First But Never Alone [Encore]

First But Never Alone [Encore]

From The Facing Project by Indiana Public Radio

April 29, 2026 · 32 min · Season 2 · Episode 9

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges and experiences of first-generation college students, featuring a student and an academic administrator.

Half of today’s students are the first in their families to attend college. But at a time when college is more expensive than ever, how do these students succeed? On this show, a first-generation student who works 30 hours a week to support her family while balancing classes shares her experience with us; and we sit down with Mary Henley, Director of Pathways to Academic Student Success at Central Michigan University, and one of the administrators who helped the student on her journey. Join J.R. and Kelsey as they discuss First But Never Alone. Stories • 47,000 Things: An anonymous story from Facing College at Central Michigan University. Performed by Amanda Hummer. Music Used in This Episode • "Rondo" by Pierce Murphy . Released under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License . From the Free Music Archive. Chapters [00:00] Announcing weekly podcast encores! [00:51] Introduction [05:23] 47,000 Things: An anonymous story from Facing College at Central Michigan University. Performed by Amanda Hummer. [10:43] Interview with Mary Henley, Director of Pathways to Academic Student Success at Central Michigan University. Original air date: May 30, 2020

People in this episode

Hosts: J.R., Kelsey

Guest: Mary Henley

Topics covered

  • first-generation students
  • college success
  • academic support
  • personal stories
  • higher education

Keywords

  • first-generation
  • college
  • student success
  • academic support
  • Central Michigan University

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Central Michigan University

Books & works: 47,000 Things

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