Padah Vang ’19, of St. Paul, Minnesota, is one of only nine winners of the 2015 “I’m First!” Scholarship. More than 1,000 first-generation students applied for the prestigious scholarship, awarded by the nonprofit Center for Student Opportunity. Vang’s family members are Hmong from Laos, and she said the college process was difficult for her family to understand. One of the reasons she selected CC was the approachability of the students. “When I visited I noticed how CC students interacted with and how they treated each other.”

She’s contemplating an Independently Designed Major that combines social justice, photography, film, and media, because “storytelling is so powerful and healing.” She hopes to create a student group for first-generation and low-income students to mentor prospective students. She’s also one of the first-year students behind the “Humans of CC” Facebook page.