Lacey Hites has been the assistant director of TRIO since the beginning of the semester. Prior to this role, she was the first person that director Chris Beggs hired in 2015 as a TRIO advisor. Hites acts as an academic advisor, life coach, counselor, mentor and just about any form of support students and co-workers need. She comes from a background that makes it easy for her to empathize with the students she works with.

“When I got my psychology degree my mom was beaming. She was so proud and she said, ‘That’s so wonderful, can you be a massage therapist now?’” Hites said. “That just epitomizes first-generation students.”

Her mom knew she was working hard but didn’t realize everything it took for her to get that degree.

“The insomnia, the anxiety, the stress, the constant friction I was feeling between wanting to lean on my family for support in this huge undertaking. These years of my life I’ve invested into something that I really have no idea what it’s going to provide me, and then at the end of it she’s like, ‘Great.’”