In the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy, 20 percent of all students are first-generation, inspiring UI alumna Miekeleen Hart to fund the First-Gen Success Network — an initiative designed to help first-generation pharmacy students achieve academic success.

The network was launched in fall 2025 and is wrapping up its first year in action.

Tammy Fraser, the director of student success in the UI College of Pharmacy, said first-gen students face a great deal of anxiety when they arrive on campus.

“Even though you may have gone through an undergraduate experience, it can be a whole new level of what is expected of you,” Fraser said. “The language that’s used, the expectations for a graduate program, all of these things can be different.”

The First-Gen Success Network assists first-generation pharmacy students by building a sense of community, implementing a tutoring system for first-generation students, and providing awareness for their career options after graduation.

The network is actively led by Fraser and the UI College of Pharmacy’s Associate Dean of Student Services, Cindy Sanoski.

First-Gen Success launched in fall 2025 and, since spring 2026, has implemented a variety of resources for first-generation students, such as tutoring services and guest speakers, to prepare them for the workforce.

The spring semester saw the addition of another component to the network: student leaders. Isabelle Raveling and Katlyn Zawojski, both first-generation pharmacy students, were chosen for the position after a competitive interview process.

“If you’re going to be designing a program that’s supposed to be supporting students, then who is going to know better as to what they need and what would be helpful?” Fraser said. “It gives them the opportunity to develop leadership and professional skills.”

Raveling and Zawojski help process feedback from first-generation students and build the network’s structure for the future, focusing on planning social events during Engagement Week, or the week before classes begin, to build their community.

Raveling said her anxiety as a first-generation student carried from the interview process of getting accepted into the UI College of Pharmacy all the way to the first day of classes.

“None of my parents went to college. No one in my family is a doctor, no one’s in pharmacy school, so I never knew what to expect,” she said. “Having a network like this full of people who were also first-gen and a little bit afraid on that first day would have been really helpful.”

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During her time in undergrad, Raveling was a part of the First-Gen Hawks program, designed to support first-generation college students by providing them with mentors and academic guidance. 

“The First-Gen Hawks program in undergrad was what I wanted to base this program off of,” she said. “ It was really helpful for me as an undergrad to have that peer support and all of those resources.”

Raveling and Zawojski look to implement a more robust peer mentoring program for first-gen students, connecting incoming students with current pharmacy students.

The two also plan to bring guest speakers each month to highlight lesser-known career tracks within pharmacy and create a career opportunity awareness track, connecting students with dual degree programs and certificates such as public health, leadership, and emergency medicine certificates.

The amount of resources in the College of Pharmacy overwhelmed Zawojski in her first year.

“One of my main goals is being able to show those resources to those first-year students and making them aware of them because there’s so many things you can do after you graduate,” she said.

Fraser said 75 percent of first-year, first-generation pharmacy students have participated in tutoring services provided by the First-Gen Success Network. About half of the non-first-year have also used the tutoring services.

“It’s very rewarding. I’m very honored that I was picked to be one of the first-gen leaders,” Zawojski said. “I find what fills my cup best is helping others out, sharing my experiences with others, and explaining to them what I wish I knew when I was a first year.”

The two student leaders now aim to create new positions within the First-Gen Network, including social, professional, and service chairs who would assist in event planning.

Zawojski hopes she and Raveling have set a foundation for years to come. Hart’s donation allows the program to run for three years, but Fraser and Sanoksi will evaluate if enough students are using the network to justify future funding.

“It feels really great to be able to set the foundation for success and have other students take on these positions,” Zawojski said. “I want students to have enough courage to step up to this position because it helps you build your leadership skills and helps set you up for success in the future.”

Sanoski said high engagement with the pharmacy First-Gen Success Network could incentivize other colleges to implement their own programs specifically designed to support first-generation students.

“When we look at the amount of money that we have to spend in a year, it’s pretty nominal, it’s not like we’re spending six figures every year on this initiative,” she said. “It could expand to other units on campus.”