Panther Partner Students and Mentors Share Insight; First Gen College Day Is Nov. 8

The Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC/CUNY) Panther Partners program provides a welcoming cohort experience for students who come from families where neither parents nor guardians hold a college degree from an institution in the United States.

On November 8, the BMCC Panther Partners program invites the college community to a celebration from 2 to 4 p.m. in the cafeteria at 199 Chambers Street in honor of First Gen College Day, a commemorative day launched by the Center for First-Generation Student Success along with the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE).

“First-generation College Day is an opportunity to reach out to more first-generation college students, engage more stakeholders and highlight the services we provide at BMCC for our first-generation community members,” said New and First-Year Student Programs Specialist Rahana Belle-Jerome. “We are always looking for new ways to welcome students into the program and ensure that they have a strong sense of belonging and access to success at BMCC.” 

In recent years, some of BMCC’s most illustrious students have been the first in their families to earn a college degree. These include the 2022 and 2021 valedictorians, a Student Government Association president, many scholarship winners and others.

The Panther Partners program was piloted at BMCC in 2017, and recognized by the Center for First Generation Success in 2019.

Panther Partner participants discover their strengths

As the program gears up for its November 8 celebration, participants share their thoughts.

“It makes me proud and happy to be the first my immediate family to attend college,” says Computer Science major Joseph Sahan, and cites his Panther Partner mentor “for being very helpful by providing all types of information.”

Psychology major and Panther Partner mentee Ge’velle-Marie Sam Lezama has a strong sense of where she is going after graduating from BMCC.

“My intention is to become an entertainment psychologist but also filter in multiple industries,” she says. “Mental health is something that’s always overlooked, especially in the Caribbean.”

Gama Aubourg, who is majoring in Science for Health and aspires to become a respiratory therapist, acknowledges that he has faced difficulties understanding some of the technical aspects of college, such as using a computer, and it has been challenging to schedule a tutor within the hours he is on campus.

Video Arts and Technology (VAT) major Alexa Maldonado says, “I took matters into my own hands,” when she entered college, “and learned how to be a college student the hard way.” She chose VAT as her career focus because “I want to pursue my creative passions and at least give myself a chance.”

Asking for help, she says, “didn’t come naturally to me. I had to fail something to learn that it’s okay to ask for help, whether that be for studying, my career search and my financial situation.”

Being part of the Panther Partner community gave her the strength to test her abilities.

“I understand that if something needs to be done or if I want to accomplish a goal, I have to put in the work and do it,” she says. “Learn how to study and manage your time so that you are not constantly stressed about homework, quizzes, projects and tests. Know when to take a break. Also, know that you are not alone.”

Bianca Claircidor says she had an “epiphany” that she should major in Linguistics, while working as a professional interpreter in the legal and medical fields.

“Being the first in my immediate family to attend college means that I’m paving the way for a better future for my family and community,” she says.

One challenge she’s faced in college is balancing her work and school schedule, “along with commuting, as well as balancing the financial responsibilities of being a parent and student,” says Claircidor. “There were many times that I had to work that extra shift instead of studying.”

“Attending college means having the world in your hands,” says Business Administration major Joanna Barrientos. “Being the first of something is always scary but to be the first to attend college is opening doors you didn’t realize existed. It’s an amazing feeling to create your own future!”

Barrientos felt inspired by her Panther Partners mentor, who she says, recognized her potential.

“She saw what no one else did,” says Barrientos. “She knew that helping me would make a difference in the world. What she saw in me, she knew the world needed.”

There was a learning curve, she admits, navigating college registration processes like applying for financial aid and completing her FAFSA paperwork. “What drove me to hang in there,” she says, “is the dream of being an entrepreneur.”

Liberal Arts major Bintou Diomande, who grew up in Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) in West Africa, says being a college student is “huge,” especially since “it happened in another country, and in another language.”

She shares that the challenges of being in college are sometimes logistic: “In my first semester, I didn’t know what to do about a course I didn’t like, and needed help figuring out how to drop the course.”

Looking back on her Panther Partners experience, she speaks with enthusiasm about her mentors, including Teacher Education Professor Cara O’Connor and Human Resources staff member Lori Mazzola, as well as New and First-Year Student Programs Specialist Rahana Belle-Jerome.

“They helped me with any and every question I came to them with,” says Diomande. “They helped me find my career path by connecting me with other professors for advice. They helped me find information on how to get into the fashion industry and how to properly write an admissions essay. They provided compassion, availability and much more.”

Mentors share resources, encourage networking and provide a sounding board

Panther Partner mentor Shareen Laskar, who is BMCC’s Director of First Year and New Student Programs, looks back on her own first-generation college experience.

“When I enrolled, I was certain of my academic and career path in science and medicine. But as I progressed through my classes, and was exposed to other fields, ideas and subjects, I realized my interests and abilities were more suited for psychology or counseling,” she says.

She also problem-solved around barriers like the cost of textbooks, which she found she could borrow from the library, and took a part-time job to meet expenses not covered by student loans and grants.

“I was learning not just about the world around me, but about myself as well,” says Laskar. “My superpower is vigilance. As a first gen student, I had to be aware of any opportunity that could help me network or connect me to a job or internship. I knew I had to rely on the resources on campus because my family and support system off campus could not help me professionally, although they did support me personally.”

She advises today’s first-gen students to avail themselves of campus resources such as scholarships, internships and volunteer opportunities—as well as reaching out for help from faculty and staff.

“You never know which experience or conversation will lead you to your career or academic path,” Laskar says.

Student Success Specialist Albert Lee has a wealth of first-gen college experience to share with his Panther Partner mentees.

“It meant my parents had to trust me to make right decisions and recover from poor decisions on my own,” he says. “It meant I had responsibilities at home even if I lived on campus; such as translate their mail, write checks, make appointments, run errands, visit families, tutor siblings and prep them on their college readiness.”

It also meant assuming his own debts, he says, “and not relying on nepotism for work and making it all the way to graduation, during the recession.”

Katherine Bedoye, a Panther Partner mentor who serves as a Senior Career Advisor in the BMCC Center for Career Development says, “To me, to be the first in my family to attend college means that I set an example for future generations of my family and prove that it is possible to achieve anything you set your mind to, no matter what level of resources are available to you.”

As Bedoye puts it, “I may have been the first to attend college in my family, but I won’t be the last.”

She counts her mentors among her biggest influences. “When I first started college I went in blind and I had no idea what I wanted to do. If it weren’t for the people I surrounded myself with—and who later became my mentors—I wouldn’t be where I am today in my career path.”

Driada Rivas, Interim Director of Career Services in the Center for Career Development, says there is often a disconnect between what first-generation students envision as their eventual career, and understanding how to get there, academically.

“By providing guidance in all areas of career development, we are able to help students assess their career interests and explore which majors, which academic pathways, link to those goals,” she says.

Elizabeth Yan, a Panther Partner mentor and BMCC Career Development IT Coordinator, says that in her experience, first-gen students are sometimes reluctant to reach out, when they need help.

“We provide information on where to get support, information that all BMCC students have, but some first-gen students feel ashamed or have a sense of pride that stops them from utilizing the resources that BMCC offers,” she says.

Yan adds that sometimes first-gen students enter college with expectations that work against them.

“They believe going to college is strictly about the academics” she says. “We help them to get over that misconception by encouraging them to be part of the BMCC community through activities like joining clubs or being part of SGA.”

In the end, Yan, says, “Students can overcome challenges by taking small steps and asking for help when they need it. Their superpower is their resilience to overcome all obstacles that come their way.”

Lynn McGee, a communications manager in the Office of Public Affairs, asks every Panther Partner mentee the same question: “What do you need help with?”

She takes a laptop to their meetings and talks them through the process of finding resources on the BMCC website.

“Hands on the keyboard, they make an appointment for free tutoring, explore a professor’s home page, check the location of the admissions office—whatever they need,” she says.

“Many of my mentees over the years have been older, nontraditional students,” McGee says. “They’ve already worked a decade or more, wrangled office politics and dealt with landlords. I respect their authority and believe in their ability to apply it as they find their way around BMCC.”

She adds that older students “know how to read the room. No one has to tell them the benefit of exchanging phone numbers with another student they connect with. They’ve coached their own kids in school and understand how building a rapport with their professor will come in handy when they need something like an extension on an assignment. Where they might need encouragement, is letting themselves have some fun, like taking part in activities on campus.”

A Panther Partner alumna shares her experience

Panther Partner alumna Carlene Hunte Nelson served as president of the Student Government Association and was accepted to both Columbia University and NYU when she graduated from BMCC.

Entering college at the age of 42, she says, “meant hope and raising the standard for what is achievable in my family. It felt like a privilege and an opportunity to be a change agent.”

It was also important, she says, “that my son witness this milestone and be encouraged and inspired by it.”

She explains that as an immigrant to New York from St. Vincent, there was no one in her family to offer guidance when she embarked on her higher education journey.

“I had to figure a lot of things out on my own and I was usually up against a deadline,” she says. “I stayed connected by reaching out to the network of people on campus, like first-generation mentors and professors. I asked a lot of questions and was persistent.”

Majoring in Business Entrepreneurship at BMCC, Hunte Nelson says her focus was “economic stability and independence. I also became involved in clubs, student government and advocacy, which revealed that working in public policy and leadership is my true passion.”

Now a junior at the NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, she is studying politics, public policy and human rights.

Learn more about BMCC’s Panther Partner program and Nov. 8 celebration

Last year, over 100 first-generation students were matched with faculty and staff mentors who helped them navigate college life, through the BMCC Panther Partner program.

Staff and faculty interested in being a Panther Partner mentor can visit here.

Learn more about the BMCC Panther Partner program by visiting here, stopping by 199 Chambers Street, Room S-136E or emailing Rahana Belle Jerome at rbellejerome@bmcc.cuny.edu.

Students, faculty and staff interested in attending BMCC’s First Gen College Day celebration on Wednesday, November 8 from 2 to 4 p.m. in the cafeteria at 199 Chambers Street, can learn more here.