DONATE | SUBSCRIBE

8th Annual First Generation College Student Summit

What People Say About the Summit

“The keynote speaker was fantastic, hilarious, and poignant.” 

“The discussions made me want to implement new programs.”

“The Student focus was superb, privileging student voices.”

 

Get Involved – Join our Mailing List

Keep Up to date on the First Gen Summit!

 

2020 Workshops!

  • Our Backpack: Using Podcasting for Goal Setting and Self-healing for Individuals of Color and First-Generation Students

  • Building Community BRAVE Enough to be First

  • Strategic Storytelling: How to Effectively Tell Your First-Gen Story to Grade Schools and the World

  • Fostering Resilience: Restorative Practices for Social Justice Activists

  • I AM, BECAUSE WE ARE: The Importance of Mentorship in the Age of Social Media for Young Women for Color

  • Sharing Class Secrets: Inclusive Awareness Raising and Community Building Through Cross-Class Dialogue

  • Women's Leadership: Supporting First-Gen Female Leaders from the Inside Out

  • Demystifying Graduate School: Key Components of Determining if Graduate School is Right for You and How to Apply!

  • Resume Revamp!

  • Building Experience in our New Virtual World

  • Negotiate Like Your Life Depends On It

  • Calling all First Years and Sophomores!

  • First-Gen Graduate Student - What Happens Now?

  • Transitioning to College: Mental Health & Intersectionality

  • Navigating Higher Education: The 1st College Student

  • Momentum and Motivation: First-Generation and Working-Class Students Balancing Off-Campus Work and Family Care Responsibilities

  • Education and Beyond: First-Gen Studying and Interning Abroad

  • First-Generation Student-Athletes

  • A First Gens Struggle with Imposter Syndrome

  • Understanding the Experiences of First-Generation College Students

  • College Essentials at Your Fingertips First Gen Support in the Digital Age

  • Liberationships: Critical Mentorship as Womxn of Color in Higher Education

  • At the Intersection: Understanding and Supporting First-Generation College Students

 

2020 School Sponsors

 

2020 B Corp Sponsors

History

Since 2004, Class Action has worked with first-generation students to ease their transition to college. Through consultations and workshops on and within many campuses throughout the northeastern region of the United States, Class Action has offered first-gen students access to the materials, tools, and networking opportunities necessary to thrive in a college environment. Class Action also works with campus administrations to identify obstacles to first-gen and low-income students.

In 2012, Adj Marshall, a first-generation student completing her MA at Brown University developed Class Action’s inaugural First-Generation College Student Summit. The First Gen Student Summit serves as a site for the ‘meeting of the minds’. First-gen students and their allies come together to identify problems, discuss grassroots solutions and share what’s working on other campuses. First and foremost, we believe in student centered solutions identified by students who can work with their staff, administrator, and faculty allies. Class Action offers spaces where students can both identify these problems and build grassroots solutions to them.

 

                                              Past School Attendees

 

Amherst College
Assumption College
Babson College
Barnard College
Bay Path University
Bennington College
Brandeis University
Bridgewater State University
Brown University
Clark University
College Crusade of Rhode Island
College of the Atlantic
College of the Holy Cross
Connecticut College
Dickinson College
Eastern Maine Community College
Emmanuel College
Front Range Community College
Hampshire College
Harvard University
Indiana University- East
Lyndon State College
Macalester College
Manhattanville College
Marquette University
Merrimack College
Middlebury College
Middlesex Community College
MIT
Monmouth University
Mount Holyoke College
New York University
Newbury College
Northeastern University
Northwestern University
Olin College of Engineering
PHENOM
Pine Manor College
Pomona College
Princeton University
Providence College
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rhode Island College
Roger Williams University
Rutgers University
Saint Michael’s College
Saint Peter’s University
Salem State University
School for International Training
Simmons University
Skidmore College
Smith College
Southern Maine Community College
Steps to Success
SUNY Cortland
Temple University Tufts University
University at Buffalo
Trinity College
University of California Santa Cruz
University of Chicago
University of Connecticut
University of Florida
University of Louisville
University of Maine at Farmington
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Boston
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
University of Michigan
University of Nebraska Kearney
University of New Hampshire
University of Rhode Island
University of Rochester
University of Southern Maine Lewiston
University of Vermont
Vassar College
Washington State University
Wellesley College
Wesleyan University
Western New England University
Whitman College
Williams College
Worcester State
Yale University
Visit previous year pages to learn about our other summits

2019 Summit

2018 Summit

2017 Summit

2016 Summit

2015 Summit

2014 Summit

For more pictures of previous summits please click here.