Most Outstanding Indivuals

Turn your dreams into reality is the motto that guides me every day in life. It would be an honor to receive the Greater Grand Rapids Jack and Jill College Tour Scholarship award to attend the Historical Black College & University tour this year. I believe education is the key that opens up many doors and opportunities. Like my mentor always tell me “education increases your value in life, because the more you know the more you can apply, and the more you apply the more you will obtain.” Attending the HBCU tour will not only open my eyes to the opportunities and culture of our people, but I believe it will inspire me to push beyond all obstacles by gaining self-awareness of my identity as a Black Man in America, allow me to see more successful people in higher learning institutions that looks like me, but also provide me with an experience that I would love to continue one day by attending and earning an degree from a HBCU.

Being apart of the African American community has never been easy. Early on I realized that regardless of how much money I make, how educated I may become, or where I chose to live, I will always be less than. Despite the great deal of hardship that comes with being a black women, it is the group that I am most proud to be apart of.The role given

Another major predicament that plays a large role in the amount of African Americans that do not receive a higher education is once they get to college, they do not have a typical or enjoyable experience once there. In today’s society, it is hard to imagine that there is still racism and segregation in schools and colleges today but the reality is, it still does very much exist. This is especially true when black students attend predominantly white universities. Even though most colleges promote themselves by talking about how diverse their

From this conference, I will get out a better sense of leadership and pride for who I am. Before I went to Southfield and The Park School, I went to a Boston Public School where much of the students were people of color. Now the majority are light-skinned.

The United States of America often forgets that historically black colleges and universities were created out of necessity. It has only been a couple of decades since African Americans have been allowed to get degrees from predominantly white institutions. Millions of African Americans have given their blood, sweat, and tears in hopes of gaining basic rights like education to their descendants. America has come a long way within the past fifty years but there is still a disconnect when it comes to believing what the average African American can accomplish as an individual. When it comes to historically black colleges and universities there is still a stigma that the education is less rigorous and

African American education systems and colleges faced many issues systematically and socially. The process of integrating colleges was a process faced with opposition because the idea that higher education was made for strictly for white upper-class men was still the underlying ideal. While equal opportunity was promoted in the light, behind the scenes, systematically money, policy, procedure hindered black education and equal opportunity. Realizing this injustice, black students sought to find their own solutions to social justice issues happening not only within higher education but their communities while leading by example.

It was only a year ago when I was faced with making a very important decision that would affect me for the rest of my life. It was time for me to choose an institution of higher learning to continue my studies that would eventually lead me to my career. My decision wasn’t simply which university or college to choose, but as a young black student, whether to choose a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) or a Predominately White Institution (PWI). This would take me on an insightful journey and I would make my decision after discussing the pros and cons of both institutions and through interactions with students, faculty and staff. Before too long

I am a first generation college freshman from Miami, Florida by way of Broward County, Florida, and I am majoring in Film and minoring in psychology. Although FAMU does not have a film department, I chose to attend FAMU and take classes for my major at FSU because I wanted to attend an HBCU & learn about my culture, while studying with like-minded peers with the same cultural background as I. My godmother, a beautiful and intelligent African American woman, whom I esteem very highly, attended FAMU and genuinely enjoyed the education and experience, so I decided to follow in her footsteps to FAMU, but make my own path.

Over the last couple of years, I have had many opportunities that dealt with me enriching diversity for my campus and community. Being a member of Phi Theta Kappa has many immeasurable benefits. One benefit that came with me being a chapter officer at North Hennepin Community College is that every year we get to choose a project that benefits or raises awareness to the community. This year me and my Phi Theta Kappa team chapter members wanted to see what our fellow student body members thought about equally underrepresented minorities in position of power. We were able to gather and interpret the results. From the results, I personally changed my attitude, I learned that everyone needs to be educated so that they could be more knowledgeable

When a person presently looks at university school systems, one never imagines the struggle to obtain such diverse campuses. With Caucasians, Asians, Latinos, and African Americans all willing and able to attend any institution, it is difficult now to envision a world where, because of one’s skin color, a person is denied university acceptance. In actuality, this world existed only fifty years ago. In a time of extreme racial discrimination, African Americans fought and struggled toward one of many goals: to integrate schools. As a pioneer in the South, a man named James Meredith took a courageous step by applying to the University of Mississippi, an all white

Historically black colleges and universities, otherwise known as HBCUs, have played an integral role in advancing the education of underprivileged black teenagers since their inception after the American Civil War. They have had students extremely well known in their fields today, such as billionaire entertainer Oprah Winfrey, the first African American Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and civil rights activist Martin Luther King, Jr. Though their graduation rates tend to be around 1 in 3, they have produced a majority of successful African American professionals. For the continued advancement of African Americans, HBCUs are necessary for offering educational opportunities that their students had been historically denied and presently out of financial reach, while promoting strong family values and equality that may be lacking at traditional schools and displaying positive African American role models in their alumni and staff.

While attending The State of the Black Union I saw how the concepts that we learned in class are still prevalent in our daily lives. A comment that was made during the State of the union address at resonated with me was that College bound is a privilege. Living in the inner cities of Richmond I see this lived out on the daily. Virginia Tech’s efforts to try and reach the unreached population has been shy of their goals. Even with programs like Fall Visitation, Yates program, Gateway program, Access, there are still catered to a particular group of people. Virginia Tech looks at African Americans as a universal title instead of an individualize one. The aforementioned organizations attract those African Americans who are more

On October 19,2016 The University of Mississippi’s NAACP hosted a “Trick or Treat With the NAACP” social since Halloween is approaching. During this time both members and nonmembers of the NAACP came together to make goodie bags for children throughout the Oxford community as well as workers who sometimes go unnoticed on campus such as custodians. Afterwards, we all sat around, ate pizza, and got to know one another throughout a host of games. This small event made me very proud to be a member of Ole Miss’s NAACP organization.

It has taken many years, and many struggles of students, faculty, alumni and community members change Forrest Hall to destroy the institutionalized rasism MTSU built up in those years, and it is now the time and all of our responsibilities to finally put this racist past to rest, and to continue furthering diversity and brotherhood throughout MTSU’s campus. MTSU is a school that promotes diversity, a word that is promoted in its True Blue pledge. But if the Forrest Hall name remains, this completely undermines what the university has been promoting. MTSU has vowed to these students to be a safe place that not only helps to further their careers and education, but to enrich their lives and instill values that will aid them for years to come.

In my school community, the quality I admire the most is our pursuit for equality. When we experience an incident of racial injustice, the community immediately takes action. Just last week, a student from another school called our player on the field a racial slur. The day had not even finished before more than 6 students reported the incident on social media and emails were sent to the vice-principal of the offending student. We defend every person in our community — especially the students who suffer from racial discrimination the most. Recently, our teachers placed flyers on all classroom doors in support of DACA students. My community never ceases to amaze me with how supportive everyone is with each other.