My partner Keith Stettedahl like myself, is a first-generation college student. Keith is a musician, and his major is psychology. He attended some junior college for a while straight out of high school, but he enjoyed playing music more. Since he moved here from his hometown Los Angeles, He has been trying to find what piques his interest and Georgia State University is where he landed. He describes himself as a perfectionist and a very prepared person. He takes pride in his willingness to learn, and his genuine interest in the material. I am going to go into detail about who Keith is as a student, what are the motivations behind his success, what his expectations were and if they were met. 

Keith went to a good high school and did well all the way up until his senior year. He began partying and making music during his last year of high school and slacked off. College was not really on his radar and his family was not really pushing the idea. After graduating he enrolled into a junior college, but he was more interested in music, so he took that route. Keith’s major is psychology, but he is not sure if he wants to pursue the major and he has no definite plans he just wants to learn new things.  

Keith is a slightly untraditional student, so the things that motivate him may be different than the average student coming right out of high school going into college. He has a loving family that motivates him to be successful in college. Keith is also motivated by his genuine willingness to learn and his authentic interest in the material. He appreciates learning more than he did when he was younger. He feels in high school he did work for the sake of getting a grade, but in college he has a real interest in the subjects and assignments. When coming into secondary education Keith looked at it as an adventure which made him enthusiastic to learn.  

Before coming to Georgia state University, Keith had not been in an educational setting since 1993. He did not know what to expect, especially starting school in the middle of a pandemic. He expressed how the learning curve is completely different than what he expected. He had never even used Microsoft software before starting at GSU. Although the transition was different than what he was used to, he has learned a lot about himself as a student. He has learned that he enjoys learning and he loves the atmosphere of professors and students. Coming into an unfamiliar environment he did not know what to expect but he always had a positive mindset to be present and to do an excellent job.  

Being a first-generation college student is tricky. You do not really have a lot of people around you to guide you through the process. This is not because they do not want to, but because they do not know how to. This just means you do not have that voice in your ear telling you to fill out applications, do community service and join extra-curricular activities to boost your chances of acceptance. When you finally get through the process of enrolling and getting accepted you still have a lot of adapting to do, especially if you have been out of school for some time. Eventually you get the hang of it and start to enjoy learning new things and it opens the curiosity in you. This is what happened in Keith’s story, he had been out so long that he is still adjusting to simultaneously being an adult and a student. He is learning new things about himself every day.