History of the Trailblazers Program
School of Communication Associate Professor Sara LaBelle was a first-generation student herself. She researches efforts to effectively communicate with and empower the nearly 20% of Chapman undergraduate students who are the first in their family to attend college.
She is aided in these efforts by faculty colleagues and her students. In fact, the Trailblazers Program was created through a project in her "Advanced Message Design Course".
The initial assignment was to research the first-generation student experience at Chapman. That work progressed into creating a new program. The 35 students in LaBelle's class worked on developing everything from a mission statement, program goals, a name and a logo.
By the end of the semester, the Trailblazer Program was up and running, with tangible benefits for organizers and participants, including:
- Events such as a networking workshop and career panel.
- Research-based messaging that focuses on the strength and resilience required to be a successful first-generation student.
- A point-of-pride purple stole that the first class of Trailblazers wore to the end-of-year School of Communication ceremony.
