I’ve always known I would attend college, but was never sure what college I wanted to attend. There are so many options when it comes to selecting a school. There are Community College, University, Trade School, Private, and Historically Black College University (HBCU). Today Franklin-Wright and I toured a college. This college in particular was different from St. John, Western, and Lincoln. This was an HBCU and I fell in love with the school.
Howard University is located in Washington, D.C. It’s only seven minutes from the White House! 11 minutes with moderate traffic. What made me interested in Howard was the sense of community I felt. As soon as I stepped foot on campus I saw the Founders Library with the watch tower. It reminded me of home because in Detroit we have many historical buildings that are similar in architect.
As the tour guide showed us around campus I saw groups of students clustered together. Each cluster had on a color. A group of guys had on purple. Another group of guys had on blue. Then I saw two groups of females. One group had on pink and green, the other had on red. The tour guide explained that the groups were in Divine 9. Divine 9 is a part of the National Pan-Hellenic Council. They are historical African-American Greek sororities and fraternities. I have never heard of them before. The ones in pink made high-pitch screeching noises, while the purple hollered like dogs. I have NEVER seen anything like that before.
Howard is known for their law program. I know I don’t want to become a judge, but I was opened up to the idea of becoming a paralegal, or even a lawyer! I watch Law and Order ALL the time. Defense is my favorite. It would be a dream to pursue my law degree at Howard. Professor Martin, one of the political science professors, told me I can look into becoming a part of my high schools debate or mock trial team. By doing so I will get experience in the court setting and learn certain court terms. I am going to look into that. In the mean time I think I’ll watch The Great Debaters again!
What really captured my attention was the community itself I saw at Howard. I saw people like me (only older) walking the green terrain on their way to class. I saw dorms smaller than my closet occupied with four or more individuals. I saw a wall of African-American greats who attended Howard who made history.
Hopefully in the next two years I will be able to call myself a Bison!
Franklin Wright Settlements 