First Things First
Welcome to the the First Things First project, a test in “virtual” mentorship. This idea, an evolution of UCI’s First-Generation Faculty Initiative, is designed to help first-gen students overcome the challenges brought about by the pandemic. This new virtual mentorship program pairs two incoming UCI first-gen students with first-gen faculty members for a year-long, social-media-distributed conversation about the transition to university life. The goal of First Things First is to help UCI’s entire first-gen population, as well as first-gen students throughout higher education, build a sense of community—even in this remote college environment.
Questions

First Things First Named CASE 2022 Best of District VII Award Winner
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Final First Things First Conversations
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What Do You Suggest That Students Do Over Summer Break?
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How Will You Support Students as They Adapt to In-Person Learning?
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How Have You Adapted Your Courses or Teaching Style During the Pandemic?
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How is the UCI Community Helping First-Gen Students with Financial Aid in the Remote Setting?
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Winter 2021 End-of-Quarter Student Interviews with Faculty
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Has Being a College Student Changed Your Relationship With Your Family and/or Community?
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Do You Disclose Your Identity as a First-Gen Student to Others?
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How has COVID and the Political Unrest in the Country Impacted You?
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What To Expect
Each week, the two freshmen students (selected through a competitive application process) will record a video responding to a prompt provided by their faculty mentors. The prompts will encourage the students to share their unique impressions, experiences and insights on a range of topics related to their experiences as a first-gen, first-year student. Then, faculty mentors will respond with their own video, offering advice, sharing strategies and reflecting on their own similar experiences. The video dialogue aims to reach a wide community of UCI first-gen students and to help them feel recognized, understood and encouraged as they confront the challenges of their new remote learning environment.
During Weeks Five and Ten, the faculty and students will meet face-to-face via Zoom. These video calls will invite more in-depth conversations between mentor and mentee. Through the process of creating both individual and collaborative videos, faculty and students will establish rapport, get to know each other and strengthen their connections.