By Taylor Johnson | OBSERVER Staff Writer
Like other students leaving and adjusting to college life, moving from Sacramento to Alabama has been a major change for 18-year-old Jayde Warfield-Robin.
She wakes up every day preparing for classes like English 0101 and Psychology 0270.
When she leaves her dorm room, she is surrounded by people who look like her — with ranges of dark skin, Afros, braids, community and a sense of Black pride on campus at Tuskegee University. She also has her gold and maroon pom-poms in her bag as she’s active on the cheerleading team as a freshman.
Warfield-Robin is one of thousands of Black students from the West Coast who attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
“There are so many smart people that are the same color as me. I really enjoyed that,” she said. “Plus, the campus is so historical, and I really felt good to be here and be a part of this history.”
Warfield-Robin was able to connect with Tuskegee recruiters during her early years in high school thanks to Sacramento’s United College Action Network, also known as UCAN.
Founded in 1999 by Alan and Donna Rowe, UCAN is a nonprofit organization that helps students connect and enroll in four-year post secondary colleges through a network of 100 HBCUs across the country.
The recruitment fairs originally started as a one-day fair in Sacramento and during the first years worked to expand it to more days. After five years, more areas in northern and central California reached out to learn more about HBCUs in areas such as Oakland, San Francisco, Vallejo, Pittsburgh, Stockton, Lodi and Fresno.
In 2011, the Rowes expanded to Las Vegas. Three years later, they expanded the college fair to southern California areas including the Inland Empire, San Bernardino and Riverside county areas.
Now the college fair is hosted over two weeks — more than 20,000 participants attended last year. This year around 40 recruiters from schools such as Howard, Hampton, Morehouse, Clark Atlanta, Dillard and Tuskegee will be attending the fairs.
“HBCUs have a time-honored tradition of educating not just the person, but the morals, the values and the spirit of our people,” said Rowe.
At the events, various exhibitors representing different HBCUs and other colleges are lined up for students and parents to connect with recruiters to learn about programs, enrollment process and financial aid.
Some students attending have been accepted and received scholarships on the spot, depending on their eligibility.
“HBCUs, in many cases, are less expensive to go to than California or private institutions,” Rowe said. “It is cost effective to go to an HBCU, because students who do well academically are given scholarships. And in this day and time when people are cutting money, it’s a blessing that we can have schools that can do this.”
UCAN will be hosting multiple events in northern California this week. Sacramento City Unified School District will have an event Friday, September 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the John F. Kennedy High School.
Elk Grove Unified will have an event Saturday, September 20 from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. at Monterey Trail High School.
The San Francisco Alliance of Black School Educators in partnership with San Francisco Unified School District will also hold an event on Friday, Sept 19 from 4:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. at the African American Art & Culture Complex.
UCAN also previously hosted events this week at San Juan Unified School District and Twin Rivers Unified School District.
Warfield-Robin knew she wanted to attend Tuskegee since she was 7 years old, learning about the prominent history of it. She wanted to get deeper with her history and her roots by attending a HBCU.
Founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama opened its doors to make way for former slaves to get an education to help raise their economic conditions through learning trades.
This made it one of the earliest HBCUs in the country.
By the 1920s, Tuskegee changed its name and shifted from vocational education to academic higher education and became an accredited, degree-granting institute still aimed at educating Black Americans.
In the late 1930s, it was renamed Tuskegee Institute in 1937 and began offering graduate-level instruction in 1943. By 1985, the institute earned university status.
From the Tuskegee airmen training at airfields surrounding the university before being deployed in World War 2 to the Tuskegee Institute Advancement League which held rallies, sit-ins and marches in Alabama during the Civil Rights Movement, Tuskegee University has a big relationship in Black American history.
During her summer program, Warfield-Robin recalled the Tuskegee president stopping her and her friends walking on campus just to check in and see how they were doing. It made her feel even more connected that both teachers and staff cared about them.
She said Tuskegee was the only college she was ever seriously considering.
“I believe that HBCUs should continue because not everyone is there for people like us,” Warfield said. “So just to see a big community of people that you know you’ve grown up around is really encouraging, and it makes you want to work even harder towards your career.”