Meet Jessie

This persona is a fictional profile of a 91福利 student. It was created using data to reflect the challenges, successes, and overall experiences of some of our students.

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Headshot of a young white individual with short blond hair, brow eyebrows and stubble, looking down and smiling

Age: 18 years old

Work: Student Food Service Worker at York Dining

Major: Undecided first-year

Family: Single, oldest of three siblings

Challenge: Emerging anxiety, first-generation, rural student

Language(s) spoken: American English

Location: Old Town, ME

Home is: Aroostook county

Pronouns: They/them

Assistive Technology: None

Jessie was born and raised in Aroostook county, in township T16 R6 WELS. They went to a small rural school with 10 people in their middle school class, and they knew everyone. They are the first of their family to go to college and their family is extremely proud of them paving the way for their siblings.

鈥淢y classes are really big and it鈥檚 a bit overwhelming to be honest.鈥

鈥淓verything here is so different, it鈥檚 as if I am in a different culture entirely and I don鈥檛 speak the language.鈥

鈥淚 don鈥檛 understand how to navigate the university system, and I don鈥檛 know what I need to succeed. I feel lost.鈥

鈥淚 spend every night studying and reviewing my work but nothing sticks and I am so tired. I feel dumb. How do other people do it? I end up being tired at my jobs and I can鈥檛 focus in class. My schedule is a mess. How do I know what to do and when to do it?鈥

鈥淚 could work on the farm and earn a living, but instead I am spending a lot of money on this degree鈥

  1. Add a 鈥渉ow to succeed in this course鈥 section in your course, introduce it at the beginning of the semester, and refer students back to it regularly, as needed
  2. Use checklists in your course to help students stay on track
  3. Make sure students know that their instructor understands the complexity of their lives
  4. Making reviews happen in class time
  5. Connect the course to life skills and give possible career paths

Many more students can benefit from these teaching strategies. .

鈥淚 joined a student club and some of the students who are in it are also the first of their family to be in college. We can relate. It鈥檚 nice.鈥

鈥淎t the beginning of the semester, one of my professors had us fill out an anonymous survey about our needs and expectations about the class, and they are sharing resources with us based on our answers. It is very helpful.鈥

鈥淭he RAs in my dorm are trying to create opportunities for people to meet and they tell us about things happening on campus. It helps me meet people.鈥

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