Miguel Sanchez: 0:10

Welcome to first gen 1 0 1. The podcast or first-generation graduates share their stories and career tips. I am your host Miguel Sanchez. In this episode, Anthony Reda shares his inspiring journey from community college to academic success. I say first-generation student. He talks about the challenges he faced and overcame with grit and determination. If you're looking for practical insights. On navigating higher education. Anthony said advice is a must. Listen. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the 1st Gen 101 podcast. I am your host, Miguel Sanchez. Today, I'm very excited. I have a good friend who I've met a few years ago while volunteering in a not for profit that helps first generation students. Anthony, welcome.

Anthony Reda: 1:08

Miguel, thank you for having me. My name is Anthony Reda. So firstly, I've worked at SUNY Westchester community college for the past 11 years this January. Prior to that, I worked at several other higher education institutions, marking almost my 17th year in higher education, which I can't believe it. Currently, I'm a library technician and an adjunct librarian. So I wear both a staff hat and a faculty hat at SUNY Westchester. I'm also an adult services librarian at the Mammaroneck Public Library. I'm a deputy title nine coordinator for SUNY Westchester, our Valhalla campus. So I oversee cases dealing with sexual harassment, stalking, bullying, I handle all those cases. It's very important ensuring equity, safety, accountability, and investigations. So I wear a couple of different hats at the college. It is my passion and I'm primarily serving first generation, traditionally underrepresented groups at the college. SUNY Westchester was one of the first Hispanic serving institutions in New York state. That has been my passion, both here and at previous institutions I've worked at where the institutions were majority minority populations and mostly at risk student populations. So that's where I've excelled. And that's where my passion is.

Miguel Sanchez: 2:27

Thank you, Anthony. I want to go back to your experiences as a college student. I know now you're in a role where you're empowering and helping students. can you tell me about your background and how was it like growing up as a first gen student?

Anthony Reda: 2:43

I would say, as a first generation student, at the time, I didn't realize I was a first generation student because, to be honest, in the 2005 6 world, that terminology wasn't around, at least for me, I didn't hear that terminology. I didn't think there was anything unique with my experience, and it's not until many years later I realized that. Me, along with millions and millions of other students in this country, faced the same thing that I was facing and people were facing way more difficult academic journeys prior to me. But at that time, in that era, that kind of pre social media era, where things were just much smaller and all you really had was a MySpace at that point, you did feel like you were in a silo. My parents had grown up in immigrant households. Where they were the translators, the mediators for my grandparents and the outside world. They were expected to go to school, but they weren't expected to go to college. They were expected to pick up a trade. A skill and just going to the workforce. So now, by time I had come around, my parents had impressed on me and my brother that education was something that we had to pursue post high school. But there wasn't money for a four year. You would have to go to the local community college, which is still, I look at as a blessing because how many parents can't even provide that. But, it was a two parent household of both of them working multiple jobs. In order to ensure that me and my brother could go to the local community college. And then from there, maybe the possibility of two years at a four year school to finish up and get an undergraduate degree. So at that time, I didn't realize that was unique. I just realized that my parents had pressed upon me. You both were going to go to college. There was no with, and they had regretted that they both had taken some college courses, but had never finished. My father was able to get enough credits and became a certified electrician and has done very well, thank God for himself, and now retired. And my mother was a teacher's aide, but they both had regretted not finishing their education, but they didn't have that backing at home because their, my grandparents perspective was that wasn't really a necessity. So it was different times completely. And I think going forward now. I look back at experience and I realized how unique it was. And I know we'll get into it later, the nuts and bolts, but I have so many situations that happened during my first gen experience, navigating college landscapes, but I don't want to get too ahead of myself yet.

Miguel Sanchez: 5:20

At what point. During your college experience, you realized I'm different. What, can you give me an example or an anecdote of a time in college when you realized, Hmm, there's some things that I don't know, or there are certain things that I didn't understand because of my circumstances.

Anthony Reda: 5:40

Absolutely. So many things. Post high school, I realized I wasn't prepped enough for higher education, period. I had, graduated from a public school system that was adequate, but it wasn't exceptional by any means. The school district I was in, they were known for sports more than academics. And the guidance counselors, while were good, I had one in particular, she was a wonderful woman. But at the time, because I didn't know my direction, the advice was just go to community college and, you know, get an associates. And then from there, you'll probably get a good job. You don't need anything more than associates. This was in 2004, five and six. This is what they're telling you. And associates is good enough. A bachelor's is fantastic. If you get that. Having said that, I went to the local community college and I realized that I didn't know anything about navigating the higher ed landscape because my parents didn't know the terminology that so many of my classmates who weren't first generation knew because somehow this was foreign to me. Their parents went to school and got bachelor's, some even got master's degrees. And I thought that was strange when I was growing up. My family just kind of got here in the sixties and the late fifties. So both sides of my family only got to this country within the last 50 years. So they hadn't been here for generations where classmates of mine, their families, They had grandparents that went to college, which I thought was the most bizarre thing to me. Now, seeing it, it was so naive of me to think that way, but at the time, all of my cousins and people I grew up around me, not my classmates, but friends, childhood friends, none of our parents went to college and none of our grandparents certainly went to college. So it was weird to me. That my classmates were navigating these spaces better than me. So fast forward, I get to community college. I'm sitting down with a counselor to get advised and scheduled for classes. I said, I had interest in criminal justice. I said, I was probably going to look into law enforcement. The counselor assigned me a bunch of classes. It turns out that weren't related to that program map. On top of that, I had an entrance exam in there where I failed the math portion. I passed the English portion, so I had to be placed in a non credit math. I didn't understand what that meant other than the counselor told me, you're probably going to be delayed now because you're taking a non credit math. So you're taking a class your first semester that's not working towards your degree that you wanted to get. So I was miscounseled, and a non credit math on top of that. As I start going forward more, I start realizing, as the semesters go on, I'm not gonna make graduation within two years because another counselor was asking me, who advised you? Because they should have never told you to take X, Y, and Z. You shouldn't have taken this economics class. You shouldn't have taken this class. And now I had to face the conflict of having to tell my parents, I may have to be here for two and a half years, possibly three years, which is going to cost them more money that they don't have. And it created tension and they didn't hesitate for a second to find every which way to get money, to get me to stay there, And there was already a stigma of going to community college versus my more, I would say, American classmates in high school who went straight to four years. And they were just going to four years and dorming because their parents could afford it. And it's seemingly, they knew how to navigate college landscapes. They knew the terminology, bursar's office, admissions office. Financial aid, all these foreign things that I had never had to navigate. I had to learn on my own. I had to be my own, the way my parents were a cultural broker for my grandparents. I had to be my own cultural broker in real time because I'm on campus. I'm speaking to offices, some not friendly at all. They're telling me I need obscure paperwork that my father needs to get notarized. I have to run across campus. I have to go to a notary. Then I have to go back to this office, but this person's only here on Thursdays, every other month. At 17, 18 years old, navigating this while still working one to two part time jobs and luckily not having to use public transportation, using a commuter car to get to back to and from campus, it was a lot. Miguel, it was definitely a lot. It was eye opening because again, I didn't have that institutional knowledge that My more Americanized classmates had because their parents went to college and got bachelor's and master's and their grandparents went to school. So they already knew the higher education landscape. They knew how to navigate. They knew what a bursar's office is. They knew how to fill out financial aid paperwork. They knew how to speak to a Dean of a department. If they knew the program, the curriculum chair, the department chair. Wasn't a good fit for them or they were having issues. I didn't know where to navigate if I was running into issues on campus. It was so frustrating and so scary navigating because I didn't have any guidance. When I asked my parents, what does this mean that they're asking for? Because my parents have no clue what they're asking for because they had taken college courses in the early eighties, the whole landscape had changed. So, fast forward, I was miscounseled and because of that, I had to stay longer at my community college and my last semester there, I had to work like crazy to get out of there if I was going to graduate on time, which was two and a half years instead of two. So I had to take 18 credits, which was academic overload. I had to get permission from a dean. I take 18 credits for the semester and that final three credits was a CLEP exam. So because I was miscounseled and taking wrong classes in my early semesters, I had to make up for it on the back end now in order to try to get out of there on time and not cost my parents any more money. So I had to study like crazy for a CLEP exam while taking 15 other credits for in person classes. And it was just such a stressful time because I'm doing all that while I'm working a part time job. While I'm taking care of family and things of that nature. So it was a lot, but I appreciate the journey so much because I remember after that and then navigating into my undergrad, I was eventually able to go to an undergrad school commuting only. That's the difference I wanted to make. I wanted to prevent those issues that I encountered for my students going forward. I can't prevent every pain point a student encounters at every desk and the running around they have to go through. But when they come into my area, which is the library, I know I will give them the full service. And not shut a door on them and not reroute them to go somewhere else. We try to do above and beyond for our students to support them because they're already an at risk population. So they're this close at any time to just dropping out because it's just too much. Thank God I didn't have that option because I knew that wasn't an option for me with the parents I had. There would be no way, but, for these students, they don't have that support at home, a lot of them. So there's no one to kind of kick them in the backside and say, it's not an option. You're not quitting. There may be nobody at home. And in a lot of cases, it is a lot of them at couch surfing and just living at friends houses and maybe in and out of, homes, group homes for at risk youth. So I just knew I wanted to limit what I had went through for future students, because I can only imagine the generations that came before me that were first generation students. That my situation was rainbows and sunshine compared to what they encountered.

Miguel Sanchez: 13:19

You came to mind when I was putting the list together I think we share experiences. I went to a community college. I also had, probably more of a full time job on top of a full time schedule and managing those can be very complicated. So how were you able to maneuver all these things? How were you able to manage classes, learning the school culture, gaining that institutional knowledge and experience with work?

Anthony Reda: 13:48

So I'm not unique at all because there were many working class kids like me who are first generation students who were running off campus to go work their part time job. So at least for me, and maybe that's more systemic because it's at a community college. So you're going to get a higher population of maybe students. That work, are at risk, are minority, are first generation students, versus if I went straight to SUNY Albany, or SUNY Buffalo, or Mercy College, or somewhere like that. So there's a higher prevalence of that. Having said that though, it was stressful. I didn't have a full time job. I don't know how you managed because at that age, no one wanted to give me full time. It took me so many years to get full time, but it was also coming on the heels of the financial collapse, financial crisis of 08. So around that time, like 07, 08, things started slowing down and no employer wanted to give you full time, at least for the fields I was applying in. So, but everyone was happy to give you part time because they didn't want to pay your health insurance. It was stressful because you never got to really ingrain yourself in the culture of campus life, when I see, students at four year colleges and they're kind of like hanging around campus, having fun, joining clubs, parties, all that kind of extracurricular stuff. You didn't have the luxury as a commuter student, you were there to go to class and drive right back into wherever your home was, your town to start your shift. And you were working to have gas money to get back and forth to campus. Take your classes, do what you had to do and leave. There was no time to hang out and join student life and all this stuff that I was unfamiliar with. And it wasn't until the end of my tenure in my community college, where I had left my previous part time job and gotten a job on campus in the campus library. And I realized, wait, this is great. I could work on campus and be a student here. And it happens to pay better than the job I was doing in town at a pharmacy. so I started working on campus the moment I was about to leave that college campus. And ironically, I wound up working at that campus for five more years after I graduated there and was at my undergraduate institution to get my bachelor's. I started helping community college students there where I had graduated. And I was trying to help students and try to prevent them from what I had went through. Again, I didn't have the power and the position I was in to be able to step over to a counselor and say, make sure you advise them right. Don't be assigning them classes that they shouldn't be taking. I didn't have that authorization, but I knew when they came into my department, we were going to make sure all the resources we offered to students, they were going to get an abundance plus extra support, whether it's letters of recommendations, money for the bus, money for food. We try to fill in as many of those gaps as possible.

Miguel Sanchez: 16:45

Now that you mentioned working on a campus it sounds like that led to where you are now in terms of a career. And you also mentioned not being able to join as many clubs in school and in many institutions, joining a club is crucial because it's often the pathway that's going to get you to your next job. That's one of the ways that you build social capital. So one of the things that I want to ask you is how, how did you make that transition from having a job to then finding more of a formal career? How did you get there? And were there any people who helped you get there?

Anthony Reda: 17:24

There were so many, I was so blessed to have amazing supervisors, in my community college, colleagues who were willing to support me because they saw something in me. Like personal anecdote, I was working at the community college at the library, which is an academic library because it serves an academic institution, which is different from a public library or a law library, anything like that, just a side note. But all along, I was trying to get into law enforcement. And this is 07, 08. I worked there till 2014. So basically from 08 till 2014, I was working there and I was taking police exams and I was taking them all over and that's what that was the direction it was going. As the year started going on, I started realizing, you know what, this is my passion actually to work in higher ed, to work in academic libraries, to help students with their research, with their assignments, with electronic resources, physical resources. Quiet spaces for studying, spaces for collaborative studying and collaborative group explorations, all that. So I realized I pulled back from law enforcement where I was working just as a side gig all along, a part time job turned out to be my passion. And that's when I started applying for full time positions in academic libraries. And I kept doing that for so many years, not finding anything, almost getting something, then it getting pulled away from me. And again, it was all the repercussions of that 08 financial collapse. From 2009, the country was still reeling with debt. And there was just a lot of flux in the academic space. And I went on so many interviews and at that time I secured a second job, a second part time job at another college. And I was in charge of a learning commons, which is a wonderful collaborative space room in the library where the latest technologies in there. Students, a lot of nursing students, but a lot of group study happens in there. And I was in charge of keeping the room open till after midnight because these were dorm campuses. During finals, we stood open till 2 a. m. So at the time I was going to my undergrad, I would start my mornings with, now at my undergrad institution, commuting to that college, then go to my old community college to do a couple of hours. Then go home to my parents, have dinner, then go to the four year college I was working at now, part time, and I would stay there till either midnight or two in the morning. And those were my days. And then eventually, when I got my bachelor's in 2011, I was able to become a certified substitute teacher in my school district, where I went to high school. So then I was working three part times, because still nobody was giving me Full time, no matter how many interviews I went on, letters of recommendations, everyone wanted me for the company, but they wanted me part time though. I was substituting as a school teacher in K through 12. I was working as a library assistant at my community college, and then I was working as head of a learning comments, room at the four year college. So my days were busy and that commuting stood with me for so long. So my experience working at. Two different higher ed institutions. While subbing in a K through 12 system, all that experience I value so much now because nothing ever came easy. It took years for me to get full time. And then I finally secured my first full time position where I still am now, which is a SUNY Westchester.

Miguel Sanchez: 20:55

how do you think colleges can support students so that first gen and underrepresented students can be their best in the classroom?

Anthony Reda: 21:05

They've seen, there's definitely been a lot of changes. Thank God since, when, during my undergrad year. So since 05, 06, 07, 08, there's been a lot of changes. There's been ways to reduce the barriers on the front end, particularly placement exams, not having students to go into a non credit English or math right off the bat. SUNY Westchester just speaking as an employee there, but not as in charge of that process. There's now more of a questionnaire and then possibly an exam after if you want to do an exam, but they're fielding the potential students. What do you feel comfortable with? Take a look at some of these questions. Do you think you'd be able to solve this? Try and solve it. We'll place you in a one on one for math. I didn't have that option. Take this exam. If you don't get a certain score, you're going into a non credit for possibly English and math right off the bat, your first semester, those are two out of your five classes that you're going to pay for that you won't get credit for. So right away, you're starting with your hand tied behind your back. And now that will delay your process to graduate out of your undergrad. That's just one example. The terminology, the higher ed terminology, me not being able to navigate those spaces confidently and knowing what any of those offices mean, what am I supposed to do when something pops up on my account? That's an issue. And I have no idea the foreign language they're speaking to me. All the stuff that terminology I know now intrinsically, but at the time, never have heard of. So colleges have addressed a lot, and I can only speak for the colleges I work at, because we have such a high first generation population and because we're a majority Hispanic institution, I see the changes. But we're still not there yet. It's still, it's, it's not perfect yet. Reducing barriers on the front end, the kind of full cycle recruiting of getting the student and the potential student in the door, getting them through the pipeline and then out successfully within two years, because I'm at a two year institution, with their certification or degree. That's the goal. I still don't think we're there yet. We're improving. But I think there's still so many, and I'll just say in general, I think we need to do more with the touch points that students go through, especially if you're a first generation student, we still need to create more comfortable spaces for them to navigate. But in terms of the processes of how to sign up as a student, and then while you're a student registering for your next semester, All those processes should be simplified. There should always be multilingual services. For students to create greater accessibility, and I think if you come from that vantage point with a more holistic approach because in terms of student involvement and clubs, there's so much more of that and it's fantastic. Now you have individual country clubs, so you have the Peru club, you have Colombian club, so you feel that sense of community. When I was in college, there was a club, and it was probably just a generic called Hispanic Club, and that was pretty much it. So now, there's a greater sense of community there, which is wonderful, but I think there's still more holistic things that need to be put into the pipeline process of, they got to the college, that's great. Let's take care of them the entire journey, so they make it to that finish line. So you have to remember the external pressures they're dealing with when they come to us. Academic academia is challenging enough, especially if they're not familiar with the space. So we have to engage them constantly, but we have to make it holistically caring, like this full kind of embrace. And just speaking for me and my colleagues in our area, there's so much we try to do for our students. And we like to say that if it wasn't for the library, which happens to be the highest rated department on campus, shameless plug, based on student surveys, we do letters of recommendation for them. We help them sometimes with money for food, money for the bus. We help them with letters of recommendations, not only for jobs, but for colleges, scholarships. We try to do things that are outside of our job role. That's not part of our job role, but that's just a wonderful team. I happen to work with in my department and we do a lot for them, but I see that spark in their eye when we take an interest in these students. And I know they're not getting that at home sometimes. So I just always think if every department could just do a little extra like that, this whole experience for them would be so much different than when I encountered and the generations before me.

Miguel Sanchez: 25:44

If you could speak to yourself back in 2006, during the hardest times what would you say to yourself?

Anthony Reda: 25:53

I would do some things different. I would give up the law enforcement dream and tell myself, stay in academia, this is your future. But I don't regret how rigorous the journey was because nothing came easy and nothing in life should come easy. And especially didn't come easy for me. Again, I experienced nothing compared to some of what my friends and classmates experienced because their skin color is darker, because there was one parent or no parents at home. I would tell myself the hard work and the struggle is worth it because that gave me the grit. the headspace to deal with what I deal with now. So I'm blessed to come from a loving family, two parents wanted me to go to school, supported me going to school. And then after, when I went to graduate school, I supported myself doing that. And it was my dream to continue my education, but I would tell myself, stay on that same path. Maybe do one or two things different with job wise and, with taking certain classes, listening to certain people on campus that I thought had my best interests at heart, but, there were counselors and people there again, because I didn't know the space. Throughout my entire journey at all of my different jobs that were wonderful boosters for me, including my current job. I couldn't have done it without family, friends, and all of the people in my career. And the wonderful professors I had at different points in the journey that were just those type of professors you'll never forget. They left a lasting impact on you.

Miguel Sanchez: 27:33

Anthony, Thank you for speaking with me today.

Anthony Reda: 27:36

Thank you for having me. So appreciate it. Thank you.

Miguel Sanchez: 27:40

Thanks for listening. If you enjoy the episode. Subscribe to this podcast and share it with a friend. Don't forget to leave a review. Until next time.