Rising Class: How Three First-Generation College Students Conquered Their First Year by Jennifer Miller is the 2024 campuswide common read. This book was chosen because it connects with and reflects the experiences of so many on campus: undergraduates who had their college experiences shifted by COVID, first-generation college students, and first-generation immigrant students. It will also be impactful for those working with students and others interested in learning about the lived experiences of others. Hopefully, it will spark meaningful conversations among students, faculty, staff, and the larger community. 

Rising Class follows three first-generation freshmen, Briani, Conner, and Jacklynn, as they not only experience their first semester of college, but the COVID-19 pandemic that turned their Spring semester upside down. From life in the ivy league to classes at a community college, this nonfiction book follows these students' challenges, successes, and dreams as they tackle their first year of college and juggle responsibilities to their families back home.

A luncheon event featuring Jen Miller is scheduled on October 9 at noon in ARKU 510-511.

We have a limit of 50 seats available. The signup link is in Hogsync this year- https://cglink.me/2uB/r386983 

More about Jennifer Miller-

Jennifer is the the author of five books: Rising Class (2023), Mr. Nice Guy (2018), The Heart You Carry Home (2015); The Year of the Gadfly (2012); and Inheriting the Holy Land (2005). Her journalism has appeared in the New York Times, the Washignton Post, and many other publications. Jen holds an MFA in fiction-writing and a MS in journalism from Columbia. She has also taught creative writing and journalism at Columbia University. A Washington, DC native, she lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two sons.