Meharry Medical College and Fisk University

The students on a walking tour of Meharry Medical College.

By Javaris Bradford

On Thursday, April 10, 2012, we toured Meharry Medical College and Fisk University.  Meharry, founded in 1876, is named after Samuel Meharry. On a late night in 1826, Meharry was making a journey through Tennessee when his wagon became immobile in the mud. He sought help from the home of freed slaves. The next morning, the man of the family helped Meharry get his wagon out the mud so he could complete his journey. MeHarry didn’t have any money at the time he received help, but he promised to do something to repay that family.

Approximately fifty years later, Meharry and his four brothers donated $15,000 to help start a medical department at Central Tennessee College. MeHarry Medical College grew from the medical department. The college was started to help the poor and underprivileged.  Today, Meharry Medical College has four schools: School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Graduate studies, and School of Allied Health Profession.  Three-fourths of the graduates are employed in impoverished neighborhoods where they are greatly needed. Meharry Medical College is responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s doctors.

The walking tour of Fisk University was completed at Jubilee Hall.

After we completed our tour at Meharry, we walked across the street to tour Fisk University. Founded in 1866, Fisk is the first private HBCU and is the alma mater of co-founder of the NAACP, W.E.B. Dubois. Fisk is home to the world famous Jubilee Singers who sang to raise money for their school in an attempt to relieve debt. Today, the original Jubilee Singers are honored in Jubilee Hall located on Fisk’s campus with a life-sized mural of the group.

Fisk is a smaller campus with approximately 500 students. It is ranked #1 in research amongst liberal arts institutions in the south. In order to be admitted, a student should have a 3.0 GPA and a 21 on the ACT. Fisk has a 91% retention rate and is a family-oriented campus. 

Downtown Nashville YMCA

By Javaris Bradford

On Wednesday, April 11, 2012, the college tour consisted of mostly traveling.  We left South Carolina, and made our way to Nashville, Tennessee where we toured the Nashville Downtown YMCA.  The five-story building houses a state of the art workout facility. Also, this is home of Black Achievers program, which has close to 100 members. It was surprising to discover the eligibility to participate in the Black Achiever program starts at the 7^th grade, in comparison to the 9^th grade in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Aaron McGee, a Nashville Black Achievers advisor, said, he “was striving to create as many opportunities as possible for” his kids. Mcgee is a Mass Communication major at Tennessee State University. I asked him how he ended up as the youth advisor, and he said, “The opportunity just presented itself, but I’m happy because I love what I do.” I’d like to thank Mr. McGee for the love and hospitality he showed to the Milwaukee Black College Tour.

Benedict College and South Carolina State University

Benedict College

By Natasha Malone

Day four, Tuesday, April 9, 2012, the Black College Tour started with an early wake up call at 5:00am. We left from Charlotte, NC to travel to Greensboro, NC at 7am. We arrived at Benedict College in Greensboro, NC at 9:00am.

Benedict College is a private HBCU, which was founded in 1870. They are a very small school with approximately 2,900 students. The cost to attend Benedict College is $23,900. The school offers a lot of scholarships to assist with the cost of tuition.

Some facts about Benedict are:

• The school colors are purple and gold and their mascot is a tiger
• The boy’s basketball team is number one in the Division II Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC).
• The student to teacher ratio is 19:1 and an
• The job placement rate is 80%

Benedict has special rules implemented for incoming freshmen. Freshmen must live on campus. They are allowed to drive, but are not allowed to park on the school campus. Freshmen have a 12:00am curfew and are not allowed co-ed visitation.

Overall, Benedict is a great college for individuals who want to go to college and did not do very well in high school.

South Carolina State University

By Crystal Johnson

Tuesday, April 9, 2012, we went to South Carolina State University (SCSU) in Orangeburg, SC. The beautiful campus is filled with colorful flowers, palm trees, and historical buildings. We ate lunch at the J. Irwin Washington Dining Hall. We came on a day where they were having a jamboree in the cafeteria. A DJ played really good music and we were able to see the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha stroll in the cafeteria.

Before we started the tour, brothers of Omega Psi Phi, also referred to as Ques, hopped for us as we were leaving the cafeteria. The achievers almost rushed the streets to see them. A Que who hopped for us was one of our tour guides. The seniors received a campus tour separated from the rest of the group. Although, the campus seemed to be live, they live by the motto “ABF: Academics Before Fun.”

SCSU is known for business, secondary education, and engineering. They have about 5,000 students from all over the world. The school provides many extra-curricular activities for their students to participate in. Students must maintain good grades in order to be eligible to participate in extra-curricular activities.

Everyone was excited to be on campus and wanted the time to last longer. SCSU is definitely a favorite school amongst the teens.

Resurrection Sunday

The YMCA Black Achievers pose for a group shot in front of The Clay Center in Charleston, WV with Pastor Wayne R. Crozier and the First Lady Renea Crozier from Abundant Life Ministries Church

By Crystal Johnson

Today we enjoyed service at Abundant Life Ministries in West Virginia. Wayne R. Crozier is the founder and CEO of Abundant Life Ministries. We walked in while the children’s choir was rehearsing the song they performed later on, “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.” The children’s choir and praise choir performed very well. The word for the day was “God has not forgotten about you”. The scripture for the sermon was from the book of St. Mark, chapter 11; verses 1-4.  The pastor talked about how the word of God can manifest into reality. He explained how we apply scripture in our everyday lives to help ourselves and other people.

We were also honored to hear Bobby Jones, host of Bobby Jones Gospel on BET, and the Nashville Super Choir. They were Abundant Life Ministries’ special guests for today’s Easter service. Bobby Jones and the choir encouraged the congregation to sing along while performing, especially during the song “He Lifted Me”.

Dr. Jones was very engaged with the congregation by walking around the congregation and asking a few individuals what Easter means to him/her. Also, he gave a special acknowledgment to the Black Achievers. He addressed our group by saying education is the key to success in our country. It was the perfect statement to start our weeklong college tour.  He also spoke to everyone about how it’s best to “come as you are” which metaphorically means to come as you are spiritually. He did explain coming as you physically appear is acceptable as well; however, you should be wearing your “Sunday’s Best.” 

After service we took a group picture with Pastor Crozier and First Lady Renea Crozier. Abundant Life Ministries was very excited to have us as guests today. It was nice to feel the love from the church. We are very grateful for the snack bags they gave us for our drive to Greensboro, NC.

After we arrived in Greensboro, NC we ate dinner at Golden Coral. Everyone was excited about the chocolate fountain! Before we loaded the buses to travel to the hotel for the night, there was a rap battle between the two buses. The evening was concluded with an hour of free time. Overall it was a very good day.

Tomorrow we visit North Carolina A&T State University and Winston Salem State University.

Black College Tour Overnight

In the midst of a snowstorm on Friday, March 2, 2012, the student participants and chaperones of the 2012 YMCA Black College Tour gathered at the Northside YMCA for a sleepover. The night was jam-packed with fun and very little sleep. There were icebreakers, a college simulation, and free time.

The students bonded with each other through various icebreakers that included the human knot, balloon pop, and human bingo. Balloon pop consists of tying a balloon to every student’s ankle with the objective to burst everyone’s balloon and remain the last man standing with an inflated balloon. The students appeared to enjoy balloon pop the most due to all of the laughter, smiles, and running around.

To give the students an exaggerated idea of what college is really like they participated in a college simulation. Students had to check in at registration, housing, financial aid, and the bookstore. Depending on their ID number ranging from 100-300, their “college experience” could have been great or miserable.

Students whose id was in the 100s had the worst experience. They were given the run around by being sent to one place just to be sent back to the place they had just come from. They didn’t have any financial aid, housing, or money for books. Additionally, they received the worst customer service from the chaperone working each station.  

The students whose ID number was in the 200s had an ok experience. These students had partial scholarships, were placed on the waiting list for housing, and received some money for books.  They weren’t sent to the back of the line or given the run around.

The students who received the star treatment had ID numbers in the 300s. These students had full scholarships, housing, and money for books. They were able to skip to the front of long lines and were treated like royalty at each station.

At the end of the college simulation, the students regrouped to talk about their different experiences. The college simulation was a big hit with the teens. The chaperones enjoyed giving the students a hard time during their “college experience.”

After the scheduled activities were completed, the students had free time to play video games, watch movies, play basketball, or hang out with each other. Very few teens went to sleep.

The night was exhausting, but it was a great way to build momentum for the tour.