Nine representatives from different Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) sat in the room, as student after student piled in to see what was going on, while board of trustees member Ken Brown stood tall in the back of the Distance Education Center.
El Camino has become the first community college to partner with HBCUs in order to prepare students for after EC, said Brown.
The grant money was signed for the partnership on March 17, according to the CCCCO website.
“It’s really important,” he said. “It’s a new avenue for students to go through. Because it used to be that big name schools would lock you out even if you had the grades. But a 3.2 or a 3.3? That’s scholarship money at these (HBCU) schools.”
E. Elaine Moore, HBCU grant manager was very enthusiastic about presenting these schools to the students.
“We had 17 schools say they were willing to partner,” she said. “But only nine schools went through with it.”
The nine schools that were in attendance, with their representatives were:
- Bennett College, North Carolina
- Dillard University, Louisiana
- Fisk University, Tennessee
- Lincoln University, Jefferson City, Missouri
- Philander Smith College, Arkansas
- Stillman College, Alabama
- Talladega College, Alabama
- Tuskegee University, Alabama
- and Wiley College, Texas
Moore went on to describe the schools before letting each representative, in order, speak on behalf of their schools.
“It’s not just all black, or African-American, people,” she said. “All ethnic groups attend these schools. The faculty is the most diverse in any college or university.”
