First-Generation Week at UMB brought students, faculty, and staff together to celebrate and build community while honoring the resilience and strengths of first-generation students.
In November, the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) came together to recognize and celebrate First-Generation Week, hosted by the Student Success Center within the Division of Student Affairs. The week centered the experiences, resilience, and aspirations of students navigating higher education without a familial road map and created intentional spaces for reflection, connection, and affirmation.
The week began with students writing notes to themselves or to first-generation peers offering encouragement, reminders, and messages of support that became visible across campus. Midweek programming addressed impostor syndrome through a workshop that normalized self-doubt and provided strategies to strengthen confidence and belonging resonating with students, faculty, and staff alike.
The week concluded with a Universitywide celebration where students, faculty, and staff gathered for a bingo-style ice-breaker and shared personal stories of persistence and growth at UMB. With 26 percent of students identifying as the first generation to be born and raised in the United States and 27 percent identifying as first-generation college graduates, First-Generation Week reinforced that first generation is not a barrier at UMB but a source of strength.