IPS high schoolers complete weeklong HBCU college tour
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — For a full week, Indianapolis Public Schools high school students traveled to four different states on a college tour exploring historically Black colleges and universities in the South.
They visited these seven schools: Kentucky State University, Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Tuskegee University, Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College.
More than 30 students left Indianapolis on Oct.10 and returned Friday.
Former Indiana Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon’s family foundation funded the tour. For the past two years, the Brogdon Family Foundation has had a goal of sending students on a tour of HBCUs throughout the South. COVID-19 derailed the plans in 2020 and 2021.
The goal is to highlight higher education opportunities at HBCUs for IPS students who may have never been exposed to them.
Jann Adams is Brogdon’s mother and co-founder of the foundation. She’s also an educator and serves as the associate vice president of academic affairs at Morehouse College.
“Historically Black colleges and universities called HBCUs sometimes are institutions that were created prior to desegregation. That meant that these were the opportunities for Black students to go to college prior to the time that white institutions, colleges and universities integrated and allowed them in. So, people like my parents and my grandparents went to HBCUs and really had no choice. This is an important distinction because the purpose of these institutions was to provide a pathway to education for Black Americans,” Adams said.
She said some of these institutions started immediately after slavery and going up to the 1950s before desegregation.
“Many people have thought that the need for HBCUs would decline over time. Only about 11% of Black students attend HBCUs but HBCUs graduate 23% of graduates,” Adams said.
She said Black students are more likely to finish their degrees at HBCUs. Morehouse College, which is an all-male school, has been the No. 1 origin of Black men who catapulted into Ph.D. programs and and other similar ones.
It’s because of the high level of investment into students. Adams said, with models of Black faculty and staff, it’s a nurturing environment that fosters growth and leadership. High expectations for academic achievement are because they want to make sure students are finishing and can perform at the graduate level wherever they choose to go after receiving their undergraduate degrees.
HBCUs are still serving a very important function.
Courtney Thomas, a coordinator in the postsecondary readiness department at IPS, helped coordinate the tours. She said she was originally worried the tours may never actually be realized.
“We were all holding our breath, thinking, ‘Is this going to still work out?’” Thomas said. “We were all really excited when Jann told us they are still committed to IPS and giving students this experience.”
HBCUs often have scholarship opportunities for IPS students that other schools may not, and they offer students an additional opportunity to study outside of their home environment, giving them an opportunity for additional growth and new experiences.
“Visiting these campuses is going to be a game changer for a lot of students,” Thomas said. “To personally experience it will be really great, and we hope it gets them excited about what their postsecondary journey looks like in terms of college, and just get the buzz going.”
Adams said what brought her the most joy was seeing the switch of interest go off in the students’ heads during the tour.
“There were a couple of kids that said they really weren’t going to college. Their parents made them come. By the end, I could see them asking questions and really understanding the value of college. So, even if they don’t go to any of these schools, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they see that college is a pathway. HBCUs is a choice,” Adams said.