Offering immediate subject expertise, personal narratives and sharing personal experiences are commonly encouraged in first-year college writing and adult ESL. However, quantitative research found a negative correlation between oversharing and student learning (Frisby & Sidelinger, 2013). Through investment theory (Norton, 2013), this paper thematically analyzes two Generation 1 learners' (i.e., adult-arrival immigrants) personal sharing and faculty's perceptions of that sharing. Faculty assigned meaning to persistence narratives by exercising their symbolic capital, but they failed to explain how such stories supported learners' academic goals. Implications include inviting learners into the community of practice to discuss personal sharing and its symbolic value.