Rutgers Business School Program Connects First-Gen Students and Mentors

UFirst helps students who are the first in their family to attend college navigate their academic journey and build networking skills

Rutgers Business School sophomore Julie Kalaentzis is a first-generation American and first-generation college student.

Kalaentzis’s parents instilled in her the importance of a college education. But not having had the opportunity to attend college themselves, she said, they are unable to help her navigate her academic journey.

When she learned about UFirst, a program that connects first-generation Rutgers Business School students with mentors who share similar backgrounds, she enrolled immediately.

“As a first-gen student, I wanted more guidance on what to do to get ahead in my career,” said Kalaentzis, 19, of Linden, N.J., who is majoring in finance and considering a career in wealth management.

Launched in spring 2022 with 12 mentors and mentees, the hybrid program kicked off its first full year in fall 2023, pairing 38 students and alumni based on their majors and industry career goals, said program director Hannah Salto, assistant dean of Support, Engagement and Leadership for Rutgers Business School. UFirst encourages one-on-one meetings between mentors and mentees during their yearlong pairing. The program also gathers students for workshops twice a semester so they can learn more about the business industry from guest speakers and get the chance to network with peers.

“I always tell my students, it’s not just what you know or who you know, it’s both,” said Salto, who was instrumental in developing UFirst. “In business especially there’s such an emphasis on networking. A lot of students are coming in with connections already. So, it’s easy for first-gen students to feel left behind.”

That speaks to the success of UFirst, which nearly doubled in size this fall to include 75 students and  mentors, said Salto, who is actively recruiting new mentors for the additional 30 business students currently on the wait list for the program.

“We look for mentors at any point in their career working in any business function – entrepreneurial, finance, marketing,” Salto said. “They only need to be a first-gen college graduate and have the desire to give back to current students.”

That chance to “pay it forward,” to a Rutgers student following in his footsteps, is exactly what drew Paul Joseph to volunteer for UFirst and become a mentor to Kalaentzis.

“What’s my legacy going to be?” he said.  “I wanted to be able to try and help people and impact people in some meaningful way.”

Before Joseph, 48, of Clifton, earned his bachelor’s in economics in 1999 from Rutgers Livingston College and his MBA in 2014 from Rutgers-Camden and became partner at the financial services consulting division of Davies Group, he was sharing a Rutgers dorm room with his younger brother and trying to figure out college together as sons of Indian immigrants.

“The foundation of any good relationship is commonality,” Joseph said. “UFirst gives students the ability to connect with a professional they have something in common with: being first-gen and being part of Rutgers.”

Kalaentzis, whose mother, a Colombian immigrant, is a shift lead at Walgreens, and her father, who emigrated from Greece, is a factory supervisor, said it was easier to connect with Joseph knowing they shared similar circumstances.

“It’s encouraging knowing he came from the same background as me and is as successful as he is now,” she said. “It definitely motivated me to work harder.”

He helped her answer many of those questions she had as an incoming student: Where to find the right internship? Who to network with? How to get the most out of college as a commuter?

“I didn’t have a LinkedIn account when I got to Rutgers. He helped me create one and update my resume,” she said, noting Joseph also brought several internship opportunities to her attention and encouraged her to become a peer tutor for the School of Arts and Sciences’ Honors Program to build connections and feel more a part of campus life.

While the benefits of UFirst are easier to quantify for mentees, Joseph said the program has definitive takeaways for mentors as well and encourages other alumni to offer their services to UFirst.

“I think it helps me with my communication skills and staying relevant,” he said. “Meeting young people, seeing what they’re passions are and how they speak, it keeps me young.”