Our class of Oral History and Community Memory had the opportunity to interview Summer Bridge students who had previously been interviewed. These students were interviewed as freshmen in 1997 as first generation college students. The purpose of our research, in part, was to aid in the facilitation of support for first generation college students. We continued the interview process to learn about their progress, challenges, and most importantly the changes they have encountered in their two years of college.

    In his article entitled First-Generation Students: Confronting the Cultural Issues, L. Steven Zwerling, claims "going to college can be an eventful point of departure, one that both prompts and hastens movement into some "other" culture. When this occurs, powerful social and personal dramas are played out, for cultural membership helps define who we are in the yes of others as well as ourselves, and it does so in the most elemental ways. Indeed, every student making such a transition whom I have interviewed during the past several years has reported having to renegotiate relations with family members, friends, and in a fundamental sense, with themselves. These negotiations are not always accomplished easily or with a happy ending, for such passages inevitably call into question the very meaning of allegiance and love, over which people can intensely disagree. Thus, upward mobility can produce a discontinuity that arouse feelings of loss, conflict, and disloyalty, as well as of discovery, reconciliation, and joy" (Stierlin, 1974).

    However, the experiences we recorded through our interviews did not support Zwerling's findings of college being a "point of departure". Furthermore, we did not find the mentality of our interviewees to one of upward mobility. Our interviewees demonstrated a strong need to remain connected with they're past, family, and communities. Race, class, gender and most importantly their culture played a big role in their struggle to connect. The struggles with post-secondary education came from balancing relationships between their culture, community and families.

    Milagros Perez demonstrates how her new lens and perspective was a struggle between her mother. We interviewed Milagros Perez, a Latina student at Cal State University at Monterey Bay student and in the interview Perez was asked the following question: Do you feel comfortable to confront people on campus, friends, or even your family?

I had an issue even with my family on proposition 22. I basically, I remember my mom went into my room and she looked at the hmm at the voters' guide booklet and she saw the proposition 22 and she said, " Ha Millie you are going to vote no on it?. ..I am going to vote no." She goes, " Why?" My mom just totally went off on me. She said, " You know Millie I didn't brought you up this way. I guess I have not done my role as a mother. Raising you up."... I am like, "Mom, it does not have to do with the way you raised me. It's just this is what I feel. This does not affect me. But I just think that other people should have the same right as we do." And it was funny because my mom was just in shock. She was like what. She was basically telling me, "What are they teaching you in school... I guess I did not raise you the right way." And I was like, "Mom," 'Cause, you know since we are Catholic, that is against our religion...I think also that the school has taught us that it is not wrong to think beyond those boundaries that sometimes you have... "Millie, why do react like that? Y le dije," "Mom its because I can now understand those people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, when they go and come out of the closet how hard it is for them. Because I think about it now, what if I would have been a lesbian or bisexual and I had to come and tell you, you would not have accepted me. You know how hard it would have been for me" ... And she kind of did not tell me she would accept me. But she did not tell me if you were a lesbian I would accept you...If you were the worst person in the whole entire world and if you were to rob a bank you would still be my daughter and I would still love you. You know. But, we just left it there. The elections got here and she never asked me, did you vote yes or did you vote no. We never touched the subject again...I think that this was one of the issues I had confronted with my family that you know has been going on here on campus you know.

    The interviews showed a struggle with the woman more so than the men of first generation students did. In our interviews the women received more pressure from their mothers and families.

    These first generation students showed that family and culture could have impact on academics. Even though the women were affected by their cultural beliefs, the men seem to be aware of how gender can play a role also. Pedro Gonzales, expressed that life is quite different for him within his culture than it is for his sister. Mexican parents, he expressed, can be strict when comes to their "hijas" [daughters/girls]. Parents tend to worry about life away from home. When asked if his experience at college will benefit his sister, he responded:

Mexican parents are not like that when if comes to their daughter. We as  men we have it a little easier but when it comes to their daughters " Es mi  hija," [my little girl] they worry when I don't go home or when I don't call every other week. I am pretty sure they will be calling her whenever they  get a chance telling her to call whenever she gets a chance. So we will see  how that goes. I think they still support her. As parents it hurts them a  lot to see their sons or daughters go away to college.

    Indeed, gender can influence the amount of pressure a woman feels within her culture and community. All of the women had to renegotiate relationships and Milagros Perez reaffirms this belief.

I go home every weekend. The reason is because my mom expects me  to go home every weekend.  And I have not been able to break that boundary....  I am working on it still, but its just that, I am the oldest one in my family,  the first one to go to college, and hum, I could understand my mom how hard it is for her to let me go...So my mom she is a great mother, it's just that  sometimes it is hard for her.

Perez understands that by going home on weekends she is keeping her mother happy. This was Milagros way of renegotiating with her mother.

    Gonzales wants to prove that first generation college students pursue a higher education because they have the intellectual capacity and determination to achieve success. By reading the following quote one can almost feel the joy that Gonzales' mother felt when he was told the news of his acceptance to a university. It is ironic that he was informed that he was accepted to CSUMB while working in the broccoli fields.

When I was in high school I worked in the summersnot because my parents made me do itit was me I wanted to do it. I wanted to have  money for myself and to help them out. It was a summer that I got a letter  from ETS (Educational Talent Search), asking me to come to a program  called F.O.C.U.S. It is a mini bridge program preparing us for college.  They announced me to look this college as a possible university to  attend. Augie and Cesar helped me fill out my application and all my work. I did it for a week and then I went back and went to work in the Broccoli fields in Greenfield. All of a sudden I got a call on the walkie-talkie. I  was putting the boxes of the Broccoli together in the traveler. He said, "hey I got message for you." He passed the walkie-talkie to me. It was my supervisor's brother who is his supervisor. He said " Pedro I got some news for you." And then, I think Marielena had called the main  supervisor, Roberto. She told him that I got accepted to the university.  Roberto called Gustavo my supervisor. He hands the walkie-talkie, he  told me he got a call that I got accepted. I was pretty happy, I told my mom (she started screaming) she was packing broccoli she stopped and said she was very proud of me. It was good. All she could do was smile. She was so happy. Her dream for me to go to college was going to be complete.

    One of the obstacles first generation college student's encounter is the process of navigating through an educational system that historically devalues the experience and culture of students of color. This devaluation of previous knowledge and life experience pushes students into an assimilation model in order to succeed in higher education. Solorzano and Villapando state, "However while these students may not have been pushed out of higher education like other students, the assumption that they succeed largely because of their ability to conform to the dominant cultural norms of a college environment ignores much of their current and historical experiences in higher education." Many of the interviewees felt no need to pursue a higher education and if they did they wanted to go to vocational schools or community colleges. They felt connected with these types of schools because they were never challenged or taught to explore a four-year university. The following is an example of how Pedro Gonzales describes his manner of dealing with his marginal status. When asked how do you feel about your family and culture, now? He stated:

I think I feel a lot stronger about my family and my culture. I am a very proud Mexicano. I am too proud. There are times when I am with another Mexicano or Mexicana and they will say " Mexico" the English way I get kind of upset. And I correct them. Maybe that is a little too much. You have seen my car I have the Aztec calendar in the back seat to top it off I have had the chance to become a citizen but I haven't. Because the stuff I have learned here at the university the way history went. I don't think I want to be a part of the United States, just because of the different stuff that happened. It's not a racist thing; it's a personal thing. You know me, you know that I am not that type of person, I am not gonna do discriminate a person because of their color or race. But I just don't want to become a citizen. I am aware that Mexico has a dual citizenship policy. I can if I want. Even with that in mind, I don't want to be a part of it. I know that I lose a lot of rights by not becoming a citizen. I want to be the best I can be without becoming a citizen. Without getting that extra help. To demonstrate that us Mexicanos even if we aren't citizens are gonna make it. How often do you see a Mexicano running that department? All you have to do is want it. That's the way I look at it. My family has always been a big role in my life, that would be the only thing I would leave my education for my family and my friends because I value my friends a lot too. That is the only reason I would leave education. I got an offer to leave to go work for my old supervisor in Arizona, he was gonna pay me $45,000 a year. He asked me and I said I wish I could but I have to finish my education. Culture, family, I think I have a greater respect now that I have been at this university and have learned a lot about history. I t has helped me grow the way I feel about my people and my culture.

Further more Solorzano and Villapoando state the following, "Moreover, some Students of Color might voluntarily choose to situate themselves at "the margins" as a site of resistance in order to transform the system (see hooks, 1990).

    Some may contend that students of Color may be adversely affected by choosing to place themselves at the margins. Their unwillingness to conform to the dominant societal norms and their insistence of adopting an opposition model is seen by some to detrimental to their academic progression. Solorzano and Villapando state, "In contrast, college impact research relying on quantitative methods has consistently found that public opposition behavior has a positive effect on a range of affective and cognitive outcomes for college students (Astin, Astin, Bayer, and Bisconti, 1975; Hurtado, 1990; Pascrella and Terenzini, 1991).

    As we have seen, the students we interviewed fir the profile of first generation college students. They come from working-class backgrounds, they work part time, they are concerned with social issues, they are less hedonistic, and they tend to be more female. They benefit from peer and family support groups. Mentorship from faculty and staff also play a major role in their college experience. Lastly, first generation college students recognize their marginal status and transform this location into a site of strength and resistance.