In the Spring of 1998 the first Oral History and Community Memory course was offered regarding the experiences of first generation college students at CSUMB. Through the course the students interviewed those students who participated in the first FOCUS Summer Bridge program, as well as other first generation college students. That pioneer group of Summer Bridge participants enabled the Oral History and Community Memory class to study the experiences of first generation college students. This year, our class was given the task to interview and focus on First Generation College students, mainly dealing with a group of Freshmen students that participated in the FOCUS: Summer Bridge program of 1999. In the course we read an article named "Profile of a First Generation College Student" written by Octavio Villalpando and Dolores Delgado Bernal. In the article they state the characteristics of first generation college students. These characteristics include: coming from a working class background, older in average age, employed part or full time, mostly females, having diverse cultural backgrounds, less driven by individualism, hedonism, and materialism, concerned with social issues, and choosing careers to help their community.

    We conducted the interviews and gathered the information from the students. We keyed in on some very important topics. The topics that we will talk about in this paper are High School Preparation, Motivation, Expectations of College, CSUMB Support/Experiences, Finances, Race, Future Goals, and Recommendations. Here are our findings.