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Berry, Christian L.

College of Education and Social Services

M. Ed.

This Epistolary Scholarly Personal Narrative (ESPN) explores the experiences of a non-traditional, first generation;. African American woman in the academy. In the letters that follow I will define Epistolary Scholarly Personal Narrative methodology and explain how this methodology fits with the purpose of this thesis. After explaining my methodology, I will discuss the non-traditional or adult college student population in order to further elucidate the experiences associated with this population. Using my own narrative, supported by the scholarship associated with the adult student population, I will delve into my feelings of being caught in the liminal spaces of being an adult student while navigating a higher education environment that is set up to support and accommodate traditional students.
After discussing non-traditional student literature I will provide a framework built from my own narrative and foundational literature to define and clarify the themes of self-definition, perseverance, resilience, authenticity, and integrity while elucidating the scholarship around parentification, quarter-life crisis, and first generation college students. The concepts of self-definition, perseverance, resilience, authenticity, and integrity helped me achieve my goal of graduating from college despite what obstacles came my way.