Jenny Rogers, sophomore at Mississippi State University, may seem like the  run-of-the-mill college student, and for the most part she is. What sets her apart, though, are the tremendous odds she has faced and overcome, along with a once in a lifetime opportunity that took her far beyond her hometown of Vancleave, Mississippi. 
Rogers was chosen to be a part of the “First-Gen Roadtrip.” Roadtrip Nation, a career exploration organization based in Costa Mesa, California, and the College Board, a mission-driven non-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity, collaborated to offer four first generation college students a chance to travel around the country in a recreational vehicle and meet with successful professionals.
During her childhood, Rogers remembers her mother teaching her to read before she started elementary school.
“I think my mom instilled that love of learning in me, and I carried that with me throughout high school,” Rogers told the Columbus Dispatch.
In 2005, Rogers’ mother died, leaving nine-year-old Rogers in the care of her father. He struggled with alcoholism and was significantly less involved in Rogers’ life than her mother was.
In high school, Rogers took advanced placement classes and graduated with honors. Despite her academic achievements, the loss of her mother and the slight unavailability of her father, forced Rogers to fend for herself, especially when it came to applying for college. 
In the end, Rogers applied to Mississippi State as an independent student because she could not access her father’s financial information.
Rogers’ problems did not end when she got to college, though. Her freshman year was especially tough. She was trying to juggle her social life and schoolwork, all while figuring out how she would manage to pay for college on her own. 
Since she was an undeclared major, her adviser put her in classes in which she had no interest. This caused her grades to suffer, and ultimately, she lost a much-needed scholarship due to her low GPA. 
She also had a hard time applying for financial aid, and she said no one in the financial aid office really knew how to help her. They bounced her around from counselor to counselor so much that Rogers felt like they did not care about her.
“I didn’t know how to do any of that, so it was frustrating having to go to the financial aid office and figure out how to fill out those forms and try to work the system,” Rogers told the Columbus Dispatch.
Rogers continued to struggle with gaining the confidence to decide on a major. Her adviser recommended that she take a career planning class, in the hopes that the Roadtrip Nation curriculum used in the class would help her decide on a major and career path.
Angela Knight, the professor of her career planning class, introduced Rogers to her once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“She pulled me aside specifically and told me ‘Hey, I think you should apply for Roadtrip Nation, it’d be really good for you,’” Rogers said. “I ended up applying, not even thinking about it, and I got it.”
Rogers had not realized how special it was to be the first person from a family to attend college until she was picked to move on to the second round of selection for Roadtrip.
“It hit me in that moment. I cried. That was the moment when I really felt like I had accomplished something,” Rogers told the Columbus Dispatch. “Because up until that point, I felt like I was wasting time and money being undeclared.”
Through this project, Roadtrip Nation and the College Board aimed to empower and inspire first-generation students to go on to college and pursue a career reflective of their interests by connecting them with first-generation leaders who were able to overcome obstacles and achieve not only college degrees but also successful careers.
The First-Gen Roadtrip lasted five weeks, and the students traveled about 4,000 miles. During this time, they conducted 20 interviews with successful professionals, and many of them were also first-generation college students.
Cofounder of Roadtrip Nation, Mike Marriner, said that interviewing influential people who have the same background as the students provides them with the support they need to discover their own paths in life.
“By speaking with leaders to learn how they got to where they are today, young students and job seekers alike are able to gain rare knowledge,” Marriner said in a College Board article. 
The students did just that. They interviewed trailblazers such as CEO of AT&T, Randall L. Stephenson; Executive Director of Teach America, David Lopez; Grammy-winning singer/songwriter, John Legend; U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan and Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, Alejandra Ceja.
Rogers said interviewing Nikki Cooley, the first Navajo woman to get a Colorado River guiding license, was the best part of her Roadtrip Nation journey.
“Her interview was very spiritual,” Rogers said. “We were near the bottom of the San Francisco Peaks, which is a very important mountain to Native American culture. To be sitting with a Navajo woman and having her speak Navajo to us at the bottom of these mountains was really amazing.”
After her road trip, Rogers said she finally decided on a graphic design major with a concentration in typography. She said she loves her classes now, and her professors support her and encourage her to follow her dreams. 
Rogers said that First-Gen Roadtrip changed life for the better in more ways than one.
“The person who went into the Roadtrip was scared of declaring a major, and her self-confidence was non-existent. The person I am now is super confident,” she said. “The art I’m putting out for my classes, I’m confident in it.”
Rogers is also involved in Freshman Navigators, a group that works to improve the grades of freshmen who did poorly in their first semester.
MSU’s Career Center hosted an exclusive screening of a one-hour documentary titled “Why Not Us?” The documentary covered the First-Gen Roadtrip.
Associate Director of the Career Center, Cassandra Latimer, hopes that other first-generation students who watched the documentary found comfort in it.
“Students could really identify with the struggles and fears faced by the four first generation college students featured,” Latimer said. “The tremendous personal growth the roadtrippers experienced during the course of their trip serves as a sense of hope. Students don’t have to know what they’re doing for the rest of their lives. Maybe they just have to know what’s coming next.”
Roadtrip Nation representative, Lejon Butcher, said the goal of this documentary is for students to gain new perspective on the meaning of success.
“I hope the students that saw the documentary realize that success is not about money. It’s all about following your passion,” Butcher said. “I always try to encourage students to take risks and do what they love.”
Rogers said she hopes that MSU realizes how important it is to reach out and help first-generation college students in any way they can, and she hopes to start speaking to classes about her experience on Roadtrip Nation.
“I can’t wait for the final Roadtrip piece to come out in the spring,” Rogers said. “Because I want other students who may be doubting themselves to look at it and say, ‘These people were the first people in their families to go to college. Why not me? Why can’t that be me?’”
To find out more about Roadtrip Nation, visit  www.roadtripnation.com.