HBCU Tours Open Endless Opportunities for Black Students

It’s a powerful moment when Black students from the Madison Metropolitan School District step onto a college campus where they feel they truly belong.

“A lot of students don’t even know that we have Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” Andrea Jones, the Multicultural Services Coordinator at Vel Phillips Memorial High School said. “They don’t know there’s a place where they belong — where they don’t have to overachieve or feel like they don’t fit in.”

Jones herself is a graduate from Tennessee State University, an HBCU founded in 1912, and has been coordinating the annual MMSD-wide trip to HBCUs all over the country for the past eight years. The trip includes 10 Black students from each high school who get a week-long trip that’s a combination of college visits, a cultural seminar and history class.

Students in prior years have visited schools in Florida, Alabama, North Carolina and a few spots on the East Coast.

“Some of these students have never even been outside of Wisconsin,” Johnnie Milton, a multicultural coordinator at La Follette and co-planner of the HBCU tours said. “To then go to an all-Black college full of love, to feel the vibe and understand the history — the experience could change their life.”

When it comes to the college visits, Jones, Milton and the MMSD team keep students busy. In 2024 they went to the Atlanta, Ga. area, visiting seven universities including Miles College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University.

“That sense of belonging, or trying to find your place on a predominantly white campus can be hard,” Jones said. “The HBCU experience is really that opportunity to let our kids know, you can go to college and find your space to be successful.”

The experience is eye-opening for students, particularly those who might not have thought college was an option for them after high school. Milton said that the mission of HBCUs is to make sure everyone has a place to thrive.

“The difference between an HBCU and a majority white campus is that you get a little more support and don’t feel like you’re all by yourself,” Milton explained. “The staff and your fellow students really push you to get across the finish line and graduate.”

Part of creating an environment for everyone to thrive is accepting students who might not have top-notch grades. In one trip to Virginia, Jones recalled a university president chatting with MMSD students before an informational session, and asked the group who had a GPA above 3.0. 

“He eventually said ‘OK thank you all, I know the 3.0 students will have no problem getting in anywhere you want. I want to talk to the kids who are below a 3.0,’” Jones said. “He told them he didn’t care about their GPA as long as they believed they could survive on a college campus — and we ended up having two or three of those students enroll at that college.”

MMSD students are often stopped by university presidents on their visits, thanks in part to how the students dress. HBCUs typically have Wednesday’s dedicated to the entire student body wearing business casual attire, so the MMSD team makes sure their students are in business casual for every visit.

Meeting the university president can come with some other perks, like admission or scholarships on the spot.

“At Miles College last year we were talking to a gentleman in the central office who had to interrupt us to say he was ready to give us scholarships right now, but he had to call the college president first,” Jones said. “The president ended up talking to a couple of our students who were interested in Miles and she got them scholarships right then and there.”

But senior administration at Morehouse did even more for the MMSD students. After learning that none of the students had ever been to a step show, they were able to arrange 60 front-row tickets for students and staff to take in the Homecoming show.

“The Miles President was shocked none of the students had ever been to a step show, she said they had to get us tickets,” Jones said. “The kids were blown away by the show, they had no clue HBCUs offered clubs and events like this.”

Step shows and dressing up are two important parts of HBCU culture that MMSD students are exposed to, but often they get even more. If they happen to be on campus for Homecoming Jones said students have to go see the band.

“At HBCU football games people come at halftime just to see the band,” Milton explained. “It’s totally different than what our students are used to — the stadium is packed and people are excited just to see what the band came up with this week.”

Along with the academic and cultural side of the trip, the historical and cultural aspect is just as important. HBCUs are often in areas with rich Black history — from Black wax museums to Civil Rights monuments.

One prior trip visited the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing site in Birmingham, Ala., and walked the bridge in Selma, Ala. where protesters for equal Civil Rights were attacked by state troopers. Another group that visited the Memphis area was able to take in the National Civil Rights Museum, which includes the room where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.

“To see something like that up close, and really bring it to life is so impactful,” Jones said. “It makes for some long days on the bus, but in the end I think everyone on the trip feels those hours were worth it.”

By the end of the trip students and staff return home exhausted but inspired, and might even have a few scholarships in hand. The 2025 HBCU tours will be to the Washington, D.C. and greater Maryland area, with visits to Coppin State University, Morgan State University and more. 

“They can meet with our MMSD graduates at these HBCUs who can tell them first hand how their experience has been,” Jones said. “My hope is that they can come back home and say, ‘I can be a Black doctor because I went to an HBCU where I saw other students who are becoming doctors, lawyers and engineers.’”