FLI Attends 1vyG Conference at UPenn

FLI Attends 1vyG Conference at UPenn

In February, FLI@MIT, the undergraduate student organization for MIT’s First Generation and/or Low-income community (FLI), attended the seventh 1vyG (pronounced “ivy G”) conference. This year’s conference was hosted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn First Plus Center and took place from over two days. MIT’s conference representatives were Crista Falk ’23, Eren Shin ’23, Tammy Chen ’24 and FLI Staff Advisor Alex Hoyt (OFY). The conference featured three student and two administrative representatives from 34 universities.

The conference theme was “Opening up the FGLI Acronym,” exploring what it means to be first-generation and/or low-income on each college campus. Students and administrators participated in breakout discussions covering topics such as “FGLI Identity and Resources,” “Making a More Inclusive Environment,” “Supporting FGLI Students,” and more. The keynote address, “Opportunities and Education,” was delivered by Prof. Sally Nuamah from Northwestern University. Her discussion focused on how institutions shouldn’t just look to “elevate” first generation/low-income students but “liberate” them. The Institutional Trailblazer Award was presented to President Maud Mandel from Williams College for being the first school to implement an entirely grants based financial aid package, with all work-study included as a grant.

If you’d like to learn more about the FLI community at MIT please reach out to Alex Hoyt (jahoyt@mit.edu).

— Alex Hoyt, OFY