Are you the first generation in your family to go to college? I am the youngest of three. I play baseball and am the only one out of three to attend college and do it while playing a sport. 

Being the first child of my dad whose job is at a factory, working from early morning until late afternoon, and the third of my mom who works at a school, I was always the quiet and observant child. But when I got into sports, everything changed. The pressure of being perfect and having to go far in sports and in life started immediately. Not my parents’ fault, but I feel it was more of the self-pressure to make everyone proud around me. 

Being the first generation student you’re really making a name not just for yourself but you’re also putting your family’s name out there.  In my head I saw this as how my family’s name will be cemented by what I do in college and in the sports I play.  When it comes to school and to the field succeeding is completely different, but putting the pressure on yourself to succeed in both fields is crucial. 

Being a first generation student comes with a lot of duties. Coming from a family who never attended college I had to figure out a lot because I had no one in my family who understood what I had to do, whether that was coming from filling out FAFSA or getting help to build my schedule. I had to go around campus or find someone who knew what I needed to do to help me fill in these forms since my parents had no idea what to do. 

When I am in the classroom I put myself in a spot where there’s only one thing I need to do, and that is graduate with a degree that I can get a good job. On the field the pressure is putting up the numbers I can put up or make the plays I need to make to keep playing. Overall it’s about making an impact, whether that is in the classroom or the field. If I fail in one of those, I feel like I let everyone down. That pressure of having to succeed and make an impact just to make everyone around me proud is what can end up hurting me in the long run. 

While playing sports sometimes my family tells me you have to work harder, and why are you struggling. They also try to tell me to relax and breathe. They reinforce that it won’t always go my way and that they are proud of me either way. They encouraged me to go to college and continue to play this sport and I am so forever grateful that they did encourage it. 

I can admit the pressure I had on me when I was younger was not fun. I had a whole town who saw this little kid as a great athlete, as someone who will go far in the sport. Every time I stood on the field I had to think about that. As I got older I started to look at it as, I am the best person on the field. I started taking more deep breaths, started to relax even if I did bad at the game before and I started getting questioned by my parents on what was going on. I stood up for myself and showed what I had the next day.

In school I did everything I needed to do just to show teachers I can do it in the classroom and on the field. No matter what they thought of me whether it was failure or the pressure of seeing me successful. I took a deep breath and played my game and never let anyone dictate what I was going to do with my life and with the sport I play. 

I want to reach out to those first generation students and tell them they are not alone.

If you’re someone who feels the pressure of having to succeed to make everyone around you proud whether in the classroom, on the field, or even both, look at me and my story. I am someone who still goes through it today as a junior. But I can admit that I have got a lot better at not letting it affect my life the way I have let it before.

If there is advice I can give, it is to be yourself. If you fail, take it as a lesson, not like you let everyone down. You have enough pressure on yourself already, stop adding to it and just be the person you have been your whole life, and I can promise you, you will succeed and be the best version of yourself that anyone has ever seen. Someone like me – going into sports communication hopefully to work and stay with something I love doing. Maybe help coach at a school or a young team to teach them things that I learned along my journey. If I can do it, you can too. 

William Estronza is in the class of 2027 at Mitchell College and majoring in Communication