If Dave Joseph becomes prime minister of his native Jamaica one day, he will have achieved a long-time goal despite experiencing tragedy there. He says the island is a vital part of who he is and that it drives him to succeed.

As a freshman identifying as a first-generation, low-income student, Sebastián González searched for a space at the University of Pennsylvania where he felt at home. After seeing a Facebook post advertising the Penn First Summit, a town hall for FGLI students on campus last year, his world changed.

Looking back at her undergraduate days, University of Pennsylvania alumna Leanne Pyott Huebner, who represents the first generation in her family to attend college, remembers feeling “differently prepared” than her peers.