CSULB’s GenExcel program aids first-generation students in achieving academic success

Photo Credit: CSULB GenExcel

In his youth, Jose Raya-Pérez witnessed the economic difficulties that his family members faced and realized that he wanted to blaze a different professional path—not only for himself but for his loved ones.

Raya-Pérez, a senior double-majoring in business administration management and operations and supply chain management, determined that graduating from college would aid him in achieving the professional success he longed for.

But as a first-generation Latino student, he acknowledged the difficulties he faced while navigating his freshman year at Cal State Long Beach due to the lack of academic guidance.

“As a first-generation student it was extremely difficult to find ways to succeed without the programs on campus because I never had anyone to guide me and mentor me to improve my habits,” said Raya-Pérez. “Without the proper guidance, I would have failed two classes my first year which would have led me to my [academic] downfall and possibly drop out.”

With only a 57% graduation rate, Latinx college students are more likely to face several obstacles that interfere with their pursuit of higher education. However, Raya-Pérez was able to jump through his academic hurdles with the assistance of CSULB’s GenExcel program.

Through the University Center for Undergraduate Advising (UCUA), the newly rebranded GenExcel program allows for one-on-one peer and faculty counseling for first-generation freshmen students in search of assistance during their transition to CSULB. Serving only first-generation students, 81% of the program’s student mentees identify as Latinx.

“We provide individualized support to our Latinx mentees. I walk my mentees to mentoring centers, The Learning Center, the [campus] pantry, etc., and have contacts in different sources of campus support [that] I can email and put my mentees in contact with,” said Laura González Alana, a GenExcel faculty mentor who started during the 2019-20 academic year. “I also review my mentees' resumes and am happy to serve as a reference for internship and full-time job applications.”

Through the program’s mentorship, students obtain personal guidance to the school’s extensive financial, educational and mental resources that many otherwise would not know of as first-generation students.

GenExcel hosts events and workshops where students can increase their financial literacy, renew their FAFSA and CADAA applications, develop professional resumes, refine their time-management skills and attend networking fairs while also cultivating relationships between their program members in their academic, professional and social lives.

“The resources provided by GenExcel were extremely crucial from the jump from when I first joined. Workshops and events allowed me to grow as an individual, and professionally. Having a mentor really allowed me to focus my attention on areas that needed improvement in my academics and my personal life skills,” said Raya-Perez who served as president of the First Generation at the Beach student organization from 2020 to 2022, and now serves as the club’s vice president.

After their freshman year, mentees have the opportunity to become peer mentors for the incoming freshmen to help provide a student perspective throughout the process alongside the faculty mentors, maximizing student success via various mentor relationships.

Originally established as Partners for Success program in 1988, the program’s priorities have evolved from providing faculty mentorship for first-generation students to aiding students who needed assistance with their English and math skills over the years.

With their recent relaunch in the fall of 2019 as GenExcel, the program reverted back to its original mission statement of aiding first-generation students in their college education journeys, according to Associate Director Josh Scepanski.

Since its recent relaunch, the program has assisted around 511 freshmen peer mentees, including this year’s participants.

CSULB has continued to prioritize the mitigation of the barriers that first-generation Latinx students oftentimes face as the institution was ranked number six in the nation for most degrees awarded to Hispanic students, according to Hispanic Outlook on Education.

Incoming freshmen can contact GenExcel to be a mentee for the 2023-2024 academic school year through the program’s email to take advantage of the resources and mentors provided by the program by next fall.