In 2017, the Council for Opportunity in Education (COE) and the Center for First-generation Student Success, an initiative of the Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education (NASPA) and the Suder Foundation, launched the inaugural First-Generation College Celebration. Campuses across the country are recognizing First-Generation College Celebration Day on November 8, and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln has a week filled with special events, starting with the First Gen Fair on Monday, November 8 at the Nebraska Union Crib and concluding with a conversation with First Gen UNL Alum Mekita Rivas on Thursday, November 11 in the Swanson Auditorium of the Nebraska Union from 5:45-7:00pm.

Mekita Rivas is a contributing editor at Cosmopolitan and Bustle. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, Glamour, Refinery29, among others. Mekita currently resides in Washington, D.C., and regularly covers culture, style, and politics. In 2012, Mekita graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied journalism and English and now she returns to campus to share her First Gen story with the UNL community.

To Learn more about First Gen Alum Mekita Rivas, visit Nebraska U on Medium.

National First Gen Celebration Events: https://go.unl.edu/evcfirstgenneb