Long Island high school students taking tour of HBCUs to see where they might fit in

Shomair Dawkins, a 17-year-old Hempstead High School senior, is looking forward to a weeklong tour of 12 historically Black colleges and universities, colloquially known as HBCUs, beginning Saturday.

"I want to be the first person [in his family] to go to college and graduate." And the tour, he added, might help him find the college "that is right for me on my journey to success."

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc.'s ETL chapter, based in Wyandanch, is sponsoring the annual college tour for the 43rd year, said William Mills, the tour coordinator, who noted the tours offer young people a chance to experience the HBCUs in person and "make an informed college decision."

He said: "They have the opportunity to hear about courses and majors and get a chance to talk to people who look very much like them and hear their experiences." And it’s all right if they don’t choose an HBCU, Mills said, as long as they pursue college "someplace."

The colleges to be visited this year — from Saturday through Oct. 26 — are Alabama A&M University, Tuskegee University in Alabama, Howard University in Washington, D.C., Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College and Spelman College in Atlanta,  Morgan State University in Maryland, North Carolina A&T State University and North Carolina Central University, Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and Hampton University and Virginia State University in Virginia.

Coordinators say it's hard but rewarding work, designed to give students a glimpse into how they could fit into an institution of higher learning created for Black students.

"What keeps me going is when you see that lightbulb going [on] for the students," Tour chaperone Derek White said. "We take a range of students. Some of them are doing exceptionally well. Then you have students who aren't sure of themselves." Over the course of the tour, he said, he can see them believe they can achieve.

Mills said the roster was still being finalized, but he expected 80 to 82 students to make the trip. They come from across Long Island, from Hempstead to Bridgehampton, all five boroughs of New York City, as well as Westchester and upstate Orange County. Out-of-state students include those from New Jersey, Maryland, Florida and Indiana.

One of those out-of-state students going on the college tour is Cameron Morgan, of Indianapolis.

The 16-year-old high school junior said in a phone interview that he's following in the footsteps of relatives who have taken this college tour. "A lot of people in my family went on this trip, and they told me ... it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that I should try and take advantage of the trip," he said.

"I really want to see more," Morgan said, noting he's only seen colleges in his home state and is looking forward to seeing "more options." He added, "I really want to be able to go out and experience as much as I can."

His mother, Andrya Peters, was excited for this opportunity for her son, noting it has been a tradition going back years for high schoolers in her family to go on this tour, spurred by a cousin who lives on Long Island and is an Alpha. Alpha Phi Alpha is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity, founded in 1906.

"In Indiana, we do not have that diversity in colleges. We just don't have that cultural experience here," Peters said. Her son, who is in a marching band at Ben Davis High School, "has never seen an HBCU marching band," Peters said. "I can't wait for him to see other Black excellence."

Soraya Desrosiers, 17, is a senior at Westbury High School. She's enthused about the tour but a bit apprehensive.

"I've never gone on a college trip before. I want to experience college life. I'm also nervous," she said. And she wondered, "I don't know how it will feel being surrounded by a large group of people."

But, she said, "I'm excited to meet them and make connections."

Mills said people from out of state hear about the tour through the fraternity's social media posts, as well as from others who have taken tours.

Peters said a cousin by marriage, Julian Goodman, who is a member of the ETL chapter of the fraternity and among the tour's 25 chaperones, keeps the family informed. In addition to her son, her nephew, Aaron Beasley, 16, will be going. Both teens are scheduled to fly to New York on Friday to be ready to board the buses early Saturday in Hempstead.

There is much preparation involved, including "College Tour Success Workshops," over the past month held at Hofstra University, for the students, and a few for their parents, covering areas such as college life, study habits and financial literacy, organizers said. The students are required to get permission from their schools to go on the tour, and to get their homework assignments.

Then there's logistic planning. White, who has been a tour chaperone for 20-plus years, leads what they call the Pace Car Team.

"The Pace Car Team is me and two other members," said White, who is financial secretary of the fraternity's ETL Education Foundation. "We rent an SUV and our job is to stay out in front of the buses," arriving at the hotels two to three hours before the buses. He said they coordinate with hotel security and local off-duty police to go over a safety plan.

The team also gets to the colleges before the students arrive and meets with administrators, White said. "The role of the pace team is to make sure everything runs smoothly."

Mills said, "We plan six to seven months to make it work ... This is my 33rd college tour. It's a grueling trip. You're tired. But it's the reaction you get from the students and their parents. It's those relationships that keep you coming back."

By Olivia Winslow

olivia.winslow@newsday.com@newsollie