First Gen Promise
First Gen Promise Story
Kent State University is deeply committed to the success of first-generation college students and we stand ready to do all that we can to meet their needs.
To demonstrate this commitment, University College and the Wick Poetry Center partnered together in 2018 to identify two first-generation student poets interested in crafting the University’s First Gen Promise. Authored by Mariah Hicks, Alice Vermillion, and the Wick Poetry Staff, the promise describes what first-generation college students may feel, experience, and need while attending Kent State University. During the I AM FIRST Celebration each year, the promise is read aloud, signed by faculty and staff in attendance as a symbol of their commitment to first-generation students, and is then hung in gathering spaces across campus for the campus community to see.
I Know and I Promise Poem
A Faculty and Staff Commitment to First Generation College Students
I know what it’s like to not even know how to start your question, or which door to knock on.
I know that these big buildings and their winding cement sidewalks can seem endless, like a maze.
I know what it’s like to wonder if you even belong here to feel alone in a crowd of thousands, like you are an imposter.
I know that self-doubt has a voice that can be so loud in your head you can’t hear anyone else.
I know what it means to be the first in your family.
I promise you the voice of doubt will grow small. That if you open up and know your vulnerability, you will no longer feel alone.
I promise you that there are doors that will stand open for you on this campus and in the world, there are people waiting who won’t send you anywhere else, who will say “I can help.”
I promise you that you will stumble and fall and it will be hard, and that you will figure it out and get back up, through this you will grow into someone new.
I promise you that you belong here, and this journey will be worth it.
I promise you that I am here, to ensure you are the first to go and the first to know.
‒ By Mariah Hicks, Alice Vermillion and the Wick Poetry Staff