How This First-Generation Student Found Her Passion for Learning at CU Denver
Isabella Luna, who is graduating with a BA in sociology this spring, has accomplished a lot during her time at CU Denver. She’s a TRIO McNair scholar and has presented her research and pedagogical work in both Hawaii and San Francisco, to name just a few of her accomplishments. But when Luna was first starting her college journey, she couldn’t fathom herself becoming so deeply involved in her studies and school community. “I felt so unmotivated,” Luna said. That all changed when she arrived on campus.
Luna, who was born and raised in Aurora, is part of the generation who endured much of their high school experience on Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She felt disconnected and disinterested in school as a result. “I didn’t really expect to put a lot of effort into college,” she said. But her motivations shifted when she attended the Lynx Summer Academy, a program that helps newly admitted first-generation students learn about the college environment and campus resources while earning free college credits. It was there that she found the sense of community and care that she’d been missing. “Feeling the support and a semblance of belonging … I understood the value of putting more effort into college classes,” she said.
When she took her first sociology class, she discovered the discipline allowed her to ask serious questions about inequities she had experienced in her community. And she could design research to answer her questions and even develop solutions. She took a sociology course on food inequities and did so well that she was hired as the teaching assistant (TA) the next semester. The on-campus position allowed her to quit her part-time waitressing job and focus her energy entirely within the academic setting.
The change was important to her personally, professionally, and academically. “I learned a lot about myself [working as a TA],” Luna said. She got comfortable speaking with authority, came to trust others would listen to her, and discovered she had the capacity to mentor her peers and truly help them. This became a motivating passion of hers throughout her time at CU Denver.
Luna went on to become a Peer Advocate Leader (another on-campus job in which students mentor their peers to help them succeed in college). She also worked for the office of Campus Access and Engagement at the front desk and as a social media manager. Then, she became a graduate student assistant in the Lynx Summer Academy Summer Bridge Program, where she helps students find their own way on campus.
She credits much of her success and her ability to give back to the mentors at CU Denver who supported her. When Luna took a class on qualitative sociology methods with professor Edelina Burciaga, for example, she discovered she loved the rich method of inquiry, and her passion for academics continued to grow. But she also felt deeply inspired and supported by Burciaga, who became Luna’s mentor as she completed research on eldest daughter identity formation in Latina families for the TRIO McNair program.
Now, Luna has embraced her love of learning so much that she sees a future for herself in academia. This summer, she’ll work part-time in the Summer Bridge Program and will spend part of the summer studying abroad in Spain. After she earns her bachelor’s this spring, she’ll spend one more semester on campus completing her master’s of sociology, one of CU Denver’s 4+1 programs that allows high-achieving bachelor’s students to earn a master’s degree with just one more year of classwork.
“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.”
