WKU’s F1rst Gen organization hosted their end-of-the-semester celebration, “F1rst Gen Win!” on Wednesday, April 24.

Cierra Waller, associate director of CITL, said F1rst Gen Win was about announcing scholarship winners, celebrating the end of the semester and first-generation college students’ wins. 

Martha Onda, freshman nursing major, was in attendance and had just heard she received a scholarship from the organization.

“It made me feel so good, because I’m not going to lie, all the school fees and all that, the scholarship can help me to buy books,” Onda said. “I am able to do Big Red Backpack next semester without worrying about where I’m going to get the money from.”

Onda expressed her love for the F1rst Gen organization and how it has made her first year on the Hill one she could have only dreamed of. 

After moving to Bowing Green in 2019 from Tanzania, Onda applied to WKU and attended an event F1rst Gen held in DSU where she was asked if she was a first-generation student.

“No one in their families ever graduated from any four-year university… the connection I first got there was ‘wow, I’m not alone in this,’” Onda said.

Onda recommended that any first-generation college student should consider joining WKU F1rst Gen.

F1rst Gen student ambassador Alyssa Fisk, junior social work major, is a first-generation college student herself, with a goal of helping other first-generation students not feel alone.

“Being an ambassador just helps me be able to make connections with others as well as helping other incoming students make those connections,” Fisk said. 

Fisk was in attendance at F1rst Gen Win and was able to help award a scholarship to Onda.

“We just awarded a scholarship to one of our participants who’s always coming to events. Being able to just see her reaction and the scholarship she won was really rewarding,” Fisk said. 

Fisk hopes that more people will become familiar with F1rst Gen and hopes that it will become more widespread across WKU’s campus.

News Reporter Kaylee Hawkins can be reached at [email protected].