2022 Senior Series: Sari Saint-Hilaire

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“I was always obsessed with the brain. As a little kid, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. When I went through college, I got into the more social aspect of that. I could take what I learned about people, health, and wellness and use that as a tool to mix into an interpersonal skill set. It’s like I have an arsenal that adds to my extroverted self. It makes me feel ready to take on the world. 

At UMass, First- Generation Low- Income Student Partnership (UMass FLIP) has been my passion project. I went to a high school that was very focused on preparing people for college and emphasized how college was the only path. When I got to college, I still wasn’t prepared enough. It wasn’t because the school didn’t prepare me; it was because there was still information that no one would tell you."

Then I met Tim Scalona, a previous graduate of UMass, in my Social Class & Inequality class. Although we had different paths and different stories, I related a lot to what he had to say about how difficult it was to navigate college as a low-income, first-generation student. FLIP was founded in 2019, and I helped start it up with him. Then COVID-19 happened, which was a hard time for us as a club. I’ve been the president this year, and we’re trying to make a comeback and be there for students. 

I am also a resident assistant, which has allowed me to create the environment that I wish I'd had when I was a freshman. My residents go on hikes; they take each other home. The whole floor is a community, which is nice because no one feels excluded. Watching them support each other makes me so happy. We’re even creating a yearbook. It feels like family more than just floor mates.

During COVID-19, I started a series called the “ABCs of UMass.” I also have the “First-Generation ABCs UMass” and the “ABCs of SBS.” I'm planning to do the “ABCs of CNS” and “ABCs of Low-Income” before I leave. Some people have called me the Resource Queen. UMass is the school of resources, and people need to learn how to tap into that. We have an office for everything. It’s important to emphasize that there is always a community for students on campus, and that they shouldn’t internalize the struggle of finding their place. There are thousands and thousands of students at UMass, and they will find a place that belongs to them.  

In my high school we had four R's: rigor, relevance, relationships, and resiliency. I’d also like to add resources to that list. That would make it the five R’s of education. If you can keep that in mind and focus on that throughout the course of your college career, you will succeed no matter what.” 

Sari Saint-Hilaire '22 is a first-generation, low-income Haitian-American student. She served as the president of First Generation Low-Income Student Partnership (FLIP) and led as an RA on the sixth floor of Dickinson Hall in Orchard Hill Residential Area. In the fall, she will be attending Harvard Graduate School of Education. After that, she plans on returning to UMass Amherst as an administrator supporting first-generation and low-income students.