A Mission for Mentoring

Senior uses experience as first-generation student to inspire others

Kristina Godinez, a senior from Caldwell, Idaho, looks to use her time at the University of Idaho to help others brighten their futures. She chose to double major in sociology and psychology with a criminology emphasis because she wants to learn how to help people, especially youth, who may not be in the best situation to succeed.

At the University of Idaho, Godinez has been very involved in many facets of the university and community, including being an active member of the Student Alumni Relations Board, interning in the psychology department as a peer mentor, and assisting students in the Moscow School District through the Moscow Mentors program.

Godinez hopes to carry on her mentorship activities into her career. After graduating in May 2017 from UI’s College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences, she hopes to work for City Year, a mentorship program located in large metropolitan cities across the U.S., where Godinez can use her experiences of being a first-generation college student to inspire underprivileged high school students to follow in her footsteps by fulfilling their dreams of a higher education.

“I want to use City Year as a stepping stone for continuing my career in social work,” Godinez said. “In my time at the University of Idaho, I’ve learned to keep an open mind to the fact that not everyone is granted the same opportunities to gain a higher education and be involved in their communities that I was. I hope to help people find those opportunities.”

While being the first in her family to attend a university was scary at first, she soon learned that her family was her motivation to succeed at UI.

“They are the reason that I am here,” Godinez said. “Being the first member of my family to go to college is the most rewarding feeling. I especially enjoy seeing my little sister start her freshman year at Idaho State and being able to help her through the same difficulties I had when I first started college”

Godinez is also proud to be a part of the Vandal Family and has loved her time at the University of Idaho.

“This is a great school where no matter where you are - in the dorms, in a Greek house or in class - people are always willing to help each other,” she said. “We’re unified as a family.”