Start Date
7-2-2024 2:15 PM
End Date
7-2-2024 3:15 PM
Document Type
Presentation
Description
Belonging has been identified as an important, if not the most important, factor impacting the success of college students, especially (multi)marginalized students in engineering programs. Well-being and belonging are deeply entwined, helping to explain how the strength of students affinities lead them to feel a sense of true happiness that guide their holistic success. In this presentation, I present two differing narrative stories from Samantha and Rocky, two non-white, low-income, first-generation women in engineering. At the time of their narratives, both women were in the fourth year of their engineering degrees; however, Samantha was graduating and Rocky was not. In fact, Rocky was struggling to belong and maintain a sense of overall wellness. This study emerged from an exploration of how intersectional socioeconomic inequality impacts students' broader success in engineering. Based on a model that was used to choose these two participants (and four others), no student was meant to be successful, yet all the students but Rocky were. In this presentation, I show the ways in which well-being and belonging, or a lack thereof are present in their stories. I further show the impact of traumas, resources, and access to supportive traditional and chosen families on their trajectories.
Included in
A Tale of Two Low-Income, First-Generation Engineering Students: Well-being, Belonging, and the Role of Chosen Family
Belonging has been identified as an important, if not the most important, factor impacting the success of college students, especially (multi)marginalized students in engineering programs. Well-being and belonging are deeply entwined, helping to explain how the strength of students affinities lead them to feel a sense of true happiness that guide their holistic success. In this presentation, I present two differing narrative stories from Samantha and Rocky, two non-white, low-income, first-generation women in engineering. At the time of their narratives, both women were in the fourth year of their engineering degrees; however, Samantha was graduating and Rocky was not. In fact, Rocky was struggling to belong and maintain a sense of overall wellness. This study emerged from an exploration of how intersectional socioeconomic inequality impacts students' broader success in engineering. Based on a model that was used to choose these two participants (and four others), no student was meant to be successful, yet all the students but Rocky were. In this presentation, I show the ways in which well-being and belonging, or a lack thereof are present in their stories. I further show the impact of traumas, resources, and access to supportive traditional and chosen families on their trajectories.