College celebrates first-generation students
When Meridian Community College Vice President for Engagement Cedric Gathings shared his story about his desire to help others and his challenges, people listened.
Gathings served as the keynote speaker for MCC’s first-Generation Celebration on Monday, Nov. 8, held in the Quave Student Life Center.
“The day is not about me. It’s about me sharing my experience with you. And my hope in the messaging today is that you can find yourself and say, ‘You know what? If he did it, I could do it, too,’” Gathings said.
He explained he dropped out of college a couple of times and returned home. “I never made a connection. I never had anyone say to me, ‘you need to go to class.’ I didn’t have anyone ask, ‘Can I help you?’”
“All I knew that this was foreign to me,” he said, adding, “I was unfamiliar with what everything college had to offer.”
But after a chance conversation with a co-worker, a college student, Dr. Gathings’ life changed, and he returned to college. “What I have learned is that I have been in a lot of situations – the first to graduate high school, the first to receive an associate degree, the first in my family to get a bachelor’s degree, and I will be the first in a few months to obtain a doctorate,” he said.
Addressing the students, Dr. Gathings said, “The best advice I can give you: Get to
know your instructor. Go to class and be an active participant in the class.”
He also urged them to find a mentor and always ask questions. “Find someone willing to be vested in your success.”
MCC student R.J. Berkley, 20, of Memphis, was one of the many audience members at the celebration. A guard on the Eagles Basketball team, Berkley is a first-generation student. He said that going to college was important because, “somebody in my family can get their degree and pass it along to the generations.”
Gathings’ speech was inspiring to him, too. “I liked the speech he gave. This motivates me to keep going to class,” Berkely added.
MCC alumnus John Burns, also a first-generation student, took part in the celebration and got the chance to see the student life center. “This is nice,” he said.
The event was held on National First-Generation College Celebration Day. The day marks the anniversary of when President Lyndon Johnson signed the landmark Higher Education Act in 1965.