For these four first-generation graduates, perseverance has always been a part of life. After a less-than-ideal end to their college careers, they looked back on what made their IU experiences special and what graduation meant to them.
Natalia Johnson
Natalia Johnson, an informatics major, had already left for spring break when she got the email about IU's classes moving online. She started sobbing.
The subsequent news of postponed graduation was also difficult. She reminds herself that graduation will happen someday, just not when she expected.
“That’s the whole reason I went to college is to pursue an education and make sure that I could be successful in the future," she said. “And when I found out that all the accomplishments that I’ve worked so hard for were on pause or it’s canceled or postponed — that was a really big deal and it was just upsetting.”
She said she often felt a sense of imposter syndrome at IU. For Johnson, graduating proves she deserves the success she worked hard for. She is going to start as a consultant at Alpha Financial Software, though her start date is on hold right now.
She is sad she didn’t have an opportunity to say goodbye to groups she was a part of, including Collins Living Learning Center, the LGBTQ+ Culture Center and the Center of Excellence for Women and Technology.
“Without all the challenges I’ve faced in college, including the pandemic, and the continued support of the IU community in all my endeavors, I would not be who I am today,” she said.
Johnson’s advice for first- generation students is to know that what they are doing is not easy and that finding older mentors is helpful.
“You’re going to make it through it,” she said. “You just have to persist and continue to make an effort.”
Rajen Megha
Rajen Megha is graduating with a bachelor's degree in social work. She plans to go to the Robert H. McKinney School of Law at IU-Purdue University Indianapolis and become a lawyer for public interest law, primarily dealing with child abuse and neglect cases.
“That was always just my plan because of my interaction with the court system myself,” she said. “Just to make a difference.”
Magha’s father died when she was 8-months-old, and she chose to be emancipated from her motherlater on. Because of her situation, she didn’t think she would go to college. When she was accepted into the IU Groups Scholars Program, a program for first-generation, underrepresented students, she realized she could.
Along with Groups, she was a member of Delta Phi Epsilon sorority and worked multiple jobs at Ken Nunn Law Office, the SRSC and Court Appointed Special Advocates for abused and neglected children.
She said she balanced it all with a very tight, carefully planned, color-coded schedule.
Through her jobs and major, she has made many close groups of friends. She said having groups on campus helped make IU small and give her the small town feel she grew up with. She is sad that she won’t get to share graduation with her social work classmates the way she planned.
“Our cohort is pretty close and everything, and it’s just really hard to not be able to celebrate with my cohort this achievement we’ve had,” she said.
Cassiday Moriarity
Cassiday Moriarity is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in public affairs. She will be returning to Bloomington in the fall to pursue a master's degree in public affairs and environmental science. She is also interviewing for an internship with the United States Forest Service.
She is not too upset about the change in graduation plans because she chose to walk at graduation in December, thinking spring would be busy. But she was going to attend the Paul H. O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs ceremony in the spring to show off her school to her extended family.
“I didn’t care too much about walking in college because I think walking in high school is what my family needed to see,” she said. “They knew once I graduated high school, I was going to do great things. I wasn’t going to give up.”
Moriarity moved to Indianapolis after her mother died when she was in high school. She attended Plainfield High School, which offered college visits, giving her the opportunity to visualize college more clearly. She graduated a year early from high school, so she had less time to choose which college to go to than most high schoolers.
“I was the child that was told I was going to college no matter what,” Moriarity said. “I was more academically inclined, so that was my plan anyway.”
Throughout college, Moriarity worked many hours. She was also involved in many clubs and groups on campus, including being president of Read Residence Hall, holding positions in IU Student Government and participating in IU Dance Marathon.
She said she feels more sad about the time she lost than for graduation. She wanted to celebrate Little 500 because she said going to the race during her junior year was one of her favorite memories. She turned 21 this April, so she never got to go out to a college bar with her friends.
“I definitely feel for everyone else,” she said. “I do have friends that are graduating. This was supposed to be their moment.”
Ciara Lynch
Ciara Lynch’s graduation is going to look different than what she and her parents had planned.
Her parents, who immigrated from Ireland about 30 years ago, were going to come to Bloomington and watch her graduate, but now they’ll just celebrate with cake at home. She said graduation was just as much for her parents as it was for her.
“It was going to be really exciting for me to be able to share that with them because they’ve worked hard their whole life so that I could do things that they couldn’t do,” Lynch said.
Her parents love visiting Bloomington and know all the bars. She feels like they get to live their college experience they didn’t have when they visit.
Lynch, who is an exercise science major, plans to take a gap year and then pursue a master's degree in nursing.
Attending college was always the goal that her parents and her high school in Chicago pushed her to attain, though she thinks her father, who is a water department operating engineer, would have been supportive if she decided to attend trade school instead.
She wasn't planning on going to IU when she first visited, but after being offered financial aid, she considered it more seriously. She decided to visit for a second time, which solidified her decision.
“I had this very cliche moment standing under the Sample Gates where I just had this feeling in my gut,” Lynch said.
While attending IU, she also worked at a day care, was a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority and rode in the Little 500.
Her piece of advice is to never take no for an answer. She said there is always another scholarship or another person who can help you.
“Keep your head up and keep working, and you’ll accomplish whatever you are working towards,” she said.
