Our young Black children are bright learners, especially when they’re in nurturing environments. Curtis Lawrence, III is no different. His dream is to get a PhD, and with the help of his family, he’s on his way! But where this 16 year old will be going to college is surprising some.
Curtis received 1.6 million dollars in scholarships and 14 college acceptances! They included Yale and Harvard, the top white educational institutions in the world. He would be crazy not to go to one of those schools – right?
He decided that the best school for him was FAMU, a historically Black university! Curtis was looking for an excellent biology program for his undergrad, and FAMU has that. But there was something else about this school that Curtis really loved.
“I started off looking at HBCUs,” he explained, “because I wanted to have the HBCU experience to be surrounded by the people, who are just like me, not only Black but academically talented.”
Too often, young Black students are pulled out of their communities to become diversity props for white institutions. Not only is there a lack of emotional support for them and rampant discrimination, their education does not center on their experience. At an HBCU he can focus on learning! When we learn and grow together, we win together.