The first to walk down the Hill: What commencement means to a first-generation student

By Rylie Oswald

When first-generation KU student Jorge Aragon walked down the Hill with the Class of 2026 in May, he was looking for his mother’s smile in the crowd.

“She’s the person who inspired me to be more,” Aragon said. “She is everything to me, and to be able to see the pride and joy on her face was the thing I looked forward to the most. I couldn’t wait to walk down that hill and be able to see all the people I love.”

The University of Kansas has a deep history of commencement. The first graduation ceremony in 1873 saw only four graduates – three men and one woman — and at that point, walking down the Hill was not a tradition yet. It wasn’t until almost 35 years later in 1907 that students made a journey for graduation, walking to Robinson Gymnasium. Memorial Stadium became the new destination for this walk in 1924, and it has remained that way now for over 100 years. In 1950, the first graduating class walked through the campanile, a memorial to KU community members lost in World War II.

Today, the walk through the monument’s ornamental bronze doors and down the Hill is one of KU’s most recognizable traditions. Thousands of graduates pass through the limestone tower while family members line the Hill’s walkway and cheer them toward David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.

Aragon is proud to be among them, but his journey at KU is not over. After graduation, he will attend the KU School of Medicine. Aragon wants to be a doctor primarily to help people who need it most — a dream he is already pursuing through his volunteer work at JayDoc, a student-run clinic that provides free care and a place that “feels like home” to him.

“I would love to be a healer of people and to help out my community,” Aragon said. “There’s a lot of need, especially for doctors that speak Spanish and can relate to the community of Wyandotte County. I want to be patient-facing to interact with my community the most I can.”

As a first-generation student, Aragon is walking a path that others in his family have never had the chance to take. First-generation students make up about 17% of students at KU, and for many of them, finding a space on campus where others share similar experiences can be challenging. Nationally, the disparity is striking: The Pew Research Center found that just 20% of adults whose parents did not go to college earn a degree themselves.

Aragon experienced these challenges when he first arrived at KU. At times, he didn’t feel as if he belonged because many of his peers did not come from the same background.

“I didn’t feel like I could relate to their socioeconomic status,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I was smart enough or deserved to be here. There was a lot of imposter syndrome.”

Aragon found a place for himself at KU through the Latin American Student Union and TRIO Student Support Services. TRIO supports first-generation and low-income students, as well as students with disabilities.

Once Aragon found his footing in college, he knew he had to find a way to help other first-generation students. This is why he became president of Fearless Individuals Reaching Success Together (FIRST), a student organization that provides a space for first-generation students to find mentorship, as well as friendship.

“I love this university,” Aragon said. “I love the opportunity it’s provided for me. I love the people here, the experience that is Lawrence, the pride that Jayhawks have. But it did take me a while to find that.”

Aragon was also the president of Phi Iota Alpha, KU’s only Latino fraternity and an organization that is committed to helping its community. Phi Iota Alpha recently earned the collegiate award for most philanthropic dollars raised for the Hispanic Development Fund (HDF). The HDF provides scholarships to Latino students in the Kansas City area.

Without scholarships, Aragon wouldn’t have been able to find a home at KU. He went to Sumner Academy of Arts and Science — which, for the last seven consecutive years, has ranked as the No. 1 public high school in Kansas — where a lot of his classmates were not able to attend college because of finances.

“Scholarships are everything for people like us,” he said. “There is no higher education, there is no dream, there is no breaking those generational curses without scholarships.”

For many first-generation students, commencement represents not only earning a diploma, but also an important milestone that they and their families are experiencing for the first time. To Aragon, this moment is what his family has strived for.

“It’s the culmination of decades of generational work for my family,” he said. “This is the American dream. Accomplishing this means everything. I’m so proud to be the first person in my family to attain this level of education.”