‘Trailblazers’: Harvard Students Celebrate 3rd Annual FGLI Visibility Week

More than 200 Harvard students and affiliates celebrated the third annual First Generation, Low Income Visibility Week with workshops, fireside chats, and affinity spaces.

Led by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural Race Relations, the weeklong initative served to raise awareness for the unique challenges faced by FGLI students, as well as provide meaningful resources and connections.

“Everywhere I go, I think about where I’m from, my hometown community, and how I can best reflect their tremendous support, the tremendous culture, the tremendous influence that it’s had on me,” Kylan A. Benson ’26 said.

Jason J. Coreas ’27, a student worker at the Harvard Foundation, said the planning for FGLI Visibility Week begins at the start of the fall semester.

“It’s a very time-consuming, all-hands-on-deck process, but it’s been very enjoyable,” Coreas said. “Being a FGLI student is something I wear with pride.”

FGLI Week co-chair Isabela C. Gonzalez-Lawand ’26 said that event organizers drew on feedback from previous iterations of the event, pointing to the addition of social events and affinity spaces.

During tabling, “we heard somebody say that 20 years ago, you wouldn’t tell people that you were FGLI,” Gonzalez-Lawand said. “And now we’re living in a community — in this space — where you are proud of that identity.”

Tiffany V. Tran ’28 said that events like FGLI Visibility Week helped her “feel more included” at Harvard.

“Initially when I thought of Harvard, I thought of all these fancy, rich students who got to attend, and there’s me, who’s first generation,” Tran said.

The week of events kicked off on Nov. 8 with a Flower Truck and Bouquet Giveaway event in front of Boylston Hall.

The next several days featured a series of events geared towards socialization and resource-building, including a Wednesday dinner for FGLI students and faculty.

Nana Yaa P. Dwomoh ’27, a student worker at the Foundation and dinner attendee, said the dinner was a “heartwarming” chance to spend time with mentors who “were in your position once.”

“Hearing about their experiences gives you motivation that you can do it,” Dwomoh said.

The Harvard Foundation also hosted a series of affinity spaces during the week, including for Black, Latino, and Asian Americans as well as spaces for student veterans and international students.

Jonathan D. Westcott ’28, who attended the APIDA Affinity Space, pointed to the importance of his time at Harvard for the rest of his family.

“Nobody in my family has come to college, and so it’s an important thing for me, and also my parents,” Westcott said. “I wish that they could have experienced this too.”

FGLI Week co-chair Marina Gonzalez ’27 said that, in previous years, FGLI students have pointed to the barriers they face in navigating a professional world without preexisting family connections or resources.

“I think the hardest part of Harvard is we don’t know how to be pre-professional,” Isabela C. Gonzalez-Lawand ’26, the other FGLI Week co-chair, said.

This year’s programming included a new focus on career opportunities, including a pre-professional panel, networking brunch, professional headshot event, and resume and LinkedIn workshop in collaboration with the Mignone Center for Career Success.

“You’re chasing worlds and you’re going down paths people in your life haven’t before,” Gonzalez-Lawand said. “It makes these people trailblazers.”

—Staff writer Katie B. Tian can be reached at katie.tian@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Samantha D. Wu can be reached at samantha.wu@thecrimson.com.