Madison Franks

Madison, a senior Psychology major at UAFS, shares how her mother talks about the regret she feels about not going to college but also how much joy she finds in pushing her kids to have better than she has.

Madison’s father found his place without college, working for the military, but Madison shares, “The military wasn’t for me, so I knew I wanted to go to college.

My sister attended before me and was such an inspiration. She helped prepare me for what was to come, helped me find scholarships, and taught me how to enroll for classes,” Madison shares.

“I started taking college courses in the WATC program my junior year in high school. Everything felt just like high school did, until I met Dr. Nicha Otero. She was the first professor that challenged me and kept me engaged. She later became my advisor and went out of her way to make sure I could enroll in the classes I needed. She understood that it was important that I work while in school. She was actually the reason I chose psychology,” Madison says.

Madison talks about not knowing who to turn to when filling out her first FAFSA or navigating Blackboard for the first time. She didn’t feel like she could turn to her parents for those things because they never had to do them, so she taught herself.

Determined from the beginning, Madison made sure to keep a folder all her important papers and the fliers she was handed in new student orientation. It made it easy to access whenever she had a question, because then she knew who to reach out to.

Money has been a struggle, so Madison decided early on to apply for scholarships. As a result, she has received some great financial support for her education.

When asked what advice she’d give to other first generation students, Madison says, “Reach out for the resources available to you, cling to your advisor, and be open to accepting help.”

Madison graduated in the spring of 2020 and hoping to find a career in social work.

This is Madison Franks, and she is #First2Go.