Victoria gives an update about her life and shares a recording of the Real Talk Panel with Current students from the Virtual Blue Devil Days for the Class of 2029.

This episode follows current student besties Luis Periera Lazo (T’27) and Gabriela Mendoza as they have a candid conversation about their leadership roles in extracurricular clubs, their biggest changes since arriving to Duke, and their friendship. Support systems are crucial to the college experience, and peer support through quality friendships in college are highly underrated. Luis and Gabby display the ways friendships in college support and challenge students to grow.

In the final episode of our three-part series Making It Out, we sit down with Mia Velasco (T’28), a first-year student at Duke, to discuss her transition from a central New Jersey public high school to life on East Campus in Durham, North Carolina. Mia takes us through her college application journey, breaking down the financial realities of choosing a school as a low-income student. She challenges common myths about affordability and shares what truly influenced her decision. We also explore her experiences with FOCUS clusters, service-learning classes, and her perspectives on access to higher education for first-generation, low-income students. Tune in for an honest and insightful conversation about what it really takes to make it out—and make it work.

This is the second part of a three-part Making It Out series. Naomi Goldson (T’27), a current student is from a small town called Laurinburg in North Carolina and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Naomi and I met during her first campus tour after being admitted to Duke in 2023. We talk about the guilt that occurs when being in college away from loved ones and how to reframe your mindset to succeed in college despite these emotional and financial tolls.

Episode 5 of the DukeLIFE pod.

In this episode of Duke LIFE Pod we get to walk in the shoes of Ana Ramirez (T’20). Ana discovered in undergrad that she was interested in pursuing a PhD to become a part of the small percentage of latinas with doctoral degrees. As a first generation college student, the PhD seemed to be the perfect step into making her intellectual curiosities into a solid career. Who wouldn’t want to read and write about their passion topics for a living? However, Ana’s journey to her PhD dreams would come with many setbacks before she was able to achieve her acceptances into different PhD programs. Ana’s story is the epitome of the perseverance it takes to achieve your goals when things outside of your control delay your plans. Give it a listen if you want to be inspired by this 1GLI Duke Alumna.

This episode focuses on two current student narratives from Randi Jennings (T’24) and Stephany Perez-Sanchez (T’25). Randi and Stephany are the Duke LIFE student organization co-presidents for the 2023-2024 academic year and they both are South Carolina natives. The first half of this episode follows Randi’s education trajectory from childhood to Duke and delves into her decision to forgo a pre-med track at Duke to pursue political science and pre-law instead. For the second half of the episode Victoria talks with Stephany about her educational trajectory in which we discuss her Latinx identity, medical school dreams and what it’s like being pre-med at Duke.

This episode focuses on mentorship with guest Elizabeth Barahona (T’18). We talk about how mentorship plays an important role in your growth in college and beyond. Elizabeth shares her experiences creating a strong team of mentors behind her that have become her peers now. She shares some important tips on how to craft relationships with people you would like to be your mentors and how to pass it forward as you succeed in your journey throughout college.

This episode focuses on Michael Ramos, a current sophomore at Duke University studying Public Policy and International Comparative Studies with a concentration in Latin America and the Caribbean. We talked about his educational trajectory to Duke. Michael takes us through his journey which starts in Los Angeles then to San Diego, the midwest, and finally down South to Duke. We discuss what it means to Michael to have “made it out” from his hometown and how attending Duke has opened his horizons. The conversation took some interesting turns to address topics like Latino identity, misconceptions about attending school in the South, and merit scholarships at Duke.

In this trailer of the DukeLIFE pod, Victoria Pinedo, our host, describes the purpose of this podcast series. By archiving first generation, low-income stories from current students and recent alumni we hope to provide current and prospective students and families with resources that will help them feel less alone in their journeys throughout college.