First-Gen Students Association plans mental health, nutrition and professional development workshops

Since its activities as a recognized student organization were officially launched at the beginning of the spring semester, the First-Generation Students Association (FGSA) has been ramping up its presence on campus. To this end, the FGSA is holding its first official event, a student-centered series of workshops, open to the public on March 31.

Besides weekly meetings, “We have been really active with tables, fairs here and there, in the library and in many other student organizations and offices' events. It's been just baby steps, but we want to portray the enthusiasm and willingness to connect more and more with our peers,” said the FGSA President and graduate student Flor Vega. “This is our official first event to the public— free for first-gens, allies and the overall MSU community.”

There will be three free sessions occurring during this event, featuring speakers from Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS), the Allen Yarnell Center for Student Success (AYCSS) and the Office of Health Advancement (OHA).

The first session, which will be delivered by counselor Levenae Buggs from CPS, will be addressing issues surrounding confidence building, mental health and self-esteem. The second will be held by the AYCSS and will feature various professional tips such as resume development and salary negotiation. Finally, the third will discuss nutrition and other health resources, and will be headed by OHA’s health educator Cristina Chiotti and dietitian Kaitlyn Schlange.

“I know that Nutrition 101 doesn't sound very friendly, or it's kind of like, ‘Oh, no, this is a class. I don't want to go to a lecture.’ But in the end, it's going to be more about how to plan your weekly meals in a healthy manner,” Vega explained. “Most [first-gens] work and study at the same time. Some of us are away from home, so it's most likely that we will choose a fast and easy meal that might not be very helpful.”

“We're going to talk about how to organize our meals so that it's healthy, but also budget-friendly, considering the time [and financial] constraints that some students have,” she said.

The inspiration for the three main sessions and topics for this event came from meetings with FGSA members and leadership, Vega said. “We were together in one of our previous meetings and we were just discussing, ‘Hey, we want to do this [event]. What topics would you like to learn about?’”

“Some of the members were saying ‘I want to learn how to recognize my value.’ Other people said, ‘Yeah, but I also want to know what resources I can find on campus.’ So many comments were about salary negotiation because some of them are about to graduate. It was just a brainstorm,” she said.

The FGSA’s discussions led to the three main topics that will be addressed in this event: mental health support, strategic professional development and exposure to campus resources — like OHA’s nutrition services.

Additionally, these topics that may at first seem separate are inescapably correlated, Vega said. “We like to present on mental health topics [because] people know that these are important — and academic performance is also important — so everything is incredibly connected. These are not mutually exclusive,” Vega explained. “For instance, self-confidence is key for professional development. You need these kinds of things to fully succeed. Then, you will be at your full capacity, mentally, nutritionally, and in other ways, to accomplish your goals."

Attending this event — or even one individual session — would be very helpful in a busy student’s life, Vega said. “It's going to be easier if a person attends, because there's so much information on websites. And sometimes it's tough to navigate all of the details if you have schoolwork or other things going on in your day. But if you attend one of these [sessions] or all three of them, you will hear everything you need in a nutshell. It's going to be fantastic.”

“We would like to have a large number of attendees so that they can have these resources handy. This is a free event for all MSU students and allies. Even if you're not a student anymore, you can come so that you get to know more about us, and also because there might be a Q&A section in every session. So, you can just be there as a second resource, or maybe just to connect [with students] later,” Vega said. “We'll also have prizes, and some of them are MSU Bookstore gift cards.”

The funding for this event is coming from sponsors in MSU’s Graduate School, the Dean of Students Office and CPS, according to Vega.

However, the vision for this event belongs exclusively to the FGSA. “This idea came from us, it’s something that we were discussing in our meetings. And actually, we were even discussing this last semester when we were not an official association. So, it’s exciting,” she said. “I just hope that [attendees] can get enough input to cover some of the needs that we are trying to address here, because boosting your self-confidence is a big deal.”

The workshops will happen on Friday, March 31, in SUB room 235 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

To attend this workshop or individual sessions, you can RSVP by scanning the QR code below.

To check out updates and see upcoming events, visit @msu_firstgenerationstudents on Instagram.