First Generation

An award-winning documentary narrated by Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood, First Generation tells the story of four high school students – an inner city athlete, a small town waitress, a Samoan warrior dancer, and the daughter of migrant field workers – who set out to break the cycle of poverty and bring hope to their families and communities by pursuing a college education.

Shot over the course of three years and featuring some of our nation’s top educational experts (Richard Kahlenberg, The Century Foundation; J.B. Schramm, College Summit; Dr. Bill Tierney, University of Southern California), the film explores the problem of college access faced by first generation and low-income students and how their success has major implications for the future of our nation.

First Generation was directed and produced by Adam and Jaye Fenderson and made possible in part by Lumina Foundation for Education and GOAL 2025 whose mission is to increase the percentage of Americans with high quality degrees and credentials to 60% by 2025. The film was an official selection at film festivals across North America and had its world premiere at the Heartland Film Festival where it was nominated for a Crystal Heart Award.

It won “Best Documentary” and “Best Soundtrack” at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema, and a “Special Jury Award for Social Impact” at the Napa Valley Film Festival. First Generation has been embraced far and wide as a tool to spark the conversation about what it takes to increase the college-going and success rate for low-income and first generation students.

[itsdoc]

Watching this I start remembering how little my own parents knew about college, applications, scholarships and waivers etc. It was a mentally of "I send you to school to learn" and that was it. It was like the school was suppose to teach me how. On the other hand the school tried to emphasize how important help from your family would be. There was never a balance or real understanding how difficult it was for the student to be in the middle trying to piece together good advice and steps to follow. Tough, these kids are trying their best, I really hope they all find their way.

[ginius]

Anyone else interested in seeing how these guys are doing today 10+ years after they graduates HS? I hope things turned out well for everybody.

[ReneandKnuckles]

I'm Watching for an Assignment. I'm pulling an all nighter on this. I have 2 more years left. Pain.

[janiepaz]

Being first generation and low income, I had very little knowledge about universities in highschool. I am grateful that I got the opportunity to go from CCC to UC Davis.

[natemotivation]

Earned 3 Associate degrees at my community college, and first in my family. This video reminds me of the beginning of my journey 💖

Update: I earned two bachelor degrees in Criminal Justice and Psychology from two different Universities. I'm working on my masters in Psychology now. Anything is possible.

Update: I have my master's degree in Psychology and am working on a 2nd master's in Criminal Justice now, and got accepted to two Ph.D programs. Never stop.

[ckieFAN]

I'm very surprised at how this young man wasn't initially aware of Harvard's competition. I guess it's because I was exposed to an academic setting growing up, so I didn't know there was any ignorance surround colleges. Still, this was an insightful documentary

[saoyuukiasuna]

This so amazing! I, myself is struggling with my senior year (senioritis) 😭😭but I know I can't give up I'm hoping I can make it 😢❤❤ these students are by far talented and warmhearted.
FYI> I cried through the documentary haha

[gabriellejackson]

Enlightening. Could be many of our stories; this is something all educators need to watch.

[isaacromero]

This is a testament to how crucial cc are to low income families. Instead of shitting on them school counselors should encourage their students to go the community college way and apply to states schools which tremendously more affordable than top tier universities

[johnnyBrwn]

Wow wonderful documentary. I am very happy to see these students get the representation they largely never receive.

[uuxkx]

Love this documentary. It's definitely inspiring.

[HoldenCaulfield]

I just finished my last class for my AA degree. I just have to pass the FCLE and then I can graduate.

[Tintenfischchen]

The US really needs to find a way to make higher education free. It's not impossible, other countries manage to provide it, so the US should finally figure it out.
I'm from South Africa and I was lucky to be able to move to Germany and attend a great university there.
I payed about 300€ per semester and half of that was for a 6-month public transportation ticket. Since universities in Germany usually don't offer campus housing, you have to find a flat and pay rent. With support from my parents and a small weekend job it worked out well for me.
If the parents of a student can't pay for that, they can also apply for a student loan that is provided by the government (and you only have to pay back half of the amount you got after graduation!). They look at the parents' finances and if they see that they can't provide enough money for the child to attend university and have their own place (if it's neccessary because they can't live with their parents), food and all that stuff, the department that deals with those student loans (search for 'BAföG' if you're interested in how that system works) will pay. They're not allowed to pick and choose people. If you meet the requirements (parents can't pay is the biggest one), you'll get the support. Full support for a student would be around 600-700€ per month.
I think that is pretty awesome because it makes the playing field a lot more even. Sure, the richer kids won't have to apply for and later pay back the student loan while the poorer kids will have to, but at least everyone has the opportunity to attend university (and have enough money to pay for rent and food during those years).

[yazminlozanomonterrey]

My daughter has to watch it for school si I wanna see what it's about

[susanclaire]

Neither of my parents went to college because they grew up poor. I grew up poor also, but my mother was determined that I get a college degree. I can't believe how some of these parents don't value education or push their kids to apply to college or even get good grades! My mother freaked out if I got a B!!! It's not these kids' faults, it's their parents' and they (parents) should be ashamed of themselves. Poverty is NOT a bar to higher education; that's just a lazy excuse. And yes, I did have to take out loans.

[lionelspencer-ward]

In the final year of my daughters high school literally every student expected to go to college. Only problem was which university, the best schools have very high academic standards that they demand. It is an open competition only the top 10 to 15% get in. In order to prepare for the entrance exams (the competition) most students take a two year preparation course.
Both the first and second year programmes include as much as ten to twelve hours of mathematics lessons per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of literature and philosophy, two to four hours of (one or two) foreign language(s) lessons and two to eight hours of minor options: either SI, engineering industrial science, chemistry or theoretical computer science (including some programming using the Pascal, CaML, or Python programming languages, as practical work), biology-geology, biotechnologies. Added to this are several hours of homework, which can amount to as much as the official hours of class.
Successful students can then start their degree courses age 20. There are no “Associate Degrees” here. As the preparation course is at Bachelor's degree level, students tend to go straight on to one or two Masters Degrees.

It is a difficult path to follow but on the plus side there are no university fees, in fact the government will contribute to your living expenses depending on your personal situation.

[lukkash]

In this documentary they have to know that all depends on a studies-type they wanna choose cos after some type of studies u can do pretty well or even very good but after others u can struggle severly. Starting an adult life with $60k of debt when you’re in a job which doesn’t need high skills is a failure and all these kids have been „programmed” that college is their „promise land”.

[GBR-cjfj]

I just wanted to say one thing, the way the girls made the cookies triggered me 😂
But this is a very well made documentary

[qveenanaaaaaa]

We watching this right now in class🥺🥺🥺🥺🥰🥰🥰

[ladymartin]

Where were the guidance counselors? Why didn't they suggest more appropriate universities for the two young women?