In recognition of the dedication and work invested into their pursuit of higher education, the University of Iowa’s Undergraduate Student Government awarded the first-ever Bridge to Success Scholarship to two first-generation UI students, Dayanara Sanchez and Hollie Byrne.
In collaboration with 1stGen@Iowa, USG’s Bridge to Success Scholarship was created to support and celebrate the accomplishments of first-generation students at the UI through a financial award of $1,000 to help students continue their pursuit of higher education.
Despite this being the first year the scholarship was open for applications, there were around 70 applications submitted, according to Senator Skylar Halley, a first-generation constituency senator with USG and a member of the committee who helped review applications. Halley said the committee was focused on selecting students with a clear reason for pursuing a college education and who could clearly demonstrate how the scholarship would help them.
“A lot of applications talked about personal things with family, wanting to be an example for younger siblings, and making right the sacrifices parents had made,” Halley said. “A lot of these really personal things that demonstrated a lot of care and dedication. That going to college is more than just about the degree for one person.”
Hollie Byrne, a first-generation psychology major from Illinois, is no exception.
For Byrne, she chose to attend college because the career field she hopes to enter, clinical psychology, requires a degree. Byrne, who had been attending community college, said the UI’s successful psychology program attracted her. So, she decided to attend since her fiancé was already living in Iowa.
“And it’s always something I’ve been passionate about,” Byrne explained. “But also wanting to go farther than my family has always been something. Everyone’s always struggled with money or struggled to find a job due to not having a higher education or even a high school degree, so I’ve always wanted to be that one person in my family to go far and beyond.”
After graduating from the UI, Byrne plans on continuing her education and pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology to work with children with behavioral issues. She said winning the Bridge to Success Scholarship has been inspiring.
“It’s also really cool to see that first-generation students are being recognized, especially because it’s not as common nowadays to be a first-generation student,” Byrne elaborated. “It’s pretty cool to see the kids that come from a struggle get awarded something and be acknowledged.”
Dayanara Sanchez, who is currently studying abroad, will also receive the Bridge to Success Scholarship. Both Sanchez and Byrne will be recognized for their achievements and hard work at the first gen awards on March 6 from 3-5 p.m.
The Bridge to Success Scholarship is the result of efforts made by USG’s Vice President Brenda Ramirez and was established by USG’s “Bridge to Success Scholarship” bill, which was co-authored by Senators Noah Davidson, Skylar Halley, and Advika Shah.
“I became the second Latina Vice President in USG history, and so looking back into some of the work that the first Latina [VP] ever did, she did a lot of work with first-generation students,” Ramirez explained. “I’m also a first-generation student, and I thought it would be really cool to open up a scholarship for first-generation students.”
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Ramirez explained how, during the process of creating the scholarship, she collaborated with UI federal aid to ensure the scholarship followed DEI guidelines that had been impacted by the 2023 SCOTUS decision, which overturned affirmative action and made it so that scholarships could no longer consider race, gender, or sexuality in the application process. However, Ramirez pointed out that first-generation status was no longer one of the legal criteria to consider.
“I partnered with [financial aid] to make sure that what I was doing was even legal in the first place, which it is, so that’s how we were able to do it,” Ramirez said.
Ramirez also worked alongside President Barbara Wilson, who supported the USG bill that created the scholarship and saw the scholarship as not only the strength and work of first-generation students but also the staff at the UI who work to help students succeed.
“One in five of our undergraduates is first-in-family to go to college,” Wilson wrote in an email to The Daily Iowan. “So, the fact that we’ve been able to achieve a first-year retention rate of 90.4 [percent] is a testament to the tremendous grit of our students and to the amazing faculty and staff who are dedicated to helping them succeed.
The scholarship marks continued efforts by USG to support first-generation students and relieve some of the stress of paying for college, as Senator Natalie Kehrli, a disability constituency senator and the chair of the Justice and Equity Committee, explained while discussing the importance of the Bridge to Success Scholarship.
“As a first-generation student who’s been navigating the college experience, you face a particular amount of unknowns when navigating college that a student who’s not first-generation doesn’t have to worry about navigating or trying to understand,” Kehrli said. “Awards like this are extremely helpful because it takes off the financial burden from students who are already facing another challenge or another barrier to getting their education.”
