PeopleFall 2026 issue

First generation, and finding your people

Students who are the first in their families to attend college on the communities that kept them here.

Photos by Oldag07, Wikimedia Commons

Design by Grace Kim, Page Designer

September 8, 2026

Students who are the first in their families to attend college on the communities that kept them here. (Photo: Oldag07 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

On a Tuesday afternoon near the MSC, the story starts the way most Aggie stories do: with somebody saying “Howdy” to a stranger and meaning it. Students who are the first in their families to attend college on the communities that kept them here.

We spent three weeks talking with students, staff and neighbors to understand why this corner of Aggieland matters so much to the people who show up for it, again and again.

Why it matters

For many students, College Station is the first place they've lived on their own. Small rituals — a favorite table, a familiar face, a song everyone knows — become the scaffolding of a new life. That's the part nobody puts on the campus tour.

The Memorial Student Center's front steps on a sunny day. (Photo: Patrick Creighton / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Several people we interviewed described the same feeling: walking in alone and walking out with plans for next week. One junior put it simply when we asked what keeps her coming back.

It's the first place here that felt like it was waiting for me to show up.

Jasmine Ellisjunior / biomedical sciences / class of 2028

What's next

Go on a weekday afternoon for the shortest wait.
Bring a friend, or come alone and leave with one.

Plenty is changing in Bryan–College Station: new apartments, new restaurants, a campus that keeps growing. But the people in this story are betting that the best parts will stay the same. If you go, tell them Maroon Life sent you.