Early on a cold Friday morning, Kearns High’s Latinos In Action students were seen boarding a bus on the North side of the school beginning their two-hour journey to Utah State University. Recently Utah State University hosted an event known as the True-Blue Diversity Day & First Generation. The theme of the event was “Dare Greatly”. True Blue Diversity Day is an event for high school students geared towards providing resources and information to first generation students. The conference took place November 22nd, 2019, at the Logan campus of Utah State University from 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Once the bus arrived on campus the LIA students and Andrew Busath, the advisor, were greeted by USU student ambassadors. Students were given breakfast, spoken to by influential members of the USU staff such as Nahomi Jimenez, the diversity outreach specialist at Utah State, and the president of the University Noelle E. Cockett. From there they were split up into different groups and attended workshops.

The Cougar Claw was able to interview Nahomi Jimenez who organized this event. When asked what kind of role diversity plays in the conference, Nahomi said, “We recognize that we have a phenomenal university that can benefit from having diverse thought, understanding, and world views. We want to provide an equitable education. We want to provide an education for all the students of Utah. The face of Utah is changing. There is way more diversity now and that’s super cool. We want to meet people where they are and show them that Utah State is a great opportunity.” Jimenez, being a first-generation student herself, left the interview with this, “It’s important to know getting to college feels like a massive endeavor and I would hate for that to be the reason a student doesn’t achieve it. We hope to make students feel that they have people rooting for them and standing in their corner.”

USU ambassadors led the groups of high school students to workshops and tours. One group was taken to the “A” in the quad. The “A” is just a statue of the letter “A”, but what is more special about it is the tradition about it. It’s called being a True Aggie and students kiss on top of it to become a true Aggie.

The Cougar Claw was able to interview one of the students who attended the event, Lessly Paulino Izqueirdo, a junior at Kearns High School. When asked about what her favorite part of the conference was, she said, “I loved the enthusiasm that the ambassadors had. They were all very welcoming and you can just tell that USU cares about its students”.

All in all, Utah State University is a good fit for any first-generation student in need of support. The transition from high school to college can be difficult, but Utah State is there to help, and they are not afraid to show it. The First-Generation Conference is the school’s way of giving high school students a glimpse of that. If any students have questions about Utah State feel free to contact Nahomi Hernandez at her email: [email protected].