Best of CASE District VII Award
 

Institution: University of California, Irvine

Title of entry: First Things First: Video Mentorship Project for Freshman, First-Gen Students

About this entry: In Fall 2020, the University of California, Irvine (UCI) went remote due to the pandemic. While this was difficult for all students, it was especially challenging for incoming first-generation students. To support this student population, the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning (OVPTL) partnered with the UCI First-Gen Faculty Initiative to launch First Things First.

First Things First was a virtual mentorship program that paired two incoming first-gen students with first-gen faculty members for a year-long video exchange focused on the transition to university life. For the entire 2020-21 academic year, the students recorded weekly videos where they responded to prompts provided by their first-gen faculty mentors. The prompts encouraged the students to share their unique insights on a range of topics related to their experiences as first-gen first-year students. Faculty mentors then responded with their own videos, offering advice, sharing strategies, and reflecting on their similar experiences.

The goal of this project was to connect with UCI’s first-gen student population and help them feel recognized, understood, and encouraged as they confronted the challenges of adapting to college life in a remote setting. We also wanted to showcase UCI’s first-gen faculty and help first-gen viewers feel as if the faculty mentors were directly offering them advice based on their own experiences overcoming the adversity of being first in their family to attend college. Weekly video dialogues were posted on YouTube, the UCI First Generation website, and shared on social media platforms to increase viewership and amplify impact.