first-generation students

It was a heartwarming opening to a week of Commencements at GCU. At Thursday night’s first of 11 Commencements to honor the work of College of Education and College of Humanities and Social Sciences graduates, first-generation students expressed gratitude to their parents who never got the chance to go to college but sacrifice so much for them. And GCU President Brian Mueller shared thoughts that echoed that theme, reading the University mission statement that ends with “placing the needs of others before their own.” Rocio Cigarroa said her parents did that for her, moving to the U.S. for her education. She thanked them with some loving words on her graduation cap.

Bazwell Mwale arrived at GCU during Welcome Week as a southeast Africa native who didn’t have college-educated parents to tell him how to navigate the challenges. So he joined around 50 first-gen students Thursday in the Student Union in a social hosted by Associated Students of GCU to learn from each other and from those who had been through the initial stages. Mwale wants to be a doctor one day. Many at the social have goals their parents could only dream to attain.