Mississippi University for Women is continuing its focus on first-generation students with its umbrella program, First in Flight.
First in Flight encompasses all of the first-gen efforts on campus, bringing them together under one banner. The idea came from a survey of first-year students in fall 2023.

“We learned that about 65% of them identified as first-generation college students under our newly adopted definition – a student whose parent or guardian has not completed a bachelor’s degree,” said Clear Moore, director of the Student Success Center at The W, which houses the program. “Given that we have a significant number of first-gen students, we wanted to create First in Flight to house current and future resources, programs and services for this group of students.”

The W is a FirstGen Forward Network Member, a nationwide program founded by NASPA (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) and the Suder Foundation.

FirstGen Forward “provides a three-phase approach to scaling holistic first-generation student success by engaging and empowering higher education institutions to transform the first-generation student experience, advance academic and co-curricular outcomes and build more inclusive institutional structures,” according to its website.

To be a member, schools are selected through a competitive process and upon admission must set institutional goals for serving first generation students, participate in network programing, write a blog entry for the network, complete a yearly audit of how the university progressed toward the stated goals and maintain institutional membership in NASPA.

First in Flight is The W’s institutional first-generation initiative, which helps meet the goals of FirstGen Forward membership.

Currently, the program houses the First-Gen Student Ambassadors scholarship; Lowndes FYRST (First-Generation Youth Realizing Success Together), which is a collaboration with East Mississippi Community College and the Rotary Club of Columbus and a week-long first-gen celebration, held in November.

The idea behind the program was to make sure that all students have the opportunity to succeed at The W.

“This focus on first-gen students is a continuation of The W’s legacy of serving underserved students,” said Moore. “We are committed to providing a world class affordable education to students who may not have a family history of higher education. These students are trailblazers who will thrive in our small, personalized environment with professors and staff that know their names and are personally invested in their success.”