Teacher seeks to expose Black students to possibilities of HBCUs early on
MINNEAPOLIS -- Prepping for college can be a crucial step towards becoming successful, and one Minnesota teacher is pushing Historically Black college and university students to take that next academic step.
On this Martin Luther King Day, it's worth remembering that he was, at 15, already a college student, a sociology major at Morehouse University in Atlanta, which is an HBCU.
HBCU's date back to the 1800s, places where (amidst segregation and slavery) African-Americans could get the education they deserved.
It's a history being learned at St. Peter Claver; the Catholic school sits in the historic Rondo neighborhood in St. Paul. Teacher Araya Smith said she didn't even know what an HBCU was until she was already in the 11th grade.
"Growing up I had maybe like three Black teachers, I think, if that. And then my one professor when I got to college. So if I had that in a larger quantity, it would have set me up better," Smith said.
That's why she wants students to see Black scholars on a larger scale and at a younger age, like 12 or 13. This way, they can learn their options and get a jump on financial planning for the sometimes pricey private schools.
Student Alianna is only in the eight grade, but has already visited a few HBCUs.
"I have told (my teacher) multiple times that I want to go to Morris Brown because I went there, they talked to us, they just seemed like a big family, and I loved it. I loved the environment," Alianna said.
"I want these kids to see you can be the smartest woman in the room, the smartest man in the room. I want these kids to see that," Smith said.
