Skip To Content
Filter search
Cal Poly Pomona
  • LIBRARY
  • ONLINE SERVICES
  • DIRECTORY
  • MAPS
  • CALENDAR
  • About Cal Poly Pomona
  • Cal Poly Pomona Overview
  • Visitor Information
  • Campus Maps & Tours
  • News
  • Events
  • Administration
  • Annual Security Report
  • Campus Safety Plan
  • Admissions
  • Undergraduate Admissions
  • Graduate Admissions
  • International Admissions
  • Continuing Education Admissions
  • Military & Veterans Admissions
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Student Accounts & Fees
  • Outreach, Recruitment, & Educational Partnerships
  • Academics
  • Colleges & Departments
  • Majors & Degrees
  • University Catalog & Academic Schedules
  • University Library
  • Research
  • Academic Resources
  • Registrar
  • Campus Life
  • Student Services
  • Student Activities
  • Recreation & Fitness
  • Health & Wellness
  • Housing & Dining
  • Diversity
  • Calendars & Events
  • Campus Safety & Emergency Info
  • Athletics
  • Visit Athletics Website
  • Alumni
  • Visit Alumni Website
  • Giving
  • Why Give
  • Ways to Give
  • Where to Give

PolyCentric University News Center

Main Menu
  • About Our University
  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Athletics
  • Giving
  • Expand/Collapse Menu
Browse: Home / 2014 / September / First-Generation Engineering Students Get a Helping Hand

PolyCentric

University News Center

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
    • Submissions
    • Contact
    • Department of Strategic Communications
    • PolyCentric
  • News
    • Browse by Topic
    • View All Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Archives
  • Achievements
  • Announcements
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Social Media Directory
  • Events
  • For the Media

First-Generation Engineering Students Get a Helping Hand

Posted on September 9, 2014

Lily Gossage (left), director of MEP, and Joel Nelson (right), airframe design manager for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, with summer bridge students and college student representatives.
Lily Gossage (left), director of MEP, and Joel Nelson (right), airframe design manager for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, with summer bridge students and college student representatives.

For many students – particularly those who are first-generation, underrepresented minorities – the transition from high school to college is a jolting experience in terms of the difference in expectations around workload and study hours.

Lily Gossage, director of the Maximizing Engineering Potential (MEP) program, launched a summer program called “Engineering in Your Future” to help students make this transition.

Traditionally, underrepresented minorities predominantly make up the number of first-generation students, and, according to Gossage, minorities often have a more difficult time acclimating to the college workload.

“It’s more pronounced for those who are ‘first in their families’ to go to college; they have more difficulty adjusting to the newness of the college experience because their parents don’t have first-hand experience and are unware of the expectations of campus life,” she says. “It’s a huge step in uncharted territory.”

The program welcomed 120 incoming freshmen, more than half of them women, and MEP was sponsored and supported by the Boeing Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Union Pacific, and Xerox.

“Engineering in Your Future” modeled the anticipated rigors of coursework, introduced students to campus services, reinforced understanding of academic policies, matched students with upper-level students from cultural organizations in the engineering field (American Indian Science & Engineering Society, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanics in Engineering & Science, and Society of Women Engineers) and connected students with the engineering industry via workshops. The session was condensed into two three-day sessions.

Gossage confirmed that this will be an ongoing program that will return next year.

“I’ll be talking with each and every one of our new MEP students to gather their feedback on what was most impactful to them. I’m open to new ideas and interested to see what other ways we can enrich this activity,” Gossage says.

 

Posted in News | Tags College of Engineering, Engineering, Students and Campus Life

POPULAR

  • CLASS Dean Iris Levine

    CLASS Act: Dean Levine Sets High Bar for Herself and Others

    326 views / Posted January 11, 2021
  • Graphic with illustration of Martin Luther King Jr.

    MLK Day Celebrations Include Student-Centric Volunteer Opportunities

    121 views / Posted January 14, 2021
  • Expanded Early Exit Program Info Session

    33 views / Posted January 5, 2021
  • Travel Health Orders

    24 views / Posted January 5, 2021
  • Mansion Lane Closure Update

    24 views / Posted January 5, 2021

Picture of the Day »

Toy Drive

Toy Drive

Cal Poly Pomona in the News »

College students reflect on their first semester experiences

Mailani Matsuno, who is taking classes from her home in Guam, interviewed about her reasons for studying from home and adjusting to the time differences between home and her classes.…

Honoring California architecture students through scholarship at the 2020 2×8 Virtual Exhibition


NMSU student research outlines problems in private immigration detention facilities


Out of work during the pandemic, Riverside woman starts charcuterie business, Mel’s Boozy Bites


10 rock stars with impressive college degrees


Tags
College of Engineering, Engineering, Students and Campus Life
About Cal Poly Pomona Feedback Privacy Accessibility Document Readers

3801 West Temple Avenue,Pomona, CA 91768

©2018 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

All Rights Reserved