Hi I'm Vickie Shields. I am the Provost
and Executive Vice President here at
Nevada State College. I went to Boise
State University. It was very close to my
hometown, I'm from Nampa, Idaho.
So, Boise State was 25 miles away. If I
was going to go to any university it was
going to be that one. There really wasn't,
I really didn't think much more about
it. I didn't go to college right out of
high school, I went January after
graduation and I'm kind of fuzzy
on why I decided to do that, but I think
it was I wanted to figure
out what it was like to work full-time
and not be in high school.
And so it took about one semester a half
a semester to say I'm ready for college
or want to go to college. I always loved
learning - I knew that I wanted to go to
college sometime so started in January.
That means if there were any
orientations or anything I totally
missed them, didn't know about them, just
kind of started into classes in January.
My family was always very supportive.
What they didn't appreciate was their
part in support, as in financial support,
so we just kind of decided that I would
fund it on my own. I did ask them a few
times if they would pay for my books and
they did for about a semester or two and
then I kind of forgot about that part
and I felt weird asking. So they loved that I was going to school.
They weren't so crazy when I decided to
go to graduate school because they
didn't understand what that would mean
but they were really supportive - they
were glad I stayed that close to home
and got it done. And so, it was emotional
support that was fine but there wasn't
any financial support.
It means I never took it for granted
when I was there. I knew that it
was special I knew it would lead to
better things in life and I knew I was
paying for it.
So every day I knew I was there, I
knew I had to put the work in, and I
never took it for granted the whole time.
There was no entitlement. (Laughter)
I was a communication major from the
beginning and I really kind of wanted to
be an art major and I was a little
worried about what I could do with an
art major. In high school I had
been very involved in speech and drama
but also very involved with art. So I
thought I might double major there for a
while, but I wasn't getting any advice on
what I could do with that art major
besides maybe double major with business,
which at the time didn't turn me on. So I
stuck with communication and during
most of my undergrad in communication, I thought I would probably go into HR or
PR somewhere in the Boise Valley. My
mother always wanted me to be a
broadcaster and an anchorwoman but I
never did that, mom, I'm sorry. Did the
dream come true? Well, the dream changed. In my junior and senior year I got an
amazing opportunity to teach during my undergraduate as an
undergraduate student. I had no
idea that didn't happen to everybody but
it didn't. I loved it. I was hooked on it.
I said how can I do this I want to be a
university professor. That's what I want
to be.
So I was like, ah, okay I need a PhD to
do that. So, yeah, dreams came true they
just came true in a different way.
You know, I didn't know at the time that
I was facing too many challenges. It's
all been in hindsight and it's all been
because I've been in education this long
and have been an administrator and I
really did miss out on a lot. I didn't
get involved in student government or
student clubs, anything outside of the
department. I was very involved with my
department of communication and the
highest-ranking person at the university
that I knew or thought I needed to know,
was the chair of the Department of
Communication. And that served me well.
But looking back, I wish I'd known about
broader opportunities. Another thing I
think was a challenge that I didn't
realize at the time was I was just
working so hard and being such a
perfectionist, because I kind of knew
what I was doing kind of didn't know
what I was doing, that I didn't take a
lot of risks and I think you get the
most out of your undergraduate education
when you're allowed to take risks and
everything doesn't have to be perfect
and you learn from those things and I
think looking back that that was a
challenge because I just I just didn't
know. No one was telling me that
those things existed or that I should
take a chance so I didn't.
Working really hard. I
overcame the challenges just working
working working - I worked part-time jobs, 
always,  I worked hard in the classroom
I took a lower credit load. That's
another time where ignorance was
bliss at the time. I took five and a half
years to do my undergrad, but nobody was
saying that was a big deal. it wasn't as
expensive then, so you didn't feel like
oh my gosh I better get done I can't
afford anymore. But just worked really
hard and just enjoyed every minute of it. 
So all the challenges I know now are
are hindsight challenges. I thoroughly
enjoyed it while I was in it.
Because you're not alone - far from it.
It's just amazing that so many colleges
and universities like Nevada State still
maintain over 50%
first-gen. People are still
first-generation college students and
they're not alone and there's no way you
can know everything that you need to
know on your own and it's a place where
you're going to really grow up in your
life and learn so many new things and
having people share with you that
there's a broad base of experiences you
can have is wonderful and I love
programs like Nepantla because that's
what that's what they do - they open up
this whole world of the possibilities of
college and there's help there but
there's just an opening up and showing
what's possible and the support and just
things you wouldn't know you don't know
because your family didn't do it and
you're the first one but there's lots of
us and we're in your administration too.
So I'd like to say to Nepantla students:
take full advantage of everything this
program has to offer you this is a very
special opportunity. I have seen students
come through the first year of this
program and be so ready for their whole
college career. It's just amazing the
support that you get and the information
you get in the navigation that's
provided to be a successful college
student. So embrace it, soak it in; These
really are some of the best years of
your life. Happy first gen day!
First-generation College Student Day.
I'm one too - my name is Vickie Shields and I'm the Provost and Executive Vice President
at Nevada State College and I couldn't
be prouder to still be in higher ed and
still be learning and I hope you enjoy
First-gen Day as much as I am.
