In a land of firsts, The Pa'lante Podcast will tell you what it's like.

The Pa'lante Podcast informs, demystifies and smooths the transition process for first-gen high school students considering going to college through storytelling.

According to an NCES report from 2018, recent figures show a third of college students are first-generation. About 90% of them are low-income students who do not graduate within six years (EAB 2019). It is clear there is a disconnect happening for first-generation students in high school transitioning to college. First-generation students are the firsts in their families to attend college and receive a four-year degree. Indeed, as Shabeha Haque, a guest on The Pa'lante Podcast and first-generation student at George Washington University notes, “it is a bit different, but I think one of the main similarities is we just had to find ways to finesse the system in a way that worked for us and in a way that benefitted us to make sure we were given the benefits we deserve being in higher education.” First-generation students like Shabeha are often times navigating the path towards college blindly and supporting themselves with the resources they have available to them. If you are low income or first generation American it is even more difficult to get to college and find the resources you need.

Thus the Pa'lante Podcast was made to inform, demystify and smoothen the transition process for first-gen high school students considering going to college through storytelling. The podcast does this in order to combat the lack of conversations and resources for first-gen high school students considering going to college. As the founder of The Pa'lante Podcast and first-generation student myself, my goal is clear: to inform first-generation low income (FLI) students about their options and what colleges have to offer. As the firsts in our families to attend college no one's told us how it's done, The Pa'lante Podcast does just that through the rich and diverse voices of first-generation college students who have done it and are still climbing.

The podcast is currently available on all mainstream podcast channels and can also be accessed on its website. While the podcast has been received by a lot of support and love from the community and has seen downloads in ten states and forty-one cities; the real measurement of success will come not in the short run but rather the medium and long run when FLI students transition into college, graduate from college, and continue to pay it forward.

In a country where, 71 percent of the U.S. foreign-born population aged 25 and over do not hold a college degree, first-generation students like Shabeha, Augustine Jimenez, and other guests on The Pa'lante Podcast, represent the American Dreams of their families. Indeed, as Augustine Jimenez, a first-generation student at Boston University and guest on the podcast notes, “being from that low income minority background my mother didn't really have a way of relating to that experience of applying to college, she didn't understand it outside of this practical “it's a means to a good career. It's how we're going to progress as a family- socioeconomically speaking.” We are the daughters and sons of restaurant workers, fast food cooks, nail salon workers, house cleaners and the workers uplifting the country; and we all deserve the opportunity to an education and to pursue our dreams and aspirations.