Magazine Spring 2024 A Helping Hand from One First-gen to Another

As the first person in her family to attend college, JANELLE BOYD MARSHALL ’01 passionately serves first-generation college students. “I see myself in many of their stories,” she says. “My work is incredibly humbling, personal and rewarding.”

A communication studies professor at Brightpoint Community College in Midlothian, Virginia, Janelle also directs the Mellon Pathways Program, which supports community college students transferring to Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

“Only 16 percent of these students transfer and earn a bachelor’s degree,” Janelle says. “We’re working to change that.”

“Westmont was my first home,” she says. Her father, Justin Boyd, directed reprographics at the college. “I received a phenomenal education, and the friendships I made were the icing on the cake.” She earned a degree in communication studies and then spent five years supporting first-generation students through the TRiO Talent Search program in Chicago. “I always knew I wanted to be in education in some way,” she says.

She moved to Chicago by herself. “It was eye-opening to be in the heart of the city,” she says. “The students came from a different world, but I connected with them, advising, mentoring and guiding them through the challenges of getting into college.” She also took them to visit historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) so they could see themselves at one of these schools. “I took the gift of a college education I’d been given and turned it around to help others.”

During five years with the American Dental Association, she worked in public communications and helped run the Give Kids a Smile program, which provides free dental care to low-income children. She also completed a master’s degree in journalism at Roosevelt University in Chicago.

To keep working after her children were born, Janelle taught online for several years. “After my first semester of teaching, I found what I’d been missing,” she says. “I’m a teacher at heart, and I was all in.”

In 2016, she accepted a full-time position at John Tyler Community College, now Brightpoint, teaching public speaking and media writing. The next year, she became department chair. “God’s grace always carries me wherever I go,” she says. “It was a natural progression for me.”

“I took the gift of a college education I’d been given and turned it around to help others.”

She connected with the Mellon Pathways Program in 2017, serving on a committee and mentoring students. Janelle has directed the program since 2022. “I enjoyed teaching, but something pulled me to Pathways,” she says. “If you think something could be the right fit, you just have to jump. I’ve met extraordinary students and work with a staff of eight incredible people. We serve about 200 students in the arts and humanities at Brightpoint and Reynolds Community Colleges with funding from the Mellon Foundation.”

They mentor mostly non-traditional students and continue to support them hroughout college and, in some cases, graduate school. “We help them take the next step and see that they belong in this space,” she says. “We can see the results, and it’s empowering to know the program makes a tangible difference in their lives.”

She begins a Doctorate in Education program at VCU in the fall so she can better assist her students.

Janelle and her husband, Kerry, have two daughters, 16 and 12, and a son, 7. They live in Midlothian, Virginia, near Richmond.

“As one of only a small number of Black students at Westmont, I found it a challenging experience,” she says. “There is so much power in diversity and recognizing others’ stories; I’ve seen that in my own experience. I tell students, ‘Don’t stay in your bubble.’ They’re glad to see me in this role because they can now see themselves in it. That’s why my work is so important.”