Linfield’s inaugural First Scholars cohort earns the first degrees in their family
Tanner Coulter ’23 was sitting with his parents in their Canby living room when they received the news — Coulter had been accepted to Linfield and would be the first member of his family to attend college.
“That was the happiest day of our lives, knowing that he was going to fulfill his dreams of going to college,” said his mother, Heather DeRoberts.
Four years ago, as Coulter was making a commitment to Linfield University, it was also making one to him. Though he didn’t know it at the time, he would be part of the inaugural cohort of First Scholars, Linfield’s program to help first-generation students earn their diplomas.
First Scholars rolled out in the fall of 2019, steered by the vision of President Miles K. Davis and Gerardo Ochoa, now vice president for enrollment management and student success — both first-generation students themselves.
“There is a hidden curriculum,” Ochoa said of the unique challenges for first-generation students. “Higher education has its own language; Linfield has its own language.”
But the heart of the First Scholars program, Ochoa said, is the connection it fosters.
Having peers to lean on, he said, is fundamental to all student success, but particularly for first-generation students who may not be able to turn to their families for answers and who often face challenges different from many of their classmates.
“When a student feels alone on campus, they are more likely to leave,” he said. “By building an interconnected campus, you develop interdependencies, the quality of mutual reliance and aid.”
First-generation students, Ochoa said, are both Linfield’s past and its future.
“It’s part of Linfield’s fabric, identity and mission,” he said, adding that Linfield has long been a school that welcomes those of modest means. “And I anticipate next year’s incoming class to be about 50% first generation.”
Those students’ Linfield experience will begin a week early; attending a pre-orientation program is one of the four components of the First Scholars program.
“We focus on leadership development, relationships and identity,” Ochoa said of the seven-day program. “The first-generation identity is an invisible one, and while some people walk around with great pride, for others it’s a source of shame.”
Making sure the program is prominent on campus is part of battling any stigma, Ochoa said.
In addition to pre-orientation, First Scholars commit to participating in the mentorship program, where they are paired with both a peer mentor and a faculty or staff mentor. The entire cohort gathers monthly to learn and then eat together. In return, each student gets a scholarship that ranges from $1,000 to $8,000 per year on top of other financial aid and scholarships.
“Since the implementation of our First Scholars program, retention for first-generation students is now very close to or even matches the rate of our continuing-generation students,” Ochoa said, referring to the percentage of first-year students who return for their second year, a key gauge of future graduation rates. “We only see differences of two or three percentage points.”
Coulter said First Scholars was an enormous asset to him during his time at Linfield.
The mentorship was so impactful. It was two people I could go to and just ask questions. To be able to have that resource was amazing. There are times when it feels like I don’t know what this is all about, and my family doesn’t know what this is all about. To recognize that and implement programs to support us? I really appreciate it.”
—Tanner Coulter ’23
After being mentored her first year, Karina Alcantara Guerrero ’23 became a peer mentor herself and then a student coordinator of the First Scholars program.
“I think we need to support more first-generation students,” said the law, rights and justice major from Portland, “and we need to show them that they’re seen and that they belong in institutions like this one.”
Shortly before Commencement, Ochoa spoke at the Alpha Alpha Alpha induction and honor cord ceremony.
Each new inductee is given a pin. Before handing them out, Ochoa explained the significance of the design. The star at the center, he said, was each student.
“It represents you — as a star in your family, lighting the way for others to follow your lead into higher education, just like the stars above guided travelers in days of old,” he said, adding that the surrounding circles represent their communities — “your families, of Linfield, of your hometowns and of the wider regions.”
On May 28, Alcantara Guerrero and Coulter were among the 96 first-generation graduates celebrated at the 2023 Commencement. After the ceremony, per tradition, graduates and their families congregated in the Oak Grove.
Melanie Johnson ’23 was surrounded there by four generations of her family — her mother and father, husband, children and grandchildren. She first pursued higher education in 1977, but never achieved her dream of becoming a teacher.
“I went to Lower Columbia College for one term when I met my husband,” she said. “I told him I was not going to fall in love and marry him, because I really wanted to finish my four-year degree, but life had other plans.”
They were married in 1985, and she raised and homeschooled her five children. Nearly 30 years later, when husband Vern Johnson was hired as a programmer and analyst at Linfield, a long-closed door finally opened.
“It was a fleeting thought until my husband told me I could attend tuition-free,” she said.
After homeschooling her own kids, teaching no longer had much appeal, but she had always wanted to be a newspaper reporter.
Even before graduating with her degree in journalism and media studies, she’d found work in non-profit and faith-based communications.
“I do social media for the soup kitchen here in McMinnville, I’m doing social media and website updates for Awaken Church, and I’m going to intern with Hope Station Community Services in Salem this summer,” she said.
Her advice for would-be first-generation students?
“It’s never too late,” she said. “I’ll be 62 in October. It was never about the money; it was about achieving this goal I had for so long.”
A few feet away from where Johnson and her family celebrated, Coulter and his mother stood, admiring his diploma. And, according to DeRoberts, the happiness she felt in that moment exceeded the day four years ago.
“Today tops it, 100 percent, seeing him walk across the stage with that diploma,” she said. “When his name was called, my heart exploded, and I started crying. He is our first college graduate!”
