First Gen in London

William Battle is the first in his family to attend college. Thanks to the Culverhouse’s First Gen Community, the senior is also the first in his family to fly on an airplane and visit another country.

Battle was one of several students to take part in Culverhouse’s First-Generation London Exploration Trip. Students met with alumni and visited companies to explore possibilities related to jobs, careers, and life.

“When we first got to the airport leaving from Birmingham, my family was very nervous,” Battle said. “I could see it on their face. They sent me pictures and videos of them watching the plane take off in the air because they were just so nervous. But I was calm.”

For Battle and the other Culverhouse first gen students, the trip was more than a passport stamp. The London experience expanded their understanding of what a business career can look like, introduced them to University of Alabama alumni who have built careers overseas, and opened them up to ideas and opportunities they had not considered before.

“A lot of UA alum and a lot of Alabama people end up moving to London and working for different companies,” Battle said. “I thought that was very interesting. Before the trip, I would say there is no way I could see myself working overseas or traveling there for business. I just couldn't see it. Being exposed to it, I would say I could do it.”

During conversations with alumni and trip sponsor Brian Rankin, Battle admitted he sometimes worried about whether he was networking enough compared with his classmates.

“They told me you don't need to have a relationship with everybody that you come in contact with,” he said. “As long as you have one person, you're good. There's someone in your corner.”

That encouragement reinforced one of the trip's central themes that meaningful relationships often matter more than a long list of business cards.

For marketing major Molly Amick, the experience aligned perfectly with her interests. She always wanted to study abroad and was curious about the possibility of someday working internationally. She viewed the trip as an opportunity to build relationships and learn.

“I feel like something that Culverhouse itself really pushes is networking,” she said. “The whole point of the trip was to network. We were just going to meet with different companies and learn from them.”

 One of the biggest surprises for Amick was discovering how far the Alabama network reaches. At nearly every company they visited, students met alumni who were eager to answer questions and share advice.

“I got to kind of see that in real time, people that are from Alabama or from the states... actively living abroad,” she said.

Those connections extended well beyond meetings. One alum took the time to send another student an itinerary for a backpacking trip through Belgium after learning she would be traveling there.

“They didn't have to do that,” Amick said. “Meeting with us was enough.”

Experiences like that reinforced why she believes the University's alumni network is one of its greatest strengths.

“I can say with full confidence that if you do choose to come to UA, the people here and even the people abroad are going to do anything they can to help make you as successful as possible,” she said.

As first-generation students, both Battle and Amick said the opportunity carried added meaning.

For Battle, whose family had never experienced international travel, returning home with stories of London became something his entire family could celebrate.

"This opportunity was significant to me just by being the first one in my family, not only to go to college, but experience an overseas trip, completely all expenses paid for," he said. "Just being the first one in my family to do that... a lot of people don't get opportunities like that."

Amick viewed the experience as a way of honoring her parents' sacrifices.

"They worked so hard to get me here," she said. "So I want to work hard for them."

Perhaps the greatest takeaway wasn't simply seeing another country. It was seeing new possibilities.

As students walked through London's financial district, met successful alumni and navigated a global city on their own, they gained confidence that careers once thought out of reach might one day become reality.

 For first-generation students taking their first steps into the professional world, the London Exploration Trip proved that sometimes the biggest journey begins with believing you belong there.

Giving Back

Brian Rankin has a deep connection with the first gen community. He’s one of them. He didn’t have the opportunity to visit London as a UA student but he’s vested in helping first-generation students and showing them they belong wherever their ambitions take them. He understands the challenges many students face because he lived them.

“I think it's very meaningful for me because, you know, for first-generation, it can be challenging,” he said. “Often they're financial challenges. Often they're just support challenges.”

After earning his MBA from Culverhouse, Rankin wanted to give back to the college that helped shape his career. He became involved with the First Gen Community through advisor Quoc Hoang and eventually helped make the London trip possible.

“I really wanted to pay back what was a great experience for me,” Rankin said. “My MBA experience was the best educational experience of my life. I want them to have in their minds that really the world is their job market. The world is their opportunity.”

Meeting successful Alabama alumni working abroad also helped reinforce an important message.

“Just knowing they belong, knowing that that is just as available to them as it is to anybody else is really important,” Rankin said.

By sharing their experiences and investing in students, alumni help first-generation students see careers and a future that once felt beyond reach. For Rankin, that's one of the most meaningful ways a Culverhouse graduate can give back.

Overseas opportunities

The value of the London Exploration Trip was to give students a chance to see business beyond the classroom.

Harrison Hyde, a Culverhouse alum who is head of European acquisitions with Medical Properties Trust, Inc. in London, met with the students during their visit and shared his experience of building a career overseas. He believes the smaller, more personal setting gave students an opportunity they might not get in a traditional classroom.

“I think just kind of being in somebody's office is a little more collegial, maybe, where you can ask more direct questions,” Hyde said. “It was a more intimate environment. You were able to ask a lot more questions and really get more candid insight.”

Hyde knows firsthand how an international experience can change a student's perspective. While at Alabama, he spent an internship in Zurich, which was his first time in Europe and his first extended experience away from Alabama.

“I think that kind of opened my horizons a little bit,” he said. “Realizing that I actually could live some of these other places, I think, was a neat experience for me.”

Now, Hyde hopes students can have a similar realization that an international career is not as distant or difficult as it may seem.

“The academics can kind of teach you how to do everything or how to learn everything,” he said. “But it's helpful to kind of envision yourself in that setting a little bit.”

First Gen community is significant for Hyde. His father was a first gen UA student who established an endowed scholarship for first-generation students. Hyde helps fund that endowment and hopes the London experience stays with students the way his Zurich experience stayed with him.

“You've got to see it for yourself to believe it, I think,” Hyde said.