First Gen Fellows hosts Swipe Right for Success

It can be difficult talking to professors and staff members you don’t know very well, but First Gen Fellows’ event, Swipe Right for Suc­cess, helped students do just that. Oct. 17, from 12:30 to 2 p.m., students, staff and faculty met on the third floor of the University Y Student Center to break the ice and get to know each other better while snacking on the provided refreshments of pizza and lemonade. A raffle was also held to win a $50 University Book Store gift card.

Swipe Right for Success is an annual event hosted by First Gen Fellows — an organization committed to helping students who identify as first in their family to attend college get to graduation. The group hosts a variety of events throughout the year to help all students transi­tion into the UW Tacoma lifestyle.

Margarita Gonzalez, leadership coordinator of First Gen Fellows, explained the goal of Swipe Right.

“It’s a very chill event. It’s not meant to be a [work] interview,” Gonzalez said. “It’s an op­portunity to get to know professors and be more comfortable talking to faculty and staff. The main idea is for students to feel more com­fortable using office hours when they really need it.”

Student attendees at Swipe Right for Success could choose to sit at any table that had a staff or faculty member already seated at it to start a conversation. Guests had five minutes to in­troduce and greet each other. They could then ask one question of their choice or pick a ques­tion from a jar in the center of the table. The questions ranged from “What would you tell your 20-year-old self?” to “What one food would you eat for the rest of your life.”

After the five minutes were up, students moved to the right — hence the name of the event — to talk to a different staff or faculty member.

Gonzalez encourages all students, staff and faculty members to come to the event again, as it will be held later in the school year.

“We’re probably going to have [Swipe Right] again sometime this year,” Gonzalez said. “So if [students] don’t come to this event, come to the next Swipe Right event because it’s going to be just as amazing, if not more.”