In this day and age going to college seems to be a goal of many — especially, for students at DePaul College Prep. However not all people have the option of going to college, either from not being able to afford the materials for the courses, unwillingness to have student loans, or the need to go straight into the workforce to support their families. When people go through these hardships and possibly the regret of not attending college, it makes it even more exciting if their children attend college. 

At DePaul College Prep, there are several teachers who are first generation college graduates, and many should take inspiration from their stories. 

Dr. Marlene Lang is an ethics teacher at DePaul College Prep. Lang attended Millersville University where she graduated with a bachelors in philosophy and a minor in journalism. She also has a Masters Degree in Spirituality from Chestnut Hill college in Philadelphia and a doctorate from St. Thomas University in Florida in Practical Theology. 

Even though her parents did not graduate from college, Lang always assumed that she would attend college. Her mother didn’t have the opportunity to attend college because of the norms of their generation, and her father attended two years of a Bible college for missionaries but didn’t graduate because my mother was ill. Her father passed away in a factory accident and after that her mother worked many jobs to support her family. 

Since her parents didn’t attend college, she didn’t know the first thing about applying. If she hadn’t been informed by an English teacher that she had to take the ACT she might’ve not had the opportunity to attend college at all. 

Dr. Lang always knew she wanted to be a writer and first started as a journalist. She reminisced about her time in her college newspaper, “This was the first time that I really had something published that everyone was going to read,” Lang said. “I wanted to go home and hide under my bed because there are thousands of people on this campus who will be reading my column”. 

Many people praised her for her article, but of course there was criticism. This didn’t sway Lang.

“It helped me to break out of that fear of putting my words out there.” Dr. Lang graduated as a single mother of three children and was highlighted as a success story by the valedictorian of her graduating year class. 

Pat Donlan is a counselor at DePaul College Prep. He attended Illinois State University in Normal, IL, graduating in 2013. He obtained a Bachelors of Science in Psychology. He struggled with college application letters, as his parents had never gone through the process. He also ended up switching majors three times until he found a good fit in psychology. 

Donlan’s parents didn’t attend college because at the time it wasn’t something that was necessary to do in order to get jobs in the field they wanted. His parents were able to work themselves up to the top ranks of their respective fields. His mother is the head of surgery scheduling at the hospital she works at, and his father is the head of his department at a tech company. 

Donlan said he struggled with going away at first and that “I was very afraid of the idea of going to college, until I went out and did it.” He said it was a great experience, and without his time in college he doesn’t know where he would be. 

Raymond Maseman is a computer science and art teacher at DePaul College Prep. His mother urged him to attend college, but he had known for a while that he wanted to. He attended the University of Denver and graduated in 1992. He graduated with a bachelor of fine arts in printmaking and art education. 

His father didn’t attend college as he didn’t like the idea of the rigidity and structure of college. His mom took a few college classes when she was in high school in order to be able to work as a high school librarian, but never graduated.

Maseman describes the challenges of going from never having to really work hard in school to get good grades, to being challenged in his classes for the first time in his life. He learned after not submitting an assignment he thought was too difficult, that “ it’s ok to do as good as you can, even if it’s stressful and hard.” 

Raymond Maseman also described feeling alienated by his peers at his college. Many of them were from families that were better off than his. He said, “There were a big chunk of people that were not the stereotypical art student.” 

 Maseman said he took a lot from his experience in college. He took away many life lessons, such as how to properly make etchings, how to write a good essay, and how to African dance. He also spoke about how he briefly became a quaker, then converted back to Catholicism. All and all he said he had a well-rounded college experience and learned a lot about himself in the process.

Mr. Michael Sneed is a counselor at DePaul College Prep. He attended The University of Illinois Champaign. He graduated with a degree in communications. 

His father went to DeVry and got an associates degree and now works at WGN as an engineer and his mother wanted to be a teacher but after becoming pregnant decided to be a stay at home mom.

He decided to go to college at the request of his parents. He said “my parents wanted me to have flexibility with life, to have access to things that they didn’t.” 

Initially he started his classes in education but found the classes very challenging, so he switched his major to communications. He said that “being disciplined was a challenge” and that it took him a while to learn good study habits. 

Sneed stated that as the first person in his extended family to attend college which felt alienating. He said that his family felt like “they were the part of the family that made it out.” Which led to him feeling pressured to do well, as his extended family had high expectations for him. 

Sneed said he enjoyed his college experience and that he doesn’t know what he would have done without it. Without his degree he wouldn’t have been able to teach, so he thinks he would have done something in athletic coaching.

Sneed stated that it is important to highlight first generation college students as many people who are highlighted on places such as social media are privileged, and many first generation college students come from families who are less fortunate. 

Sneed said that “When I was young I didn’t realize that many people that looked like me actually went to college.” He feels that more of these students should be highlighted as many come from a path that is less than celebrated.

All the teachers agree that not everyone has to go to college to live a successful life. Sneed said that “college is a great experience, but for some it isn’t worth $300,000 in debt.” However, they all enjoyed their experience at college and highly recommend that students at least look at a few colleges, and possibly consider attending one.