First-generation college students ease into CSULB

By Alex Roman
Daily Forty-Niner

The second annual Latino Orientation was held Sunday in the University Student Union, attracting more than 300 students and their friends and families.

"It's really a labor of love put together by the students," said faculty adviser Robert Lara. "The parents and students and basically the whole community came together."

The event, co-sponsored by the Latino Student Union, Associated Students Inc. and the 49er shops, was an all-day attempt to bridge the cultural gap between first year Latino students and their families, said Immelda Quintanar, one of the program's faculty advisers.

"Most Latino students at Cal State Long Beach are first generation college students, which means that they're the first to go to college in their family," Quintanar said. "So there is a total lack of knowledge on the part of the parents as to what college life is like."

Adding to that problem, Quintanar said, are staggering statistics that only 35 percent of all students at CSULB graduate after six years and that Latino students graduation rate is only 20 percent.

In an attempt to close the gap, the program, "Explorando Un Nuevo Mundo Juntos" (Exploring a New World Together), offered the parents a hands-on campus tour. Participants were able to see the campus and explore some of the resources that CSULB offers its students.

"We want to create an awareness for the parents so that they can support and encourage their children" Quintanar said. "We show them, for instance, that the library is open until midnight or that it's open 24 hours during finals, because they just can't believe it."

While the parents took their extensive tour, the students attended workshops dealing with topics such as "How to Turn Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones" and "Surviving your First Year at CSULB."

"We found through our studies and research that a new student's most difficult time is the first six weeks of school," Quintanar said. "If they don't survive, then that's where we'll see them drop out. The bottom line is it's the lack of institutional fit, so we've got to get them before those six weeks are up."

The program closed with a question and answer session, where the parents and students were able to share their problems and concerns with each other and have their questions answered by both faculty and other students.

"We hope this program can have an impact, not just on the Latino students, but the entire student population," Quintanar said.

Lara agreed.

"We recognize that the entire campus is not Latino or Latina, so the emphasis really is on the student," he said. "The program is open to everybody, not just those with Latin backgrounds."