‘Touched My Heart’: Harvard Affiliates Welcome FGLI Students at Annual Ceremony

About 100 Harvard affiliates convened at the Smith Campus Center on Friday evening to welcome first-generation and low-income students to campus.

This was the third iteration of the annual FGLI welcome ceremony, jointly organized by Primus, First Year Retreat Experience — a pre-orientation program for FGLI students — and the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

The event featured performances from Mariachi Veritas — who recently performed at the White House — and Onovughakpor Otitigbe-Dangerfield ’25, as well as speeches from alumni, faculty, and students.

In her speech, History of Science Professor Gabriela Soto Laveaga emphasized building connections among FGLI students from a shared experience of overcoming shared challenges.

“I come from a family where there was always a lot of responsibility that I placed on myself as a kid to help my parents out,” Annika E. Palm ’28, who attended the event, said.

Palm said that due to being low-income, attending a school like Harvard was “intimidating.”

“I always knew that I was smart enough for it, but I never felt like I was qualified in other ways to be in a school like this,” she said.

Palm added that FGLI-centered events are “impactful in creating a community and reassuring us that, yes, we do belong here.”

Many attendees noted the importance of having a support network to reach out to for support.

Apple Nguyen ’28 said she did not speak English upon arriving in the United States in 2020.

“My parents, due to some circumstances, had to be back in Vietnam, and I stayed alone at home, so I got even more used to being alone,” Nguyen said. “And now with this event, I really like having a sense of community.”

Cassandra Geronga ’28 said it was inspiring that every speaker and person in the room overcame similar obstacles to get to Harvard.

“Every single speaker really touched my heart, and I honestly cried during every single speech,” Geronga said.

FYRE Co-Chair Isabela C. Gonzalez-Lawand ’26, who emcee’d the event, said when she first got involved with FYRE as a team leader, she felt that she had finally found a group of people who understood her experiences.

“From that moment on, I vowed to be a leader,” Gonzalez-Lawand said, “so that people who were just like me and couldn’t find us, could see us and could hear us and could feel like they could come to us.”

Laila A. Nasher ’25 said that as first-generation and low-income students are walking onto campus spaces, they often “feel an immense burden, one from your community, but two, also feeling as if you do not belong here.”

Nasher, who spoke during the event, said in an interview with The Crimson after the event that the purpose of the ceremony is to welcome students in a setting with others who come from similar backgrounds.

It shows students that “these people were once in your place,” she said.

Byron S. Gonzalez ’25, who helped organize the event, said the ceremony was reflective not only of the attendees, but the FGLI community at large.

“I think it’s just a representation of all the folks who can’t be in this room, such as my family,” Gonzalez said, “all my ancestors, all the people who paved the way for me.”

—Staff writer Katie B. Tian can be reached at katie.tian@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Samantha D. Wu can be reached at samantha.wu@thecrimson.com.