My name is Keila Garcia, I attended Friends University and graduated with a BA in communications with an emphasis in media studies in 2019. I am a first-gen, so that was a very big deal and very exciting. I was in college for 5 years, so it was a big feat but you know we did it. I decided to go to college, and pursue journalism because it was something I have always been passionate about. I was like if I am going to do this whole first-gen thing and really go for it, then I am going to go all in. I had worked towards being a reporter and thankfully during my time in undergrad I had gotten a job at a local news station. And I was like ‘oh my gosh’, this is it. And I hated it. Or I just realized it wasn’t what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I decided to change my career path, and now I have been doing marketing since 2019 and I really enjoy it.

What is some advice you wish you had known? 

I think one of the biggest things that I learned trying to just navigate life, I feel like as a first-gen it can be really hard to just realize that you don’t really have a point of reference in regard to like having a role model that’s within your community. If you’re a first-gen then you know, you are setting the example of what it looks like to be first-gen and kind of setting those milestones of accomplishments and that’s really intimidating, and I think a piece of advice that I wish I would have had was ask for help. You know you don’t have to carry all this all by yourself, You don’t have to have it all figured out. You don’t have to figure out all the answers by yourself. And I think unfortunately, my entire undergrad and first-gen experience, I was really bad at asking for help. It’s different now, you know I’m not afraid to ask questions or for help when I need it. I think that first-gen becomes a little bit of your identity, because you are setting that example of what does success mean to me, what does it mean to accomplish certain goals, and really setting examples for other students, whether it’s students or first-gen, or whoever you know, just your peers. So I think that is the one piece of advice that I wish someone really just would have continued to remind me, like ‘hey ask for help when you need it and that’s what we’re here for’. 

What is something you struggled with, but overcame? 

I think it goes back a little bit to not having that point of reference. I feel like any time I did struggle, whether it was in a class, you know academically, or even financially. I feel like a lot of people don’t talk about that because it is such a sensitive topic. I think those are some areas that I struggled with, of not really knowing how to navigate the financial aspect of getting myself through college. Having a mentor to kind of help me through my education and guide me whenever I did struggle with a class. There is just a lot of pressure on first-gen, and I think a lot of that comes from ourselves, like I said. I don’t think anyone is holding this expectation of you have to be amazing all the time, or you have to give 100% of you all the time. I think because again, we don’t have a point of reference and we’re really setting an example for ourselves and for our families, we are going to struggle in so many different capacities. Whether it’s financially, academically, emotionally and mentally, I mean just putting so much pressure on yourself, so I think I had to learn slowly how to navigate all that. I will say you’re not going to have it figured out during your college career, you’re just not, and that’s okay. I think just give yourself grace because  you will get it figured out, it just takes time. 

How did you take care of your mental health during college? 

To be completely transparent, I mean I don’t think I took care of my mental health. Again because I just feel like as a first-gen, like we have this weird expectation of ourselves of you have to be perfect all the time, you have to be the example. And it’s just not realistic and it’s not obtainable. I really wish I would’ve reminded myself of that. I will say the last couple of years because you are so close to being done, they were definitely the hardest and my mental health was not in the best place, but looking back I can say there was a silver-lining because I really did have a great community of friends. So I would just say if you are trying to take care of your mental health, take care of yourself, preserve whatever sanity or health that you have left, and really surround yourself with good people because they will make a huge difference in your life. I think another thing that helped my mental health was enjoying the college experience and really immersing myself in what it was to be like a college student cause you’re only going to experience that once. And as a first-gen that is such a special thing. I can honestly say that college were the best 5 years of my life. But I really immersed myself and I went to every campus activity and I got plugged into so many different programs and so many different organizations.

What are some resources you would recommend for students? 

There were times when I thought I would have to drop out of college because I thought I couldn’t afford it. I ended up just going to a counslor and talking with financial aid and they were incredible and were like ‘okay yeah, here’s where we can help you”. You know I think organizations like the Hispanic Scholarship Foundation is incredible. We have a local organization here in town called Kansas Hispanic Education & Development Foundation and I think it’s definitely overlooked you know. They’re incredible and they are doing great work. They are a perfect example of the community really rallying for first-gen and really giving them the opportunity without them having to over-extended themselves and feeling like they have to do it by themselves. So resources like that, just plugging into your community. There are a lot of resources locally that you can reach out to, nationally as well. Again, I think it just goes back to asking those questions and asking for help.