Danita Mapes ’23, a Global Media major at Arcadia University, has been selected as a featured writer for I’m First.org, a website that features the stories and perspectives of students that lack a family history of higher education. Mapes’ first published piece on the site is “A New Beginning,” in which Mapes talks about fall, and some favorite places, on the Arcadia campus.

“I feel very honored and grateful for the opportunity,” Mapes says of writing for the site. “In my first post I wanted to share my experiences being a first-generation college student to help others who are in a similar situation. It’s very daunting.” 

Mapes looks forward to contributing more to I’m First. “I hope that, if anything, I can make people feel less alone in their journey by sharing my personal experiences as both a first-generation student and a disabled person,” Mapes, who also writes for Because Arcadia, says. 

I’m First was created by the nonprofit Center for Student Opportunity in 2013 to provide students like Mapes with inspiration, information, and support on the road to and through college. It is now an initiative of Strive for College—a national nonprofit that also runs an online mentoring program for college-bound students.