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Student Retention & Success SRS
  1. Student Retention & Success
  2. Success Initiatives & Events
  3. Triton Firsts Initiative
  4. About Triton Firsts

About Triton Firsts: First Gen Community

As of fall 2023, 36% (12,278) of UC San Diego’s undergraduate students identify as a first-generation college student (UC First-Gen Dashboard). UC San Diego recognizes that first-generation college students face unique barriers to success, but we also celebrate and note the strengths and talents they bring to the campus community.

To provide greater support for UC San Diego’s first-generation college students, Triton Firsts is a comprehensive initiative to engage first-generation professors, lecturers, researchers, staff, graduate students, and alumni at UC San Diego to inspire and equip first-generation students to excel during their undergraduate journeys.

This initiative invites faculty who were also the first in their families to graduate from college to support first-generation students through:

  • Sharing their stories of resilience, setbacks and success
  • Participating in high-impact faculty-student interactions
  • Collaborating with campus departments to provide a culture of support for first-generation college students.

Meet the Triton Firsts Staff

 

Alison Herr 

Assistant Director Student Success Programs: Alison Herr, alherr@ucsd.edu

Rosa Tejeda

Triton Firsts Coordinator: Rosa Tejeda, rtjejeda@ucsd.edu

Triton Firsts Interns

2024-2025 Triton Firsts Interns, Lillian Vazquez and Amrita Gill

 

Get Engaged, Build Community!

Research shows that positive relationships with faculty and staff greatly impacts student retention (Bordes & Arredondo, 2005; Schreiner et al., 2011; Strayhorn, 2008; Torres & Hernandez, 2009).  Furthermore, it is evident that each interaction with faculty, staff, and administrators plays a role in shaping student’s perception of the campus (Braxton et al., 2004).

When students have positive interactions with faculty, staff, and administrators, they are far more likely to believe that their institution is place where they can thrive and as such, students demonstrate a greater degree of social integration and persistence when attaining their goals (Braxton et al., 2004).

Please join us in this Triton Firsts initiative which focuses on creating relationships between first generation faculty, staff, and students. Be a part of a community that reassures students that despite the challenges they may face, they will be supported and they have everything it takes to succeed at UC San Diego!