belonging provides a similar environment that our Hispanic students have grown up with,” she said. “Our campus community is built around students engaging with each other, almost as a second family, and that additional support allows all students to find their voice and success at Austin College.”

In fall 2021, the excitement and novelty of college waned for Margarita as she came face to face with the reality of being far from home. “I think I was two-to-three weeks in when I realized—I am by myself. I did not expect to get as homesick as I did,” she said. She missed her brother’s ballgame; she missed hanging out with family. She missed carving pumpkins. “It was like ‘ouch, they did it without me,’” she said. “It was a weird feeling to be left out.”

So, missing home and taking on rigorous academics while also being very reserved added up to a new and unexpected reality. Margarita was not doing so well. She was at a crossroads to turn it around or give up.

The First-Gen Student program at Austin College supports students who find themselves in this exact situation. Through intentional programming designed to help them navigate the transition to college, the structure looks a lot like a family as students are invited to regularly gather over meals and conversations. They discuss specific topics such as imposter syndrome, how to have difficult conversations, and how to celebrate success far from home. Resources on the college website, such as a glossary of terms, help students and their parents learn common higher education words and phrases and orient them to institutional terms and acronyms.

The Center for Student Success and Access Services (CSSAS) administers the First-Gen program and is directed by Traci Howard Moore. CSSAS includes professionals working for all students, with special programming for not only first-gen but also student-athletes and those needing academic accommodation. The Center is also part of an organized system between health services, counseling services, academic tutoring, and career services that help address the specific needs of all students at the college.

Facing her situation, one evening, Margarita found the courage to attend a First-Gen dinner. She went by herself, but she learned she was not alone when she met Traci for the first time. They began meeting regularly and working through Margarita’s strongholds, both academic and non-academic.

"In the CSSAS we work individually with students to provide holistic coaching tailored to a student’s specific needs and their family’s needs,” Traci says. “We want students to see that being a first-generation college student does not mean they come to the table with nothing to offer. Their lived experiences, skills, and talents can serve to benefit them in college. Our goal is to help them learn how to apply these to this new environment in a way that helps them find success,” she says.

Margarita says her biggest win was learning how to find resources. “I was really able to progress on finding answers,” she says. “Before, if I were stuck, I would just sit there and try to figure it out all by myself. But after a while, I realized I could go to my mentor, to Traci, to the writing center. I was learning about all these other places and people that could help me.”

Traci says, “Her success story is evidenced by her transcripts, but her experience  pushing past the first-year barriers is about so much more than that. She had to overcome non-academic barriers such as lack of confidence and fear. She still has strategies to work on, but she is definitely on the right track.”

“I was able to meet and have breakfast with her parents when they came to pick her up at the end of the year. I told them how proud I was of Margarita. They were so overwhelmed with pride and joy. She truly represents their dream for future generations,” Traci said.

Margarita is now a sophomore with a dream to be a high school teacher. She often thinks of her future students. “Throughout high school, my teachers would tell me college is hard; professors aren’t going to care about you. I get here to Austin College, and that’s not it. When I get to my first classroom, I will let them know that yes, it’s going to be difficult. But there is a way to succeed.”