2019

1vyG is hosted at Princeton

Princeton University opened its doors to hundreds of first-generation and low-income (FLI) students for the fifth annual 1vyG conference. The theme of this year's conference was "From Moment to Movement: Capitalizing on Our FLI Experiences to Become Agents of Change in Our Communities". The conference provided a safe space for FLI students to meet each other, connect, and empower one another, as well as to discuss ways to bring change back to their communities. A separate conference for administrators who work with FLI students included faculty and staff from 40 highly selective institutions, nearly doubling in size from last year's meeting at Princeton. The synergy between the two conferences fostered valuable conversation and collaboration between students and administrators.

One of the highlights of the conference was a keynote conversation between Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber and Daniel R. Porterfield, president and CEO of the Aspen Institute. The discussion was also streamed live on Facebook. Both leaders have been instrumental in ensuring that talented FLI students have more equitable access to highly selective universities and colleges. Eisgruber and Porterfield are on the steering committee of the American Talent Initiative (ATI), whose goal is to attract, enroll and graduate 50,000 additional high-achieving, low- and moderate-income students at the nation's top schools by 2025. The conversation was moderated by Khristina Gonzalez, Princeton's associate dean of the college and director of programs for access and inclusion.