Oral History Program Myla Andersen Interviewed by Chelsee Boehm 4 April 2018 Oral History Program Weber State University Stewart Library Ogden, Utah Myla Andersen Interviewed by Chelsee Boehm 4 April 2018 Copyright © 2014 by Weber State University, Stewart Library iii Mission Statement The Oral History Program of the Stewart Library was created to preserve the institutional history of Weber State University and the Davis, Ogden and Weber County communities. By conducting carefully researched, recorded, and transcribed interviews, the Oral History Program creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are conducted with the goal of eliciting from each participant a full and accurate account of events. The interviews are transcribed, edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees (as available), who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words. The reviewed and corrected transcripts are indexed, printed, and bound with photographs and illustrative materials as available. The working files, original recording, and archival copies are housed in the University Archives. Project Description The First-Generation Oral History Project began in 2018 in collaboration with Weber State’s First- Generation Club. The commonly accepted definition of a first-generation student is one whose parents/guardians did not earn a bachelor’s degree. This project was created to capture the experiences of active first-generation students and alumni in an attempt to better understand the challenges that first-gen students face. These interviews explore the difficulties of navigating college, including scholastic and financial hurdles, as well as highlight current students’ future goals and alumni successes. ____________________________________ Oral history is a method of collecting historical information through recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account. It reflects personal opinion offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ____________________________________ Rights Management This work is the property of the Weber State University, Stewart Library Oral History Program. It may be used freely by individuals for research, teaching and personal use as long as this statement of availability is included in the text. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Andersen, Myla, an oral history by Chelsee Boehm, 4 April 2018, WSU Stewart Library Oral History Program, University Archives, Stewart Library, Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Myla Andersen Circa 2015 1 Abstract: The following is an oral history interview with Myla Andersen conducted on April 9, 2018 in the Stewart Library’s Archives Conference Room, by Chelsee Boehm. Myla discusses her life and her experiences as a first-generation college student at Weber State University. Alexis Stokes, the video technician, is also present for this interview. CB: Okay, my name is Chelsee Boehm, today is April 9, 2018 and I am here with Myla Andersen. We are going to be talking about Myla’s experiences as a first-generation student at Weber State. Just to clarify, a first-generation student is one whose parents have not completed a four-year degree. Alexis Stokes is operating the camera. So, to begin, can you tell me where you were born? MA: I was born in Layton, Utah, at the Davis Hospital. CB: Did you grow up in Layton? MA: I did grow up in Layton. I still live in Layton. I’m a Layton girl. CB: So, did you go to Layton High School? MA: I did not, I went to NUAMES. Which is the Northern Utah Academy of Math Engineering and Science, which is in Layton on the Davis Campus. God bless Weber State. CB: What do your parents do, work wise? 2 MA: Okay, so my dad runs a restaurant called MacCool’s and that’s in Layton. Wow, everything is in Layton. And then, my mom is a sous chef at Harmon’s in Farmington. CB: Do you have any siblings? MA: I do have a younger sibling. I have a half-brother. CB: And how old is he? MA: He’s turning eight in July. CB: So, he’s young. MA: He’s a youth. CB: So, when did you realize that you wanted to go to college? MA: I think I realized that I had to go to college in third grade. And what I mean by “had to,” is like, I wanted to be a human rights lawyer in third grade. That’s what I thought I wanted to do. But, I was like, “Oh, you have to do college to do that.” So, and then I just felt like from that time on that I knew I would go. CB: How did you prepare? Like, did you do research and stuff before you came to college? Or did you learn from school? Like, NUAMES, is very college oriented, aren’t they? MA: Yeah, absolutely. So, I feel like NUAMES definitely prepared me and informed me a lot on my decisions that I was going to make as far as higher education. In junior high school, it was just really brief conversations about college. And so I always thought that I would go to Utah State because I had family up there. But, 3 NUAMES definitely instilled in me that I wanted to go to Weber and that Weber was the right school for me. CB: Why do you think that is? Like, what do you think made you wanted to go to Weber? MA: Weber was the best choice for me because of the small classroom size, that’s why I chose to go to NUAMES in the first place. So, I kept that pattern going into higher education and then the actual hands-on work with faculty. I knew at Utah State that I was going to go into a classroom with one hundred to five hundred people and I was just going to get lectured at and there was no interaction and if my professor knew my name, it probably wasn’t for a good reason. At Weber it was completely different and the largest classroom I’ve ever been in is like fifty people, and it’s like a nighttime economics class that every business major has to take, so it makes sense that everyone is packed into this one class. CB: Absolutely. MA: Did I answer your question? Or did I go off on a tangent? CB: No, you are great. MA: I feel like an old man sometimes. Just let me tangent. CB: No, you are fine. So, can you tell me about your journey to college. What it was like to apply and figure out financial aid? MA: Yeah, absolutely. So, NUAMES did a wonderful job of helping prepare for that. I walked with my associate’s degree before I walked with a high school diploma. 4 Leading up to that, I was always very conscious of financial aid and my decision to attend college was based primarily off of the financial aid aspect of things. So, I knew that if I wanted to do college, that it was going to come from my money. Bless my parents’ hearts, I would never put them through trying to pay for my school, right? So, through getting an Associate’s degree here at Weber, I already knew what was going on. I worked very closely with the counselors at NUAMES to prepare for college and went to meetings with different advisors. I was a First Year Experience (FYE) Peer Mentor my first year after graduation from high school. In that program you learn a lot, like the ins and outs of financial aid. I was also a college outreach advocate for Student-to-Student, which is in the Center for Multicultural Excellence. And so I helped students learn about financial aid and that was also in my first year here at Weber after graduating from high school. So those positions where I was teaching people, I definitely learned a lot about all of that. CB: How did you get those roles? Is that something you applied for? MA: Yeah, absolutely. So my counselor in high school, she was actually an FYE instructor. She said, “You know, this is a really good program, you should apply.” I applied, interviewed, and I got it and it’s a scholarship. You teach three classes, you do about three presentations in your college class with the instructors and then the Student-to-Student college outreach college advocate, I applied for. It’s a work-study job on campus. CB: Awesome. Is that something that you’re still doing? 5 MA: So, I’m no longer a college outreach advocate, but I will be an FYE Peer Mentor again in the Fall. CB: Awesome. How was that for you? Being a student and teaching students? MA: It makes me take my own advice, right? And it makes me be very practical about it. I’m very aware. Like, if I’m going to give somebody this advice, is it something that I did myself? So, it’s all very hands-on from my own experience as well. CB: Yeah, for sure. So, you were taking college classes while you were still in high school then. Do you think that made your transition to like being a full-time college student easier? MA: Absolutely. I think it would have been a lot more of a shock if I had not had that opportunity. Honestly. So, your first year at NUAMES, you don’t do a college class. You don’t do early college, but you can do concurrent enrollment. And even if you aren’t doing concurrent enrollment at NUAMES it’s all very college-like. Deadlines are a big deal, using Canvas, and things like that. And so it was a really smooth transition and I can’t imagine if I had gone to like Layton High or Northridge that I would have such a smooth transition into college. CB: Have you been a full-time student since you started? MA: Absolutely. CB: What do you do besides being a student? Do you work? 6 MA: That’s a fun question. So, I do work. I work part-time right now. I will start working full-time during the summer semester. I do a lot of extracurriculars. Do you want me to elaborate on that? CB: Yeah, if you want to. That’s up to you. MA: Okay, so my first year I joined the American Democracy Project. Which is in WSUSA’s Leadership Team and you work with Dr. Leah Murray, who is a political science professor on campus. It’s a nationwide initiative for civic engagement with young folks. So, I did that and I did that again this year. The FYE Peer Mentor thing was another extracurricular. I’m the president of a club called Students for Choice. I also started a club, it’s the League of Women Voters at Weber State University. So, yeah, and I do a lot of those things as well, along with work. CB: Do you work for the university still? MA: I don’t work for the university anymore. I work for Planned Parenthood currently. I’m a campus organizer for Planned Parenthood. But, I’m actually transitioning into a new job currently. CB: Okay, so what are you studying? You’re a double major, right? MA: Yes, I am an international economics major and a political science major. CB: How did you choose those? MA: Okay, so crazy story, I’ve been all around trying tons of different majors. I had one really good political science class from Dr. Murray and that’s how I chose to 7 do political science and then as I moved through political science, I was like, “Wait, how realistic is this?” Because I didn’t come to college to become an enlightened being. A lot of people go to college for like the fun experiences and that kind of stuff and I went to college—like for the pure fact that I want to take care of my family. Like, I am my family’s retirement plan. And so, I needed some way to make money. Right? CB: Yes. MA: Don’t we all? So, then I took an awesome economics class and I thought, “That really does combine interests with policy.” Like the political science stuff, I’m fascinated with policy and making communities more effective and the economic development side of things, so that’s how we got here. You can make money with an econ degree, so bless it. CB: How much time do you think you have left? MA: I graduate Fall 2019. So, I think I’m like a technically a junior in my program. CB: What advice would you give to a first-generation student who’s interested in going to college? MA: So, I feel like this is really hard, right? I definitely think it has to do with the individual that you are talking to. That was my job for a year. I worked with only first-generation college students from various underrepresented communities about going to college. And you know, my parents never told me like, “Hey, you can do anything you want.” My parents were very realistic with me. Like, “You can do almost anything. But, realize that there are boundaries.” So, my advice 8 would be to be very conscious of your decisions and look for sustainable opportunities. Things that are going to last long. I know that’s like not a fun answer, like it’s not, “Go to college and have fun and just try it out.” But, I think as a first-generation student, our story in college is very different than other college students. CB: Absolutely. It’s a lot more of an opportunity than just like a fun weekend thing, it’s like, “This is the rest of my life.” MA: Right. This is setting us up. These are the steps we are taking for everything else. CB: Absolutely. So, what are your goals for after you graduate? MA: So, after I graduate, my goal is to be on the zoning commission in Layton City. Because, Lord, we need some help in our city. Their zoning is all sorts of mixed up. But, also to continue my work with Hill Air Force Base. CB: What are you doing with Hill Air Force Base? MA: I just got an internship with them. Fingers crossed it works out. CB: Yay. MA: Pray for your girl. So, I want to eventually be a contracting specialist with Hill. I would be writing contracts. I know that sounds so fun. But, I want to do that. CB: Oh, so actual contracts, not contracting work? I am sorry, I was confused. MA: Yeah. Yeah. No, you are absolutely fine. No, it sounds mysterious. People are like, “Wow. But what does that even mean?” And I’m like, “I don’t know.” 9 CB: That’s great. MA: I’m going to figure it out. CB: So you said that your parents were always realistic. Have you talked to them or has it come up about how they feel about you going to school? MA: Yeah, absolutely. So, my parents are incredibly proud of me and I get nothing but praise from my parents. Like, I swear, any conversation I have with my parents their like, “You’re pretty awesome.” Like, “You’re really cool. You make us seem cooler than we really are.” They are very proud of me. They constantly tell me, like, “I couldn’t have done that.” Like, “You are a badass for what you are doing.” So, it’s a lot of support and a lot of love and appreciation for the hard work I put in and it’s validation. Because they know that I work hard and so they just validate like the hard work I put in. CB: Absolutely. MA: Yeah. CB: So, what would you say is the thing that you are most proud of being a first-generation student? MA: Oh, this is such a good question, wow. I’m most proud of all first-generation student’s dedication. Because this isn’t easy. Like, we weren’t—you know, other kids could go and ask their parents about FASFA and when I asked my parents about FASFA they never went through that. They were like, “I don’t know. Let’s Google it.” You know what I mean? And it took a lot of research on my part and it 10 just took pure dedication. I think every first-generation student has that same dedication. So, bless all first-generation students. Their dedication… fabulous. CB: Amen. MA: Amen. CB: So, I know you’ve worked with Dr. Murray. Do you have any other professors on campus that you’re really fond of? MA: Yeah, Absolutely. Weber State—It’s so great because every professor that I’ve ever worked with, I’m like, “Wow, you care about students.” There’s very few professors that I was like, “Eh.” I mean, there are some. Like we all have, not awesome professors sometimes. But, I would say Dr. MacKay in the history department has been absolutely one of the best people I’ve ever worked with. And then Dr. Keinsley from the econ department. He makes economics fun, which is like shocking. Like, that’s really hard to do. You know what I mean? Yeah, those are the folks. CB: Awesome. I know you said you even started a group on campus the… MA: The League of Women Voters at Weber State University. Yes. CB: What inspired you to do that and what do you have to do to get something like started? MA: Oh my gosh, yes. That’s fun question. So, the reason why I wanted to do League of Women Voters at Weber State University. When we look at civic engagement, we see that women do not participate as much as men, and there are barriers to 11 access and others things that are really involved in that. I want to create an experience for women to feel empowered on campus. Because I think our voice in the public sphere and in governments is so vital and so essential and I want to be a part of that empowerment and bringing opportunities to women on campus to do that. And starting a club is like super easy. Would recommend to a friend. You need eight people and you just need their names and their consent—most importantly. And then you write a constitution and then you submit it and then the university is like, “Yes, you can do it,” or, “No, you cannot do it.” We were a, “Yes, you can do it.” So, that worked out. CB: Okay, and have you done any events or anything so far? MA: So we’ll kick off in the fall with our main, our first big thing, which will be like an induction ceremony. But, we will see what happens. CB: Very cool. Are there programs on Weber State’s campus, maybe like FYE, that you feel are really helpful to first-generation students? Like, If I was a first-generation student and I just started and I asked you where can I go, where would you send me? MA: I would send you to the Student Success Center to talk to Morgan Voot and Ashley Owens. I think FYE is one of our best programs on this campus, honestly. When I went through FYE, I learned the ins and outs of the university, all of the resources that are available to us, like, what my student fees go towards. I learned that I should go and do certain things because my student fees are 12 paying for those. And then there’s also a level of support. Like you learn so much about the university and how it functions and how to work with professors. I think that is one of the most important programs. So, I would recommend to all first-generation college students to take FYE. And it’s a good way to boost your GPA. Would recommend. CB: Awesome. MA: We all need that boost. CB: Yeah, is there anything you feel like you want to add? MA: I’ve got nothing, I’m sorry. I’m easy. CB: No. That was great. Thank you so much. MA: Oh my gosh, yes. Hopefully that was helpful to some extent. CB: Yeah, it was great.