February 10, 2026
Claiming their space
New affinity group supports first-gen studentsby Allyson Irish
Learning from community, sharing experiences, and celebrating one another. These are some of the goals of Andover’s First Gen Fellowship Program, which officially kicked off this academic year and hosted a special multi-school gathering in January–the first of its kind focused on high school students.
With support from the organization First Gen Leadership, the day-long event included workshops, speakers, and networking opportunities with adults and students from eight peer schools such as Northfield Mount Hermon, St. Paul’s School, and Concord Academy.
It was exciting to bring together students to proudly bond over their first-gen identity.
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José Peralta, biology instructor, received an Abbot Academy Fund grant in 2019 to explore class privilege and identity at Andover. After taking part in Andover’s Leadership Development Program, Peralta then launched a “Proud FIRST GEN” initiative in 2025 to identify and celebrate first-gen students and adults.
Defined as those who are the first in their family to attend college (or plan to attend college), first-gen students often face a set of unique challenges that include difficulty navigating campus resources and bias related to socioeconomic status.
Keynote speaker Misael Beltran-Guzman, director of First-Generation Programs at Bates College, spoke about these challenges and his own feelings of discomfort as a first-gen student. “I felt like I was on a different planet,” Beltran-Guzman said of his experience attending St. John’s Jesuit High School in Toledo, Ohio, where many of his peers came from privileged backgrounds and were used to activities and social gatherings unfamiliar to him.
Boyd often hears that first-gen students feel alone and confused having to independently navigate the myriad details and bureaucracy of boarding schools and colleges, places their families know little about. “I hope the January event provided a foundational step for our students to learn that they are not alone and that there is much they can learn from each other,” she says.
Support for Andover’s first-gen students has been in the works for several years, says Linda Carter Griffith, associate head of school for equity, inclusion, and wellness. During her tenure as a director of the Office of Community and Multicultural Development, Griffith provided workshops and trainings for first-gen students, and she is excited by the opportunities becoming available through the First Gen Fellowship.
It has always been a dream of mine to bring first-gen identity out of the dark and into the light and for Andover to provide the appropriate and necessary resources for first-gen students.
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The First Gen Fellowship group, based in CAMD, is currently composed of 12 students and seven adults who gather monthly for discussions and other events, such as a winter term ice cream social.
Boyd and Griffith look forward to future programming, which includes a group discussion of the book Rising Class, workshops to better prepare first-gen seniors as they head to college, and a panel with first-gen alums.
First Gen Leadership was founded in 2012 by former Andover instructor Adj Marshall. The organization engages with more than 300 college and high school students, faculty, staff, and allies to provide training, tools, and resources for first-gen students.
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