¡Bienvenidos!: Committing to Diversity and Inclusion with College Orientations in Spanish for Parents and Family

Abstract

Incorporating families in the high school to college transition is important to increase the success rate of first-generation and low-income college students. Traditional institutional programming and student orientation processes often fail to consider the needs of diverse families, especially those whose main language is Spanish. By establishing a Hispanic community that better guides families with no prior experience or exposure to the college experience, Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) can provide stronger support to incoming students and families. We present recommendations for practice from observations during two parent and family college orientation sessions in Spanish at our Texan institution, the feedback from attendees, and our experiences as committee members.