First Scholars Semester Newsletter Fall 2018
We have reached the end of the Fall 2018 semester! The past couple of months have been filled with lots of joy, travels, new friends, and new memories made. We wanted to re-cap this semester before students left for their much earned winter break and also celebrate those that are completing their undergraduate degrees.
Congratulations to our graduating First Scholars for Fall 2018!
Tyler Aden, 2014 Cohort
Delante Madden, 2014 Cohort
Chris Sandquist, 2015 Cohort
Fall 2018 First Scholar graduate Tyler Aden!
Congratulations, Tyler!
First Scholar Fall 2018 graduate Delante Madden with First Scholars managing director Kiley Moody.
Congratulations, Delante we are so proud of you!
First Scholar Fall 2018 graduate Chris Sandquist with his family.
Congratulations, Chris!
WELCOME 2018 FIRST SCHOLARS!
We wanted to give a warm, K-State family welcome to our new First Scholars this year! We hope you have enjoyed your first semester here at K-State and that you have made many connections and life-long friends with your cohort and beyond. We know you are going to do great things as you venture into your college experiences and we are so thankful to have you join our family!
Say hello to the newest First Scholars to join our K-State family!
A huge part of the First Scholar experience is bonding with your fellow students. Here, we have Carley Oxford and Drew Mooneyham working together to move wooden logs in order to make their way across a bridge without touching the ground. Great teamwork and trust involved in order to complete the task.
The First Scholars got great bonding time in as they worked together to help each other cross the bridge that they made together. Here we can see Kayla Leduc, Arely Yanez, and Carley Oxford helping Sydney Fletcher.
September Happenings
On September 9th, we had our BBQ kickoff event for all first-generation students at the Manhattan City Park! This event was vital to have at the beginning of the semester as it was a great bonding experience to welcome the future 2022 graduating class of K-State! We would like to give special thanks to some special First Schoalrs for making it all come together wonderfully! First, First Scholars Resident Learning Assistant (RLA) Brian Mota who walked the new First-Scholars cohort to the park and got to get extra bonding time with them! And a big thank you to Brianna Jackson, Gerald Frayre, Gabby Farris, and Noah Aeillo who are the First Scholars event coordinators. They all planned out the event and did all of the amazing cooking that was happening! It’s not easy feeding around 70 hungry students. And of course, a big thank you for Kiley Moody who is the managing director for First-Scholars for keeping everyone in check and making her amazing brownie cupcakes.
2018-2019 First Scholar event coordinators cooking during the Fall 2018 kickoff BBQ event.
Pictured (left to right):
Gabbby Farris, Noah Aeillo, and Bri Jackson
Not too long after the BBQ, we had a very special baby girl born! Everyone, meet Maia Moncayo who was born on 9/17/2018. Her mother is Karina Michael-Moncayo. Karine was part of the First Scholars program and is also returning in the Spring 2019 semester to serve as the First-Generation Graduate Assistant!
These First Scholars celebrated their birthdays!
Sydney Weaver, September 3rd
Tyler Shadduck, September 9th
Lydee Brandyberry, September 11th
Abraham Rivera, September 18th
Kyle Wietharn, September 27th
October Happenings
On October 9th, First Scholars students had the opportunity to meet Eric and Deb Suder and have dinner with them at Kramer Dining Center. Students had the opportunity to talk with the Suders who have given tremendous support to not only the First Scholars program at Kansas State University but across the nation. After the dinner, the Suders were able to speak to all of the Scholars. During their speeches, the Suders gave heart-to-heart encouragement to everyone and let them know that they are fully loved and supported by them. Afterwards, the Suders gave each First Scholar a hug and wished them the best as they continue through the semester. The First Scholars program sends a big thank you to Eric Suder and Deb Suder for their continued support and love to our K-State students!
The Sophomore cohort got to do some traveling to Wichita State University as they attended the Ad Astra Conference. This took place from October 26th – 27th. The Ad Astra Conference is an annual conference that gives First-Generation students the opportunity to meet other First-Generation students from other universities, which provides a unique experience to bond with students that they can relate to one another. During the conference, students attended workshops to talk about being a First-Generation student on their campus and discuss ideas about how to better support each other.. These workshops were inclusive and allowed students to share their opinions and hear thoughts from students from other universities. In addition, the students also got to hear from keynote speaker Dr. Lindsay Romasanta who is a First-Generation student and now serves as the Director of Student Success Programs at the University of California San Diego! Dr. Romasanta spoke to students about her personal experiences going through her undergraduate, Master’s, and Ph.D. She spoke to what helped her get her to where she is today. Dr. Romasanta shared advice about making connections while in college. She emphasized the importance of going into professor office hours and focusing on doing all that you can while in college because those experiences will come back and help students in the end as they are finishing their degree and moving on to career. Big thank you to the First-Generation Graduate Assistant (Ana Parra) and First Scholars Graduate Assistant (Vanessa-Rose Turpin) for coming along with the students!
Ad Astra Conference key note speaker Dr. Lindsay Romasanta
These First Scholars celebrated their birthdays!
Alejandro Martinez, October 7th
Carley Oxford, October 13th
Gerald Frayre, October 13th
Kaitlin Gehring, October 16th
November Happenings
On November 8th, we celebrated National First-Generation Day! This was held in the K-State Student Union where we had the opportunity to have K-State faculty who are First-Generation talk about their experiences going through college as the first in their family to do so. Students were able to ask questions as they begin their journey. Thank you to Rafael Fernandez and Ana Parra and fellow students who helped create a large, green “1” to recognize all First-Generation students. Students were invited to sign the one and say why they are proud to be a First-Generation student at K-State.
First Scholar, Bri Jackson, next to the green #1 sign to showcase why she is proud to be a First-Generation student.
A panel of K-State faculty who are First-Generation speaking about their experiences and giving advice to fellow K-State students about how to navigate and get the most out of college.
Happy birthday to these First Scholars!
Katie Arpin, November 2nd
Bri Jackson, November 4th
Jasmine Williams, November 18th
Natalia Rodriguez, November 20th
December Happenings
On Sunday, December 2nd, we had our end of the semester celebration for students! It was held in the Frith Community Center and featured a popcorn bar and cookie decorating for students to de-stress before they begin studying for their finals. We also had some gift exchanges and saran wrapped prizes that students had to use oven mitts to unwrap in order to get a prize. Thank you to everyone who came to the event and were able to celebrate the end of the Fall 2018 semester! We hope you all enjoy your break and wish you all safe travels back home for the holidays!
And a special happy birthday to these First Scholars!
Jacqueline Ayala, December 2nd
Sydney Fletcher, December 3rd
Kamber Schulze, December 22nd
Sami Mooneyham, December 30th
From our First Scholars family to you and yours; Happy Holidays!
