Student Voices

10 Pieces of Advice to be successful as a first-generation student in College Four years ago, when I received my acceptance letter into college, I remember being very excited but also very scared. I was very ecstatic because I was the FIRST person in my family to attend a four-year...

I am in the middle of applying to graduate school, taking the last classes I need, applying for internships, working my copious jobs and preparing for my final season on the ultimate team. My mind is going a mile a minute and when I stop moving for a split second...

An increasing amount of college students are interested in going into a health profession when they graduate. Students carry a strong desire to pursue careers such as Pharmacy, Dentistry, Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Pre-Medicine. Meeting specific requirements for these health professions takes a lot of dedication. The requirements to get...

Thanks to the contributions of our donors, Mikale Ogbaselassie was able to spend six weeks of his summer break in Medellín, Colombia. Mikale is a senior studying Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and is a McNeill and McNair scholar. Over the summer, he held an internship with the AIESEC Universidad Pontificia...

Dr. Tatum is widely known for both her expertise on race relations and as a thought leader in higher education. The author of several books including " Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?" and Other Conversations About Race and Can We Talk About Race? and...

This May, I had the honor to attend The National Conference On Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) in New Orleans with the McNeill program staff. NCORE was an unforgettable experience. The fact that I was in the middle of a multicultural wave of highly educated individuals was amazing. I attended a...

Take 2 was a pleasant surprise. Going in, I am sure most of the freshmen shared the same feelings I did about the event. I didn’t want to be there and I was planning on maybe leaving early. The mood certainly changed through the evening, not just for me but...

For many of us, attending CU Boulder is a dream, realized. It does hold its challenges, however, particularly for underrepresented students with financial hardships. The McNeill Summer Launch alleviates many of the early stressors of attending a college such as CU Boulder. The campus may feel overwhelming and isolating at...

The McNeill Welcome is a community event for students and staff to get to know each other and to meet other people within the SASC community. This year, the theme was “Back to the 90’s,” and the event was the best we’ve ever had. There was a full taco bar,...

I have officially completed my first year of college. I am proud to announce that I am the first in my family to complete a year in college, nevertheless attend one. I doubt that I could have gone this far without the help and support that the McNeill Academic Program...