Angela is currently a junior at Washington State University, majoring in kinesiology with a minor in strength and conditioning. She has been a part of College Possible since her junior year at Lindbergh High School. We sat down with Angela to discuss her experience with College Possible and as a first generation student in college.
Can you tell me a little bit about why you wanted to join College Possible?
“When I was a sophomore, I would go to the [career] center and my sister was in College Possible. I would listen in on their conversations, their meetings and I thought they seemed important and useful. When I became a junior, I joined and thought it really would help me with the overall process since I am a first-generation student.”
How did you decide on what college to attend? How did College Possible support you during the process?
“I wanted to be able to be independent and live on my own and grow from that. That was really important to me when looking for colleges. I also really looked at diversity, being a person of color and growing up in an area like this where schools have a lot of diversity. It was important to me that the school I went to offered services for people of color that would make me feel at home. College Possible was helpful because overall being able to ask someone questions, I had when filling out applications was useful. Those meetings that we had and those things we needed to get done for the process, really helped me stay on track and check with what I needed to get done for applying.“
How was the transition into college? How did you find community and your place on campus?
“My first year didn’t feel like much of a change because it was all online and I was already doing online classes for the end of high school, so it didn’t really feel like I had a transition. I think it felt pretty simple, I just went to class and did my work and that was it. Which made it feel like it wasn’t a big thing that was happening because I didn’t feel like I could be involved as much, I didn’t really feel apart of Washington State University community just yet. But when I did move there and started going to campus and going to class, trying to meet people and find resources – that’s when I actually started to feel like I belonged at this school.“
What were highlights from your second year in college? How did your coach support you?
“Definitely switching my major, it was the best decision of my life to do that. I feel so much happier and so intrigued with what I’m learning that I think it was the best decision for me. My coach did keep in touch with me, and constantly kept up with me with what I was doing and things I needed to get done like the FAFSA or applying for classes for the next semester. They just kept me in check and gave me a lot of reminders for the important things.”
What are you looking forward to in the upcoming school year?
“The biggest thing I am looking forward to is improving in all the things I think I did not do so well in, academically or socially. Overall, just doing more and having a fresh start.”
