Carolina Alumni Review - March/April 2008

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First to Go to College

As part of our reporting for the Review’s annual admissions feature — starting on page 20 of this issue — we asked alumni to share experiences of being the first in their families to go to college. Excerpts of some responses are below. Read more at alumni.unc.edu/first.

“I graduated from UNC in 1969 with an AB degree in education. The campus was beautiful, and Franklin Street was hopping. The Vietnam War was hot and heavily protested. And I crossed the National Guard line in front of Lenoir Hall when going to breakfast. I was the first to get a college degree. My parents owned a multiple-crop farm. Students on the news in the tie-dyed look gave UNC a hippie reputation. My parents were not only concerned about the ideas that I might pick up, but told me clearly that my face better not show up on the news. My parents were conservative. I was not. Yet, they were enormously pleased that their daughter got a degree from UNC.”

Sarah Frances McCallum ’ 69

Candor

“I was first in my family to attend college. I also grew up in a small North Carolina town. I was on my own financially. I had a lot of desire and was willing to do whatever it took to cover my expenses. I was (and am to this day) astounded at the value I received for my meager dollars. The University opened my eyes to the world. The professors were always available, and I took advantage of the opportunity to get to know many of them personally. The exposure to the cultural environment offered by the University broadened my appreciation of the arts and enriched my life. Student life was outstanding. ... I owe much to the University for what I experienced and learned. I have instilled what I learned in my children, who have successfully completed college and are leading educated, value-based, productive lives.”

Richard Hedrick ’ 70

Hickory

“I graduated high school in June 1968 and was determined to go to college and would be the first in my family or neighborhood to

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attend. My parents were sharecropper farmers, and my daddy did some logging. My mother had graduated high school, but my daddy had about a sixth-grade education. His mother had told me that as the oldest of eight children the family made him quit school to work on the farm to help feed the family and keep them from starving during the Depression. Needless to say, my parents thought a four-year degree was a waste of time. They discouraged me from going to college, saying I should get a job and go to work to earn money. ... I left home on my high school graduation day and moved into an N.C. State dorm and began my education. ... Daddy was embarrassed that he could not give me money, so when he filled out the financial aid information he put down he would give me $500 per year, about one-third the cost for the year. Well, daddy only gave me one $10 bill for all my college, but his statement also kept me from getting the financial aid I deserved. ... I decided to change to elementary education and therefore transferred to UNC-Chapel Hill in June 1969. With scholarships, grants, loans and hard work, I graduated with my four-year degree in a total of 2 ¹/2 years! I have three sons, the oldest two now have master’s degrees and my youngest son just graduated with a BS degree. I am now teaching school and believe education is a ticket to a better life!”

Betsy LaRue Hayes Dodson ’ 71

Garner

“Although I wasn’t the first in my family to attend college, I was the first to earn a degree. My father was one course short of earning a BS in chemistry at Clemson, but he never had the opportunity to take that final course. My mother dropped out of college to get married at age 20. As the firstborn, I always heard my parents tell me I would go to college and earn a degree. There was tremendous pressure for me to succeed. Thankfully, I did! My daughter graduated from the UNC School of Nursing in 2004. She was harder on herself than her mother and I were. I didn’t want to pressure her as my parents pressured me.”

Brantley B. Hart III ’ 73

Charlotte

“My father had a two-year technical degree from a community college, and my mother had a legal secretarial degree from a private school. I am the oldest of six children, and our age spread is over 10 years. ... My father worked for IBM, so we moved to Raleigh as a part of the IBM move into the Research Triangle in 1965. There was never any doubt in their minds and therefore in my siblings’ and my mind that we would all go to four-year institutions. Thank God for the in-state tuition. ... I liked that all levels were living in the dorm so you could learn how to navigate ‘drop-add’ with upperclassmen’s assistance. Knowing which professors to avoid and which classes to avoid was helpful in developing my interdisciplinary studies program in urban studies. It must have worked, as I have been a real estate agent or city planner for my entire career. I am happy to say that a total of four children from my immediate family graduated from UNC and two of us have master’s degrees from UNC. There was a period of over 10 years where a Steigerwald worked in the Student Union with only one missing year. ... I recently participated in a GAA effort to convince accepted seniors to commit to attend UNC in Charlotte. I will do so every year if asked, because I think it is important to give time and not just money to support an institution that did so much to help me have a happy and productive life.”

J.R. Steigerwald ’ 75 (’ 79 MA)

Mount Holly

“As the first to attend college, I enrolled in Carolina in 1975. In those days the experience was much different. My parents handed me the $800 which they had saved for me, and I was then on my own to figure out the rest. They still had three other kids to raise. It was exciting and overwhelming at times. I came away with a love of knowledge and friends who I still call friends today, over 25 years later.”