Are you a first-generation college student?
AND
Would LOVE a mentor who, when they went to college, were also a first-generation college student?
GREAT! COMPLETE THIS FORM TO GET STARTED!
The BFirst Network wants to connect you with fellow first-gen faculty, staff, alumni, and graduate student mentors. We'll also email you a newsletter once a semester, telling you of our upcoming event(s), providing you with campus resources and other important (and first-gen relevant) information to help you out!
LOGISTICS
Thanks to the Alumni Office, we will have our BFirst Network managed via an online mentoring software system called Chronus MentorMatch (check out the website here: https://www.binghamton.edu/programs/mentor-match/index.html). Yes, you'll still meet in person with your mentor(s) but the software will help with hosting mentor and mentee profiles, and the logistics of matching, availability, and setting up those meetings.
All you'll have to do is create a profile in the system, see your matches, and choose who to reach out to. All our first-gen mentors are excited to meet you, and can't wait to connect!
Be sure to add first-generation when creating your profile, and when searching for mentors, use filters and select "first-generation college student" to find fellow first-gen mentors!Here's a short video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88qc-OcpSv0) providing an overview of this software and detailing how to get started!
MIXERS!
Additionally, you will be invited to mixer/networking events held each semester: one to honor the National First-Generation College Celebration (sometime in early November) and another at the beginning of the spring semester. There, you can network and meet fellow first-gen students, and connect with first-gen faculty, staff, graduate students, and alumni. We encourage you to use these events to make connections, in addition to using the software system, as each venue may appeal more to some than others.
Many of our strongest first-gen mentor/mentee connections were actually begun informally at one of our events!We have now also created a tradition of celebrating our first-gen graduates; if you're graduating, look out for an invitation to join us at our First-Gen Cording Ceremony + Graduation Celebration sometime in May.
ONGOING MONTHLY WORKSHOPS
We host events each month during academic semesters to allow the BFirst Network to gather in a less structured way, and talk about first-gen specific topics. The Fleishman Center has recently teamed up with us to provide first-gen specific professional and career advice through this venue. More details will be emailed out as soon as they are available.
We're hoping to host spaces for first-gen students on campus to casually connect on campus, too! More details will be emailed out as soon as they are available.
Your feedback and ideas are very much welcomed. Please email BFirst Committee Chair, Marissa Zelman at
mzelman@binghamton.edu or bfirst@binghamton.edu if you have ideas you would like to share.
Thank you for your interest in joining BFirst, our first-gen mentoring network!
