Cheyenne Amaya’s social media is filled with photos as she wraps up her senior year at Syracuse University, with captions such as “12 days left” and “just finished my last class.” Her grandmother has commented in Spanish on each post, saying how proud she is and how she can’t wait to celebrate with her.

Amaya, a communication and rhetorical studies major, is the first in her family to earn a college diploma. After graduation, she’ll pursue a master’s degree in journalism at Boston University — something she’s always wanted to do because only 4 percent of Latinas receive a master’s degree in the United States, according to a 2015 federal government report. Her mother will be wearing a Honduras flag during graduation in honor of where her family is from, Amaya said.

“My mom works seven days a week, she has no days off, she works in two supermarkets, and I know why she works so hard is so she can see this happen,” Amaya said.

Cheyenne Amaya is a senior communication and rhetorical studies major at SU.
Kai Nguyen | Photo Editor

Faculty members know that first-generation college students face obstacles pursuing a college education. The challenges of navigating the process starts before applications in high school and continue through the next five years.

“A lot of those things I think they’re trying to navigate on their own, but also the emotional pressure of having that weight of ‘I’m the first in my family to go to college,’” said Huey Hsiao, associate director of SU’s Office of Multicultural Affairs. “There’s that feeling of pressure of ‘I got to make my family happy.’”

A senior psychology major from the Bronx, Carlos Mendoza came to Syracuse through the Higher Education Opportunity Program. Since middle school, Mendoza said that he knew he’d be the first in his family to graduate.

Mendoza’s father walked him to school every day until his senior year of high school. Mendoza said it was annoying at first, but could tell his father was trying to push him to eventually go to college, in a way. He views his graduation as something he and his family achieved together. Mendoza is the youngest among his siblings, some of whom went to college but never graduated.

“They have been very impactful for me and seeing them and how hard they work,” Mendoza said. “Seeing the things that they’ve done for me and for our family me, it’s motivated me.”

Carlos Mendoza is a senior psychology major at SU.
Lydia Niles | Asst. Digital Feature Editor

Steps away from the real world, Mendoza is feeling slightly nervous about graduating. He’s still deciding what he wants to do for a career. He said that he’s interested in medicine and wants to help others, but knows that he’ll always have support from his family.

Taryne Chatman, a triple major in African American Studies, political philosophy and citizenship and civic engagement, is the oldest of five brothers. He said this commencement isn’t just for him, but also for his family who has inspired him.

“Part of this graduation ceremony reflects giving back and elevating my family, along with myself,” said Chatman, a first-generation college student.

Chatman recalled a class assignment in which having outside network connections was vital, but without family members who attended college, he had trouble with the project. One of Chatman’s motivations for attending SU was providing guidance to his younger brothers.

Taryne Chatman is a senior triple major in African American Studies, political philosophy and citizenship and civic engagement at SU.
Kai Nguyen | Photo Editor

He’s the president of the Student African American Society and the Black Graduation Committee. He said he wants to use his leadership position to restructure and rethink the campus’ framework.

Arlene Centeno, an information management and technology major from New York City, said her family is excited to attend all three of her graduation ceremonies — “Black Graduation,” iSchool graduation and the university’s graduation. In high school, Centeno knew she wanted to get away from home for college but didn’t know where to start.

Her senior year of high school, Centeno went to the It Girls Overnight Retreat, in which she traveled to SU for a weekend to learn about careers in technology through the iSchool. Her interest in tech didn’t spark until midway through her college year, after transferring from Fordham.

Arlene Centeno is a senior information management and technology major at SU.
Katie Reahl | Staff Photographer

Following graduation, Centeno will be working as a consulting analyst at Accenture in Houston, but her long-term goal is to find a way to use technology to improve inner-city education, she said.

“I feel like technology is a really good tool to help fix a lot of problems within our world,” Centeno said. “One of those specific problems that I feel like it can help is within the education system.”

Centeno advised other first-generation students to “just explore.” In college, she joined club softball and the Black and Latino Information Studies Support group. The excitement of graduation hasn’t “sunk in yet” for Centeno. She said that the feeling will likely sink in when her family sees her walk across the stage.

When Asile Patin walks across the stage at graduation this year, more than a dozen family members will be in the audience wearing T-shirts with her face on them. Growing up, school had always been a priority in her household, but she’ll be the first from her family to graduate college.

“It wasn’t like they didn’t want to go to college, everybody in my family was interested in education, interested in school and wanted to do really well,” she said. “There was just always something holding them back with their personal circumstances.”

Asile Patin is a double major in African American Studies and citizenship and civic engagement at SU.
Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Patin has spent her four years at SU exploring her interests in social action and entrepreneurship, she said. She’ll be graduating as a double major in African American Studies and citizenship and civic engagement.

Reflecting on her college career, she found she’s often had to pave her own way as a woman of color, a first-generation college student and an entrepreneur, Patin said. Nothing was automatic, and nothing was just handed to her, she said.

“A lot of what I’ve learned in college has been through me asking the questions and me figuring it out myself,” Patin said. She sees that mentality as a blessing and goes out to find opportunities.

She remembers the struggle of trying to prove herself to other people. Looking back, Patin wishes she would’ve just “trusted the process” of college.

But Patin said she feels lucky to be at SU. While she had little guidance through her college experience, she’ll be able to help her family in the future.

“In the end of the day, your degree, although it is for your family, it’s more about you, it’s about what you make of it,” Amaya said. “When I graduate and when I get my master’s, that degree, I’m going to be using it.”

— Asst. Digital Editor Lydia Niles and Staff Writer Sarah Slavin contributed reporting to this article.

Published on May 8, 2018 at 1:20 pm

Contact Jiaman: jpeng04@syr.edu