Colleges honor first-generation students

Published 1:30 am Friday, December 7, 2018

Edmonds Community College and Central Washington University-Lynnwood joined Nov. 5-9 to celebrate an inaugural First-Generation College Student Week.

A declaration acknowledged students who are the first members of their immediate family to embark on a college journey and the path to being a college graduate. During a kickoff event, attendees heard stories of first-generation students.

EdCC student Matondo Hermione Mbuku Tulu, 22, who helped plan the festivities, moved to the United States in 2011 with her family from the Democratic Republic of Congo. As the oldest of seven siblings and the first in her family to go to college, she said she feels the pressure to be successful and set a good example for her younger siblings.

“You have to be determined to succeed academically and also in understanding a new culture,” Mbuku Tulu said.