CU Denver is proud to be an institution that serves first-generation learners—which means about half of our students are the first in their families to go to college. And like all learners in our Lynx community, these students are driven to pursue their goals, chart their own paths, and realize the quality of life they’ve dreamed of.
In honor of First-Generation College Celebration Day, we’re applauding some of our first-generation students who have found success here and who feel supported by the campus leaders who understand from experience what it’s like to be the first in their families to go to college.
Meet Isabella Luna
Isabella Luna felt unmotivated and disconnected after finishing high school remotely during the pandemic. But at CU Denver, she found her community and passion for learning. Luna participated in the Lynx Summer Academy, a program that empowers students with skills to navigate their university experience—and life in general.
After joining CU Denver, Luna started to explore her interests in subject areas that weren’t offered in high school—like sociology. The questions she was delving into in the classroom connected back to her life experiences, and her love for learning clicked. She went on to work as a teaching assistant for one of her favorite sociology courses. Later, she became a graduate assistant in the Summer Academy and helped others—including first-generation students like herself—discover their passion for learning and navigate college.
Throughout her journey at CU Denver, Luna felt like she had people in her corner that helped her carve her own path. “As a first-gen college student, I really tried to get a lot of mentors, and a lot of them have been so wonderful to me,” Luna said. “I’ve been supported by so many people, especially staff and faculty on this campus.”
Meet William Navarrete Moreno
William Navarrete Moreno came to CU Denver to study public health and biology to help people who, like his own mother, struggled to receive adequate health care due to income and other socioeconomic barriers. In 2024, Moreno was selected as one of only 100 students nationwide to receive the Voyager Scholarship, the Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service, awarded by the Obama Foundation. “It was life-changing, because there would have been absolutely zero way I, or my parents, could have afforded college without having to work multiple jobs,” he said.
Moreno wanted to give back to help others like him, so he joined the Youth Advisory Board for the Young Invincibles, which is a national nonprofit that helps young people advocate for health care, higher education, and more in the political process, and also testified in 2024 at the Capitol for the First-Generation-Serving Higher Education Institutions bill. “I was able to share my story as a first-generation student,” Moreno said—and it made a difference. The bill passed later that session.
Meet Student Diddiery Santana
During Diddiery Santana’s first year at CU Denver, she made it her mission to take advantage of every opportunity she could, which meant commuting from her family’s home in Parker and exploring the downtown Denver campus. She also immersed herself in the first-generation community and joined the Latinx Student Alliance and other committees dedicated to student inclusivity and well-being. “I came here to connect with my community while going to college,” Santana said of her CU Denver experience. “Someday, I would love to be a professor who other first-generation students can look up to.”
Santana went on to become a full-time staff member in CU Denver’s Office of Admissions while earning her master’s in communication and working as a teaching assistant. “I escalated through a lot of different positions in the last five or so years,” Santana said. “And I would say a big reason behind that was just the support from the faculty and the staff … being able to make me feel very seen as a first-generation student [and] an undergraduate student who didn’t really know what they wanted to do.”
Meet Zina Evans
Today, Zina Evans is a master of understanding the college experience and maximizing outcomes for students (that’s why she’s CU Denver’s vice chancellor for Strategic Enrollment and Student Success). But it wasn’t always that way. Evans was the first in her family to attend a university, and if there’s one thing she knew back then, it’s that she had a lot to learn about making the most of college. As an undergraduate at the University of California, Irvine, she sought insights everywhere she could. “For me, it was a lot of women of color on campus who I connected with, who had been there longer than me—they could have been anyone from a secretary to the vice president—that I could talk to and learn from,” Evans said. “I’d learn things about, ‘How do you play this game called college? How do you get it right? How do you move forward?’”
That’s why Evans is so passionate about inspiring everyone on campus to pitch in to help students succeed. “Everybody has a role to play in enrollment and retention,” Evans said. In her role, Evans is prioritizing meeting students where they are to help them feel connected and engaged. She says the Lynx community’s commitment to this approach is what drew her to CU Denver. “It’s something a lot of institutions talk about, but you really see that in action here.” Evans said.
Meet Tammy Ewin
Tammy Ewin knows what it’s like to be the trailblazer in the family when it comes to higher education. She was the only one in her family of six children to attend college, and it wasn’t always obvious to others around her that that was a dream she’d be able to realize. “Growing up, I had people say that [I wouldn’t go to college],” Ewin said. “I was determined to go to college and succeed.” Now, Ewin has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Dayton, and she’s CU Denver’s vice chancellor for marketing and communications. “That’s really what I love about higher education: the opportunity to learn and grow and start a career that you may not have thought was possible.”
Sharing stories that inspire students and show the transformative power of higher education is what Ewin loves most about her work. “I am fortunate that my career involves being able to work with students, to tell their stories, and to help represent them as they share in the experience I had many years ago,” Ewin said.