Zipporah Osei always planned to attend college—but her idea of exactly what that meant was somewhat fuzzy.

These days the first-generation college student is telling the story of her college journey and her time as an undergraduate in an email newsletter called First Gen. Along the way, she’s offering lessons for other students, and candidly sharing details about her own experiences—and finances—that most people keep to themselves.

Much of the attention in the early days of campus closures from COVID-19 seemed to focus on large universities and statewide systems—largely because of the numbers of students affected and the magnitude of the response needed to ensure connectivity and a continuity of support services. 

Dr. Mary Marcy, president of Dominican University in California, offers a different perspective on how the response of a small campus like Dominican might actually signal the promise and potential of other small colleges on the other side of this public health crisis.