Nutrition Major Shanazi Jackson ’23 Featured in UMass Magazine Story on First-Gen Students
The story appears in the Spring 2023 issue of UMass Magazine.
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Nutrition major Shanazi Jackson ’23 is among the first-generation students profiled in the Spring 2023 issue of UMass Magazine in a feature titled "I Am First-Gen." The article notes that nearly 25% of UMass Amherst undergraduates are first-generation college students, defined by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators as students whose parents have not yet earned a bachelor’s degree.
At Commencement 2023, Jackson is slated to be the first of 13 grandchildren in her family to graduate from college. Her grandparents came to the United States from the Caribbean. The nutrition major has transferred schools twice in her collegiate career, with UMass being her third campus experience. Along that journey to Amherst, Jackson was motivated by her younger siblings looking up to her. “I don’t know if it’s pride or ambition, but I just felt like I needed to get this done. I knew failure was not an option for me.” Jackson adds that Nutrition undergraduate program director Claire Norton has been a key force in her development, pointing out that Norton just seemed to put in more effort than advisors past. Jackson says, “When I took classes with Claire, that’s when I fell in love with the major.” Along with Norton and the nutrition faculty, Jackson credits her success to passion for community work and holistic health and wellness shared among the major’s students. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career as a dietitian.