Good evening friends and welcome to homecoming i am your host troy body a proud graduate of morehouse college in atlanta georgia one thing they say about morehouse men is that you can always tell a morehouse man but you can’t tell him anything so welcome to homecoming
This event tonight we want to take you take some time to introduce you to what the college experience is like at an hbcu we want to answer any questions that you might have and prepare you for life at a hbcu and get you ready for the hbcu fair this weekend
And so we’re going to kick off homecoming with our grand marshal dr monifa mcknight a proud graduate from south carolina state university and byron johns chair of the naacp parent council and a morehouse brother greetings and welcome to the hbcu homecoming event i am dr monifah mcknight deputy superintendent of montgomery county
Public schools and i welcome you to the annual historically black colleges and universities fair as a proud graduate of south carolina state university i know firsthand the power of an hbcu education and experience to this day i had fond memories and still stay in contact with many friends who i’ve developed relationships
With sorority sisters professors all who have cultivated my life in so many different ways every day i am thankful that for that experience and today i still make a pledge to be involved and be a part of the south carolina state alumni chapter the rich legacy of our 107 hbcus has cultivated
Great minds we have a us supreme court justice a nasa astronaut and most recently the first woman vice president of the united states to name just a few and we all know she graduated from howard university in hbcu thank you to all participating in hbcus our mcps team and the montgomery county
Alliance of black school educators for making this very important event possible be sure to ask questions explore the possibilities and please make sure you attend and enjoy the hbcu fair being held on saturday thank you so much and best wishes to you all good evening and we are so glad to have
Students and families to the hbcu alumni event today my name is byron johns i i am the education chair for the naacp montgomery county and the chair of the parents council within mcps so i wanted to first welcome you to this inaugural event where we will hear from a number of hbcu
Alumni who are teachers and in various roles within mcps i am thrilled that we are doing this and hopefully we’ll continue to do this every year i am an alumni of uh nhbcu in fact i’m an alumni of morehouse college one of the reasons i chose to go to morehouse is because
Of its track record of excellence obviously people know alumni like martin luther king but maynard jackson who was the mayor of atlanta i ran track frankly with edwin moses the olympian spike lee went to morehouse and he was class behind me i was a physics major at morehouse and electrical engineering major and
Finished with both degrees in their five-year program after that i did go to university of michigan for graduate school and i went to yale for international management so what morehouse did for me is gave me the foundation that allowed me to one aspire and know that i could do the work
And it removed many of the barriers that many of my colleagues and people that i grew up with found that in predominantly white institutions there is a burden sometimes that you feel to need to prove yourself or you’ve got to go go the extra mile to get half the credit
That was off the table the expectation is you’re going to do well and one of the things i found my professors did there they never questioned whether i should go to graduate school they would jokingly argue about which graduate school i should go to and so they framed the argument in a way
That it set my expectations uh to continue uh on and on it has been profoundly uh impactful and has opened doors that frankly i didn’t know were even existed for me so for that i want you to all consider hbcus it has probably been the most impactful decision in my life and
For the generations that come after me so thank you please Use the opportunity the fair all the things that we have worked so hard to make sure that are available for you these are life-changing decisions and we hope that you will avail yourself of the opportunities before you take care and enjoy and i look forward to seeing you And i’d like to thank dr mcknight and mr and byron johns for those reflections on their hbcu experience and what what surveys typically find is that students who attend historically black colleges and university feel more supported and feel they have a more meaningful full experiences from attending hbcus and
Talking about meaningful experiences one thing that i remember is every fall it was homecoming season and so we jump in the car or try to put our pennies together and figure out where whose homecoming we were going to so we’re gonna are we gonna go to howard
I have ten dollars and a gas card so we can get there or we’re going to go to um check out what’s going on at famu homecoming was an amazing time of the year and it was also like family because your brothers and sisters from other colleges and universities would come together
And so it wouldn’t be a homecoming celebration if we didn’t have roll call so what we’re going to do is state by state introduce the historically black colleges and universities from each of um our states and at the end we’re gonna we’re gonna make some noise but we’re just gonna
Pop through and just recognize now if your university pops up you can you can unmute yourself and give it a shout out um but at the end we’re going to come together turn on our cameras and celebrate hbcus so let the black band start playing all right alabama’s in the house let’s
Go let’s go and us anybody all right that’s all right we’re going to keep on rolling delaware the first state delaware state university All right district of columbia all right next slide florida damn you put it kentucky state university anybody in the house now you can also shout out relatives there you have another university you heard me y’all know what it is yeah y’all already know [Applause] all right marilyn it’s representing let’s go on mississippi
Any any any folks representing mississippi all right north carolina all right thank you north carolina for representing ohio we have central state and will before all right my dad graduated from wilbur forest may he rest in peace sending a shout out for your dad that’s all right oklahoma langston university all right pennsylvania
Lincoln university in the house that’s right the oldest Let’s represent south carolina bulldogs baby in the house all right let’s keep our journey going we’re in tennessee now tennessee i’m from tennessee i just didn’t go to school there all right my dad went to tuskegee all right all right giggy texas sausage any texans in the house all right virginia you
Calm down a little bit now what about west virginia west virginia and last but not least u.s virgin islands All right so what we’re going to do now okay so we have the divine nine i’m sure there’s one or two of you all in the house so when i call your name yell out let us know that you’re here represented alpha all right alpha kappa alpha are you in the house All right zeta five beta let me see any deltas in the house [Applause] all right let me hear you nasty nukes in the building Sigma gamma rho the sorority incorporated anybody all right now just one last time you can decide if you’re a member of the difference by 9 you can yell out if you want to represent your hbcu yell it out and so on the count of three
I want to hear some noise and get this homecoming party started one two three let me hear Real asu howard university we got some more show to go so thank you all for participating in roll call i feel like i am back on campus and i’m much younger than i am today and the world is fresh and new and so we are going to move on
So one thing if you haven’t if if you you’re listening and you should be picking up there are high expectations that hbc use you are expected to achieve and go off into the world and represent and do well i remember one day i skipped class
I was taking a women images of women in literature classes feldman college and it was friday and that was a day you know we all hung out near the bookstore and i was hanging out having a good time and on my way through campus dr uh gail stopped me and said mr body
I’m glad to see that you are alive and well but let me tell you this next friday you better be in my class and let me just tell you i didn’t miss another class and um and so it’s with those high expectations and sometimes reprimands that just what i needed to get through
Persevere and go off um and have a successful career so we’re going to listen um have some more speakers come and share the hbcu um history and student life and so i’d like to introduce and welcome julie tannen and liz collins to share their presentations with you
Good evening everyone my name is julie tannen stevens and i am an administrator in montgomery county i am a member of alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated and i went to you heard it the proudly standing nation’s oldest hbcu cheney university has been highly respected as the high education since founding in 1836.
So we began a journey on a farm as the institute for colored youth and for 184 years my university has strived for excellence in academics character and social responsibility so i wanted to share some history of hbcus that you may not be familiar with [Applause] All right so i just wanted to start to share some some history that you may not know you may not be familiar with um as i stated earlier we are the first hbcu historically black college and university and we were founded in pennsylvania but wilberforce university in ohio wasn’t far behind
That was the first hbcu owned and operated by african americans and that was founded in 1856. so let’s talk a little bit about the now and then so back in the days historical black colleges and universities provided black students with basic education and most people became teachers or tradesmen but now the focus
Is just more basic skill development there are top ranking hbcus like morehouse howard florida a m and jackson state just to name a few hbcus started in churches and in basements old school houses and even in people’s houses um the eight top ten institutes produced black undergraduates who went to hbcus
And we have robert charles bates who was the first black certified architect in the united states he graduated from um claflin university in south carolina and he went on to establish the first architecture program to be offered in an hbcu in the 1890s so hbcus significantly contribute to the creation of african american
Science degree from africa agriculture all the way to social science computer science physical science and for those who don’t know that a and t for denzel blair jr franklin mclean david richmond and joseph mcneil were essentially in the civil rights movement when they protested back in 1960 at a segregated woolworth’s lunch encounter
With in greensboro north carolina and they did they staged a sit-in after being denied services so the sydney the sit-in was a movement that soon spread through all the college towns throughout the south now countless students from hbcus all around the nation continue to use their voices their platforms to fight systematic racism
And bring awareness to so many issues facing the black community so we are 75 black phds 46 of black business executives 50 of black engineers 80 of black federal judges 85 percent of black doctors we are 50 of black attorneys 75 of black military officers 40 of black dentists
50 of black pharmacists and 75 of black veterinarians we are doing some good things i’m gonna turn it on over to liz good evening everybody my name is nora collins i invite you to refer to me as liz that’s my middle name and that’s how i’m referenced by my
Friend so i welcome you to call me liz i’m proud to represent howard university where i attended twice because it was so nice so i did my undergrad and my graduate there at howard university great institution for learning i welcome if you are interested in attending howard university first visit
Then apply then attend i am also a proud member of delta sigma theta sorority incorporated so i proudly represent howard and delta as i present life on campus at an hbcu so tonight we’re going to explore a little bit about the many facets of life at historically black colleges and universities
So what is life like so on a hbc u campus it’s like no other you will experience dorm life classes networking student union campus traditions greek life campus celebrities diversity real world preparedness homecoming sports and marching bands so that dorm life what is that dorm life like
Well living on campus is an amazing experience that allows students to create lifelong friendships and bonds dorms are structured in various ways gender specific dorms apartment style housing and for some off-campus housing and you’ll notice oftentimes when they recognize kamala madam vice president kamala harris they oftentimes reference
Her friendships that were founded not only at howard but also in the dorms and while she pledged alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated classes so classes at an hbcu vary your class size can range from as small as a few students in a small class to larger size classes and lecture halls
One thing that is consistent is that you have the opportunity to work closely with your professors however for the classes that are much larger keep this in mind it’s easy to become a number so in order for your professor to know who you are it is your
Job to get to know your professor visit during office hours ask questions after class and email on a consistent basis networking the networking opportunities you can gain at hbcus are unparalleled corporations know the value in hiring and working with students at hbcus and as a result we find that many doors
Are open for students attending hbcus matter of fact till this day i reached back to many of my student friends at howard and asked them about any youth they might know who are interested in becoming teachers so that’s the power of networking student union ah yes i got great
Memories of my student union days so the student union serves as the hub of the campus life so at howard university it was referenced as the blackburn center here you are likely to see step shows dance performances fashion shows get some great food and purchase something special oftentimes that’s also the location that’s
Overrun during homecoming because there’s so many people to see and hook up with traditions so tradition is very important at an hbcu our royal courts our drive for equality and civil rights our graduation ceremonies are just some of the traditions we have that bring us together as a family
Often times hbucus also celebrate convocation and that’s typically a very large event where alumni come back those who have given to the alumni association and the sole purpose is to recognize the founding of the school and to keep focused on what we’re here to do greek life the divine nine the divine nine
Consists of the nine greek sororities and fraternities you can find on an hbcu campus which you just heard us do our calls collectively they are alpha kappa alpha delta sigma theta zeta phi beta sigma gamma rho those are the sororities and the following are the fraternities alpha phi
Alpha phi beta sigma kappa alpha psi omega scifi and iota phi theta celebrities so hbc graduates have gone on to do some pretty amazing things spike lee debbie allen felicia rashad the late chadwick boseman sean puffy combs thurgood marshall tony morrison anthony anderson liz alonso spike lee to name a few
So keep in mind depending on who you’re in uh conversation with it may be referenced that hbcu does not grow powerful people i’m here to say the contrary absolutely hbcus can be relied upon to grow not only influential but in impactful people the black diaspora one of the amazing things about an
Hbcu is the wide range of people that attend them you will find students from all ethnicities geographical locations socioeconomic groups attending while i was at howard i met people from all over the world from africa to the smaller island nations and it was beautiful we all came together every friday at the flagpole
Which uh caused some problems if you weren’t attending class real world preparedness the ability to gain real world experiences as a student of an hbcu is widely acknowledged students are given these opportunities from their professors their majors and from the activities offered at their schools oftentimes there are partnerships that occur
On the campus and if you put in the legwork you can find opportunities in the summer with uh with uh corporations that could lend you a job in your future ah yes homecoming without a doubt homecoming at an hbcu is something you must experience at least once the fashion shows the step
Shows the games the music the vibe the family it’s indescribable matter of fact those who attended hbcu and those who don’t start planning months out for their agenda for the homecoming weekend which starts a week early so look forward to once this covetless uh lifts attending an hbcu homecoming
If you’re not going to an hbcu school after this presentation but hopefully will change your mind step shows there’s nothing like a step show so stepping is a staple in the black community and is seen at every hbcu whether the steppers represent one of the divine nine
Or the school step team there is nothing like an hbcu stepper and in an effort to prepare for these step shows the sororities and fraternities they start practicing months out and the position the precision in which they present themselves is incomparable marching bands if you didn’t know before
Now you do there is nothing like an hbcu ban they get the party started the drum majors the major rets the dance sequences the performances and the drum line the hbcu band helps to energize and invigorate us all when we hear and see them play often times the hbcu bands are involved
In the parade which kicks off saturday morning prior to the game and oftentimes after the game there is the battle the bands on the yard be sure you check it out sports hbcu athletes are just as competitive as at any other institution hbcu alumni have gone on to many national collegiate and
Professional championships one namely walter payton jackson state all-time rusher for chicago bears the final word there’s 10 reasons to consider going to an hbcu first read education some of the best colleges and universities in the country are hbcus caring professors and faculty classes and extra curricular activities tailored to african americans
A supportive atmosphere diversity empowerment a chance to continue the legacy alumni associations for graduates of all hbcus scholarships and grants and last but certainly not least you’ll be in good company yes and i feel privileged to have such good company in this space with all you educators and administrators who
Are graduate and graduates and representing your hbcus so i applaud your excellence as well so thank you my hbcu sisters and for the next part um of our show of our homecoming event we’re going to hear some from some of our very own mcps staff and as
And they they’re going to share their why as to why they chose an hbcu The reason why i decided to go to an hbcu was because i wanted to be around like-minded people that look like me i graduated from a small high school in columbia maryland and i was really only one of 50 people of color in my graduating class throughout my time from elementary
Middle and high school i didn’t really have a lot of role models and or teachers of color and it was very instrumental for me to be in a place that i felt supported i knew i wanted to go somewhere that was full of culture and history it’s stonegate elementary school we
Watched a film strip on martin luther king and in the film strip i learned that martin luther king went to morehouse college when he was 16 years old and in third grade i decided that’s where i was going to go to college i applied to three different universities two of them were
Historically white institutions one hbcu um the biggest advice i can tell you that you’ll get a great education wherever you decide to go but of the three that i applied to the hpc was gonna reach back and and they gave me the encouragement a group of my friends we rented a car
And for our spring break we headed south and we hit every hbcu down to virginia and i can remember stepping on the campus of almost really every campus we stopped at we went to hampton howard norfolk state del state morgan state but it was something about stepping on the campus of hampton university
Where i just felt at home i knew i wanted to be um in an environment and in a space that was going to um uplift me and enhance me in a place where i could broadcast my strengths walking the campus just looking at the beauty of the campus
Feeling the energy of the students but most importantly seeing all of these black and brown faces from top to bottom was magical to me seeing a lot of professors that were also of color too that was also very inspiring you know it representation matters right so
It motivated me to see like oh not all professors are white i am a daughter of howard university um and it was the best decision that i ever made in my entire life an hbcu for me was the place that i was given the support that i need to
Develop as a well-rounded human being i’m glad that i was able to be around an environment filled with people who really loved on me and supported my my journey it was the best decision intellectually academically even professionally that i have ever made my experience going hbcu has forever changed me and i encourage
You all to highly consider it love my hbcs and i think we all love our hbcus that was excellent to hear from so many staff members of why they chose an hbcu and for me it’s home it’s always home i think about just the friendships and the relationships and the education that i
Got at my hbcu so we have come to the moment that we’ve all been waiting for and we’re going to enter our first panel discussion so i want to introduce to you the host for our panelists um panelists um section lauren holmes and clark montgomery i want to turn it over to youtube
Thank you so much mr body um we are going to share the moderator portion of tonight’s um segment with question and answer my name is lauren holmes and i am a proud graduate of howard university food time graduate it was so amazing like miss collins said earlier that i decided to go twice
Um and and as i said earlier in the video i consider myself to be a daughter of the university because howard took such great care of me and so i’m going to pass the mic over to our two other moderators to introduce themselves good evening ladies and gentlemen i am
Clark montgomery proud graduate of south carolina state university in orangeburg south carolina also representing tonight as you saw dr money for midnight we are very proud of her representing south carolina state and also i am a graduate of bowie state university graduate school uh bulldog nation
Thank you and i look forward to asking those great questions tonight scsu in the house good evening everyone my name is charles feemster and i’m a proud graduate of north carolina central university the home of the eagles of durham north carolina where eagles soared in new heights every
Day and we’re about truth and service for all don’t forget it and it’s such my honor to be here to serve as a moderator for tonight um just to encourage someone to consider an hbcu so we’re looking forward to getting information asking questions and getting uh information to you that will help you
Make the best decision of your life so our first question for the evening would go to miss nadine allen the question is how did you and your family finance your college education um hi i’m nathan allen i am the proud graduate of bowie state university
I loved it so much i attended twice so i’m an undergrad and graduate school um i’m a school counselor here at montgomery county public schools um how i pay for college so um i paid for college several ways i did scholarships um i got a scholarship for being the
First in my family to attend a college so i got a scholarship based on that i also got um academic scholarships i got a grant because that’s something that you receive from a low income housing i also got work study um maryland state scholarship and i also had to take out
Student loans and that’s how i funded college and as well as i was a public i was also in public housing so i also receive a scholarship through public housing as well thank you thank you okay so our next question is going to go to stephanie lewis and
Stephanie if you would talk to the idea of work study are there any panelists that had the experience in work study and how did it help finance your college education well first i’d like to say good evening everyone my name is stephanie lewis i am also a proud howard university alumni
I am also a member of zeta phi beta sorority incorporated and within the county i am a speech language pathologist so to answer your question while i was at howard most of my funding was through loans however i did have the opportunity to have work study and i remember it was actually a
Tutoring program most of the times with that particular funding it was to help out with small things buying books or additional school supplies from the bookstore in addition to that i also had the support from a program called the student support services called the trio program because i was a
First generation college student fantastic and um so we appreciate you sharing that way of getting through college so i’ll turn the next question over to lauren all right our next question is for miss khadijah barkley and our question is are there other factors besides act and sat scores
That qualify a student for scholarships if so what types of scholarships are available at hbcus well good evening everyone as lauren shared with you my name is khadijah barkley i am a graduate of spelman college i attended clark atlanta university to get my certification to teach and i also attended bowie state
University for my graduate studies in administration so the question is are there other factors besides standardized testing and i will tell you invariably yes every experience you have um where you get a chance to have activities within the community community service the those students that have
A number of ssl hours they can qualify for scholarships there are so many scholarships that the divine nine i also serve as the scholarship chairperson for alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated zai sigma omega chapter and we give about twenty thousand dollars every year in scholarships and so each year our scholarships come
Out during the month of november and they’re usually due in january this year um for seniors that deadline was january 29th but that’s just one chapter you know alpha kappa alpha sorority has several chapters in this area and all of them give scholarships just like the other divine nine um
Sororities and fraternities but i’ll just say that not only s.a.t and act community service your grades any experiences that you’ve had in working there are so many things that colleges and universities look at because they want to have a well-rounded student body so just like you’re looking at various
Opportunities for you to attend colleges and universities hbcus are also looking for individuals that are well-rounded that can be dynamic individuals on their campuses thank you so much miss barkley absolutely and thank you for that information uh our our next question we’re going to ask the same question to miss ts scott
Are there other factors besides act and sat scores that qualify student for scholarships and if so what types of scholarships are available at hbcus hi my name is tia scott and i am a proud graduate of howard university and uh within the county i am the court liaison and also
A also a people personnel worker yes in addition to um sct sat scores there are other scholarships um other things that you can do to qualify for scholarships um and uh some of them are just going into your career center and uh looking there for the various organizations who have scholarships to offer
Some of the scholarships are the bonner scholarship there’s also athletic scholarships i’m sorry in the bonner is for student service learning hours um as ms barclay said greek organizations um there are students who uh and and and faculty who attended or maybe taught at the high
School that you go to and they offer scholarships um various organizations such as one of the organizations i belong to the maryland association of people personnel workers we give scholarships um state grants there are scholarships that you can qualify for by writing essays or belonging to particular groups there are so many
Scholarships that are available out there to students thank you miss scott this young lady has already talked about campus life did a great job tonight on the presentation uh about campus life next question go this next question goes to miss liz collins uh what happens
If you get sick at the campus or college that’s a great question i’m glad i’m answering it so i remember when i got sick my first year in the first month and i had no clue what to do so typically there’s an infirmary on every campus
So know where the infirmary is but i lived off campus my first year because they ran out of housing so i didn’t know where the infirmary was so your next best bet it is to identify where the patient first or minute minute clinics are try to get some good sleep so your first
Year let’s be real real talk you’re going to want to party yourself silly and do class and you’re going to get sick and distorted that’s all i’m say you’re gonna want to party mom’s dads i know you don’t want to hear this it’s hard to find the balance you’re gonna burn the candle
Both ends and the middle you’re gonna get sick so if you can’t find a minute clinic make sure you got your airborne and a bottle of water make sure you take some zinc that’ll strengthen your immune system some elderberry liz i don’t do none of that all right
Well then get you some tea and make sure you get some sleep if you’re sick notify your professor no excuses crawl out the bed and email them and let them know you’re sick and fine always have a study buddy or a partner that can update you on any information you missed
If you miss class and call home to mom because something about moms know what to do if you have a dad who knows what to do call him if you got a auntie or a tia and she makes you feel good when you call her
Call her and then make sure you do what get some sleep that’s all that’s it that’s all i have but don’t go to the party set because then you’re just gonna get sicker there’ll be more parties there’ll be more parties and i think you forgot to add eat those great meals in
The cafeteria oh yeah yeah that’s right power up eat your food that’s right thank you sure all right so our next question is for miss jasmine muhammad um what were some campus activities clubs and or events that you participated in for fun on campus jasmine muhammad
Um i am a seventh grade teacher at francis scott key middle school um i am a proud graduate of the illustrious north carolina agricultural and technical state university um and i loved it so much that i also attended there twice um i got a my undergraduate degree in 2011
And my master’s degree in 2013. so what were some things that i did that were fun i was an orientation student leader which is an organization that pretty much welcomes the incoming freshman class during orientation so during those summer visits a lot of schools do overnights
So we were a group of about i think like 40 of us and we just facilitated all the campus tours we answered all the questions very similar to what this is right now um so and that was a paid opportunity so you can always find other opportunities on campus that might
Not go through financial aid but it is something that can offset the cost a little bit i was also a campus life mentor and that’s the same thing as an orientation student leader but it’s you follow the freshmen throughout the year um and you’re like a mentor to them you ask question
You answer their questions you you give them the the information as especially if they have no friends or it’s difficult for them to make friends they’re far away from home so that was really fun we had modeling troops uh shout out to couture and vogue i mean verge
We had two modeling troops um we had hometown organizations i was from new jersey so we had new york new jersey connection there’s a metro aggies group there was a group for those from the midwest from california from atlanta from houston from florida people who came from out of the
Country like we had a hometown organization for everybody um ant is very inclusive and um we had organizations for students who spoke different languages something else i’m trying to keep it under two minutes um we had um some other fun stuff we had gym jams i don’t know about jim jim’s
Uh doran cove but in after covet but gym jams were super fun and also greensboro is a very college-oriented place so shout out to bennett college they were right across um the tracks from us we had the university of north carolina greensboro guilford college guilford tech and there was like a community college
In the area also so it’s very college-oriented you will always find someone to meet i encourage you all to apply to the illustrious north carolina agricultural and technical state university thank you so much miss muhammad it sounds like you had a great time on campus
I did oh i didn’t mention jiho but i’ll get another opportunity to share that yes we can’t wait so um our next question actually is the same question for dr kavina griffith so what were some campus activities clubs or events that you participated in for fun on campus thanks lauren
Hi i’m kavina griffith and i am representing two historically black colleges and universities for my undergraduate degree i attended oakwood university in huntsville alabama and for my doctorate degree i attended bowie state university and i am a recent graduate from there and so i’ll reflect a little bit on my undergraduate opportunities
In terms of my extracurricular activities things that i were involved in included research organizations so i knew that i wanted to attend grad school so i made sure to start getting my foot in the door of research when i was an undergrad student i attended college in huntsville
Which is a college town of sorts and alabama a m is there and university of alabama at huntsville and so i made sure to have myself in that research world i knew that i wanted to apply to masters programs and doctorate programs and so starting those research groups
I was also a tutor for statistics on campus which was something that no one wanted to do and so i made some really good money doing that on the side um tutoring stats and i was a part of sga the psychology club i was a psychology major then
Just making sure to get my foot in the door to become that well-rounded you’ll hear that a lot when you go into college and you might want to pursue graduate school they want a well-rounded applicant they want you to make sure that you have academics and you can also
Handle something else and so i was looking for those well-rounded opportunities during my college years um to make sure that i was involved in and then as i attended bowie as well making sure that i was continuing um those same practices and so there are opportunities to have fun
There are opportunities to have fun and work and then there are opportunities to work and so once you get in you’re definitely worrying about you know trying to adjust but you do have to make a shift into thinking about what’s next for your life um what’s next and what your plans are for
Your life and what can you be involved in so that you can reach your goal awesome thank you so much dr griffith okay so we’ll come upon the uh next bit of question which talks about housing experience and this will go to two people miss daphne adele adele and alexa jeffries
So this question asks what was your campus housing experience life and how did the physical and social environment of the campus housing impact your college experience and i’ll start with you miss alexa we’ll start with you first excuse me my name is alexa jeffries and i am a middle school p.e teacher
At argyle middle school i attended winston-salem state university in north carolina as well as north carolina a t i know that if anybody knows about school it’s you know they’re head to head so i got both degrees we’ll do a housing application send your money in
But um i wasn’t able to get housing my first year on campus so they sent me my money back and they sent me an apartment a list luckily i was able to find a really good apartment for two years but um that was my experience and with that because i didn’t stay on
Campus i didn’t have those connections like everybody was making um so for the first two weeks i was actually hanging out with my grandmother and my aunt because they were living in winston-salem but once you started uh getting out there and doing those extracurricular activities i found a group called northern connection
And that’s when i actually started meeting people so that’s how i was able to you know overcome not staying on campus but also still feel feeling that i’m still involved in the campus life thank you okay and um daphne adult adult from you yes thank you alexa
Yeah i i lived on campus um the entire four years i lived in high-rise dorm at north carolina and t state university um i worked on in that dorm working with freshmen and sophomore students i created a block of students who had the same major so they could
Have study sessions together i also did an internship at the i was a speech communication theater arts major i worked at the jazz radio station there and newspaper as well i um did a lot of support with the students and work with my professors a lot i’m
More or less of a person that wants to embrace my professors so that really helped me get through the university thank you so much and those of you students who are listening the the housing the education doesn’t stop in the classroom the housing situation that you’re in in the hbcu
Helps you succeed because of that support so um i’ll go to our next question with clark thank you so i i think the young lady talked about miss jaffe’s about rivals of north carolina a t as well as winston-salem state but for the bulldogs in the house
Uh north carolina a t was the arrival of south carolina state for those of uh my aggie friends in the house tonight so can you talk a little bit more about those uh excurricular activities for uh for students miss jaffe’s yes i can so um like i stated before i was part of
Northern connection which you know they anywhere from delaware uh north of delaware it was all the people that were from those states so we did um you know football games got to know so it was a sense of having people that were kind of like you from the north far away from their
Families also i was able to join our majors club we were i was a sports management major so i was able to join that that was able to open up a lot of opportunities for me intramural sports especially if you’re used to playing sports and high school
Intramural sports was a great way to meet people as well i was on the volleyball and i also did basketball as well i was on travel basketball so i was able to go to different schools and play against other teams we actually won the championship against the wake forest um intramural
Team so that was an amazing accomplishment for us so um just get involved make sure you get those extra curricular activities but also make sure you have that balance as well but get out there do the extra activities and that’s how you start to meet more people also you become that well
Student as well thank you and the next question will come from our bison friend over there at howard university all right yes bison and howard pride so we’re going to pause here for a second and we’re going to watch a brief video clip of more of our mcps employees
Sharing why they chose an hbcu let’s take a look hbcu is their family hbcus they see you what i took away from from the hbcu experience was um h means home hbcus nourish you from a social emotional standpoint my supervisor who was there for the residence hall i lived in
Um gave his phone number to my parents so i’m 23 years old and he gave his phone number to my parents and said if you need anything you call me and i’ll make sure that he’s okay he’s taken care of while he’s having this experience here they
Cheer for you hbcus they were designed specifically for students that look like me from the college president to my professors to the student body to the people in the cafeteria even the groundskeepers were black and brown faces i had never seen that before when i think about the the bc in hbcu
I think about black culture i think about learning some things that i did not know um about my own culture to be a part of the majority um was just an experience that was extremely empowering from the care of the professors to engaging on an intellectual level
With my peers who looked like me who shared similar experiences as me propelled me into a place of confidence of self-assurance i didn’t realize that i was missing until i was on the campus of hampton university the eu stands for for unity um and i will say
That in the context of once you graduate from the hbcu you are always part of that university then to establish the camaraderie with members from other hbcus spelman and morehouse howard north carolina a and t there’s a family bond there they went as individuals and they left as family
Hbcu is a great place to go because those connection points are like no other people often made the argument why do you want to go to hbcu it’s not the real world ladies and gents let me tell you no college is the real world whether you’re at harvard yale or somewhere else
They’re designed that way they’re designed to be insular where it’s a place of academic and intellectual enrichment hbcus are no different for four years i was in this culture and this space that was so different than what i experienced it was a place where uh the the people there genuinely loved me they
Genuinely uplifted me it was a place that had a focus for being a leader of america in the global community and i knew that that’s what i wanted my parents had always told me i could be anything i want and at morehouse that dream came true they backed it up
What a powerful message very very powerful in getting a chance to hear multiple perspectives from our teachers and our educators right here in mcps and listening to um why why we made that decision and uh person after person um story after story was that it was the best
Experience of our life so we’re going to jump over to answering some questions about the divine nine organizations on campus and then we’re going to wrap up by answering questions about preparing for college and opening up the floor so that students can ask questions because we’re here to answer your questions
I’ll start with the divine nine question so what i’ll do is this one will go to um serenity more did you join your organization in undergrad and so what inspired you to join your divine nine organization thank you again i’m happy to be here um i am a graduate of the most illustrious
Uh organization hampton university um and i’m also a member of delta sigma theta incorporated um got my little earrings in just so y’all can see see where i’m at okay all right so um i actually joined delta sigma theta in undergrad um and the reason i
Joined is because in high school um i had um an experience with a woman um doing some community service and she really shifted my understanding of the power that i had to change the things that were in my space and so from then on i just was seeking
And looking and trying to figure out how can i be a part of these little movements that are really working to change people’s lives and do something that is really really meaningful so when i went to hampton um when i got there the deltas were running the yard so that also helped
With the decision but their core values the honesty the integrity the persistence and just um our uh desire to consistently try to provide for people and communities and under resourced uh spaces and so um we did we had a lot of fun we took a lot of trips
We still do all of those things we are just coming off of a trip from bermuda with my entire line but at the same time we do a lot of work to make sure that we are uplifting people who deserve access who are um struggling to overcome oppressive systems and so
Um it was an experience that has changed my life forever and i’m forever uh in in debt to it thank you for sharing that and and i speak for all of us um you know the divine nun and those greek letter organizations have made such good great contributions to
The development of students at hbu so we appreciate you and all of you who do that who who serve in that work and the next question will come from clark as the member of alpha miss khadijah barkley uh could you tell us what is the divine nine and how is your organization involved
With the community uh thank you mr montgomery um the divine nine i think we mentioned that earlier they are all um nine african-american um fraternities and or sororities that are you know national and international and they serve communities so there are chapters of these organizations that are on college campuses not just
Hbcu college campuses but most college campuses have the divine nine so there are undergraduate chapters and there are also graduate chapters and they are all kind of overseen or kind of organized by the national panhellenic council so um but the i think the most important part of these organizations is really
Why i joined alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated and that is community service um each of these organizations have a keen focus a laser-like focus on supporting the community so it might be about spreading information about covid19 and the importance of getting vaccinated in terms of a health and human services focus
It might be um holding food drives for people that have food insecurity it might be like we just finished a huge um focus on um health women’s health heart health where the colors of alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated are salmon pink and apple green and so when we focus
On heart health we have this term that says pink goes red so while we’re focusing on heart health we have a huge focus on you know making sure that people are taking care of themselves and knowing their numbers and identifying whether they have high blood pressure or cholesterol
And those are the kinds of things that we do in the community to make sure that we are uplifting individuals and for alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated the term is service to all mankind thank you so much miss barkley we are going to ask one of our student
Panelists to answer the next question lillian carr is a graduate well lillian i’ll let you introduce yourself but we are just so excited that you’re here and i’ll ask you your question and then if you can share your experiences and speak from an mcps student perspective so based on your experiences
At hampton university what were some of the qualifications for admissions and did you have to take any honors ap or college preparatory courses and if so did you find them useful okay hello everyone my name is lillian carr i am a current freshman strategic communication major leadership studies minor attending the hampton university
So i attended clarksburg high school and basically um while in high school i was in a program called the apps program which offered me the many opportunities i was always at honors classes always in ap classes over the course of my high school career i took 10 ap classes now for you
Ap classes might not be your thing but i do um think that it’s important that you do take honors courses to just kind of prepare you for college and prepare you for the curriculum that you are about to enter into um as far as like admissions and qualifications i would say that of
Course your sat score matters your act score matters depending on what you choose to take for me i decided that the act um for me i think the act is more tailored to black students or students or and so i chose to take the act i did take both but i
Continuously took the act for you that could be totally different but that is super important to think about when you’re studying for the test and taking the test because it is important especially for some scholarships too also your gpa it is critical that you really think about the importance of your gpa
And the classes that you’re taking and how rigorous they are because your gpa matters um it is important to maintain your gpa not only for scholarships but you want to be competitive when you are applying for these schools now you know you could have an amazing gpa and amazing test scores
But if you are not in extracurricular activities or doing something to set yourself apart you don’t look competitive so find something that you’re passionate about find something that you’re interested in and stick to it because that is going to show colleges that you are more than
A student now when so you know you’re gonna have the opportunity to express this in your application when you’re applying to colleges so in that you’ll be able to do that in your essay so it can really come down to your essay determining whether or not you were
Going to get into these institutions so you need to i wrote i’m a military child so i’ve moved around every three to four years i meaning like every three or four years my life changed so i had to overcome my adversity overcome obstacles to become the person that i am today i
Moved to clarksburg maryland my freshman year of my freshman year of high school by the end of my freshman year i was class president and i remained class president all the way through high school that’s what i stuck to so find something to stick to find something that makes you look
Competitive and that you’re passionate about and you you’re gonna be top tier so you are capable of doing anything you put your mind to just do it girl hey man thank you you’re unmuted mr haynes you know we’re proud right now i am so proud of lillian right now i’m
Sorry that’s all i have to do go ahead okay so at this point we’ll turn it over one last question for lauren to ask of one of our students for president yeah and i just want to point out before before um acknowledging another student that
Lillian carr uh is also a recipient of m of a mcapsey scholarship and so our organization really celebrated and honored all of the hard work that she was speaking of while she was a mcps student and so our next question is for another mcps student qualm
Quam we want to know did you make an early decision when deciding to go to school or a regular decision and can you explain the difference between the two and how did you decide what prompted you to make your decision when going to school um well i made a regular decision
On applying to howard university my name is claude duncey i am currently a sophomore broadcaster i was a major at howard university and i attended clarksburg high school um yes i made a regular decision when going to howard university the difference between the early decision the regular decision is that
With the early decision when you apply and you get your decision back and if they accept you into the university then you know like you have no choice but to attend while with the uh regular decision you know it’s normal like you get to make your
Own choice if you want to go or not and in terms of attending howard university it definitely was not my first choice uh you know i didn’t apply until to like a week before the like the deadline in february of 2018 i believe and you know i got my uh i got my
No while i was waiting for my application decision you know that’s when i really fell in love with the university you know like i found myself just like searching up you know every little thing about it there’s no homecomings on youtube because that’s all over youtube and just you know really invested myself
In into university and you know fall in love with it as you know i was awaiting my decision and then you know i ended up coming into that i ended up getting accepted into university and yeah fantastic qualm and again celebrations to our young males you know we work in
Are going to mcps and so celebrations and we’re just so proud of him and too all right so lauren and we’ll turn it over you to open one last question all right sounds good um we want to make sure that we allow our mcps um students our alumni to answer one last question
And so we’re going to turn the mic back over to um to lillian to share a little bit about how your connections and relationships help foster your networks as you matriculate personally and professionally um so i guess speak a little bit about the connections that you’ve made here
In mcps and how that has supported you and the connections that you’re making at hampton university right so um a huge thing for me is leadership and service so i love to give back to others um and really pour back into the community and especially like my fellow
Peers so um basically for me as far as like mcps i would say that um with the programs i was involved in it really gave me the opportunity to meet people and really make those connections so for instance michela cherry she is um the student service learning coordinator
And her she’s now the director of um student um connections with mcps and so um i was able to connect with her my sophomore year of high school and i mean just people like her not even just her but it’s important to really foster those relationships and make those connections
Because you know later on it’s like hey miss cherry like i i want to do this for the student body how can we get this make this happen so it’s really about fostering those relationships and making those connections and being personable i mean when you reach out to people like you want to
You don’t want to just make them think that you’re just coming to them for you know something that they can do for you what can you do for them what what do you offer what do you bring to the table so you really have to think about those
Things when you’re talking to people and you’re making connections because they want to see something more they want you to stand out so that’s just my advice on that piece thank you so much lillian for that sound advice and and hopefully our student participants that are here
Are um leaving with a lot more information and excitement and um advice about attending an hbcu so i’m going to toss our mic over to our host mr troy body wow this has been a an outstanding evening it’s been wonderful to hear so many different stories
To to to have that feeling of being back on campus once again and being sharing this space with so many hbcu graduates i feel really good tonight and i hope our students have gained some information and we want to well welcome you home we want to welcome you to an hbcu
You’ll be in good hands and we have your back all along the way so whatever hbcu you choose is the right choice for you and so we want to thank you all for joining us this evening we hope that you got additional information and insight to what it’s like to be
On an hbcu campus and as we close out this evening i’m going to toss it back over to my howard university sisters lauren holmes the president of mccaspe and dr karen cruz who is the director of student well-being and achievement so again thank you for letting me
Host this evening and engage with such um awesome and amazing educators and students and good evening as i toss the mic over thank you so much mr body and thank you everyone for attending our event tonight we hope that the information that was shared the history of hbcus
Discussing what an average day on campus may look like or campus life um even just learning about all of our our teachers and our educators that went to hbcus hopefully you are walking away with a lot more information and as you think about um considering and exploring
Uh the uh attending a historically black college or university um i really want you to take a moment to or to remember that at hbcu is the perfect place to um find your place and find your space and to truly be embraced and that is probably the biggest takeaway
And so we’re going to share some closing remarks with you and i’m going to toss the mic over to our visionary for this event dr karen cruz well thank you so much lauren thank you i i am just so overwhelmed right now with joy um this has been an amazing evening just
Hearing from all of our mcps hbcu alumni and students it has just been an amazing evening um i do want to also put in a plug that i am a two-time uh hbcu grad both howard university and bowie state university um i also wanted to just share that
You know i hope for all the students that were that participated tonight that you were able to hear the pride and feel the pride from the staff that are represented here tonight about their hppus it is an experience like none other
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