Building an Entrepreneur

Thanks to the students at High line Community College I was able to capture some great video from my latest workshop. This video I believe will make for a great marketing tool as I approach different organizations about working with their students.

University of Portland

Enrollment: 3,700

Student/Faculty ratio: 3,700 students and 316 professors

“I thought this was BSU” I remember thinking as I walked into a smaller lecture room at the University of Portland. There was an inclusive environment that seemed to resonate not just with the ethnic diversity in the room but with the actual discussion and talking points coming from majority students. One white student shared how they feel Black Students have to put on a phased as they enter the classroom being overly friendly and articulate in other to show other students that they are equally intelligent.

I enjoyed seeing the group of students being able to have cross cultural conversation without worrying about what sounded “PC.” This showed me that this type of conversation wasn’t new to students and that it was something that they were used to discussing openly.

I humbly accepted the offer to be the Keynote speaker of the 2010 University of Washington Advisers conference. The room had over 150 counselors from across the state of Washington. Many which had the opportunity to read through The Only Black Student. Several requested that I come and speak with their students as well as work with faculty and staff at their school’s.

There is a great sense of Validation that comes from having Advisers tell you that your work is “filling a void” but at the same time also can be overwhelming. Although entrepreneurship is my passion it is something I must scale and make sure that I do not go overboard with. I do after all have the 9-5 gig

http://www.lclark.edu/

Enrollment: 1,921
Student/faculty ratio: 12:1

The first person I drove by at Lewis & Clark while looking for parking was the exact image I had in my head, long hair and Sandals. I have always heard about the liberal environment at Lewis & Clark and I could feel it as I walked around the campus.

The workshop itself was rather diverse, students from several different backgrounds ethnically and culturally. I did my normal scan for African American Male students and was again met with frustration. Although there were Black male students they were fellow Ethiopians which I see at schools across the country, first generation African students seem to be doing well. However, African American Black men have pretty much all but disappeared from the schools I have visited.

Students were engaged and during times the conversation got heated! We discussed “Walking in late” a section in my book that goes over the feeling of walking in late into a course as a student of color. This didn’t sit too well with a few white students during the discussion as one of them was very vocal about her views on race and felt that I was attacking her as a white student. After the emotions settled students started a very powerful cross cultural conversation that seemed to help get out some much needed emotion and feelings toward race. I was excited to see Staff and Faculty in the workshop sharing their thoughts and opinions with students and also giving me Kudos on my facilitation abilities.

After the workshop I had dinner with a few of the selected students from the workshop and we discussed everything from my book to dating. Very relaxed atmosphere that allowed me to learn more about these students and the smaller culture fostered at a smaller environment. The students explained that if they wanted they could have close relationships with their instructors.

During my visit to Chicago for the Hichinger Institute’s Reporters Seminar I got the opportunity to work with students from ACT Charter School. I worked with a group of five high school students who were actively engaged in discussion about what college “might be like” as they prepare for their next learning experience. One thing that I am seeing over and over again is no matter how shy or passive a student may seem that role playing changes how responsive they become. After about 20 minutes into the workshop even the introverted students became vocal. Its a great feeling seeing students open up within such a short period of time.

Lull Mengesha talking with students from ACT Charter School

ACT is a community school that works with a lead partner agency to address the needs of the child, not just academically but offering programs to educate and engage parents. The goal is to have parents more engaged with the school and involved in their overall educational process.  The lead agency that they work with is called the Center for Community Arts Partnership at Columbia College Chicago.

Can you guess who the Adult is?

Another  group of excited and pro-active students, this time at Suffolk University. Within the 40 students who showed up to my workshop I witnessed a wide range of diversity. Many of the students came from diverse geographic and cultural backgrounds. From Cape Verde to Nigeria, many of the students where also navigating the first generation experience in the United States. The non-structured discussion that students shared was about the feeling of being isolated or being one of only a few students of color in the classroom. Each student sharing their own “horror story” about a classroom experience and how they dealt with it. Giving the underclassmen a few more tools on how to navigate the college experience.

I was glad to see several white students participating in the discussion and being very active as well. From discussion of walking in late to class or speaking up and talking to the professor these are challenges that are universal to being a student. Suffolk being more of a commuter school in the heart of Beacon Hill(downtown) comes is similar to my University in that it is easy to get lost in the shuffle, students have to to work rather hard to be active on campus.

The workshop went rather fast as students were engaged throughout the entire time. Ready to answer questions and participate in the role playing scenarios brought the workshop to a quick end. Next time I will make sure to assign a time allotment to each discussion and conversation piece.

This past Wednesday I had the opportunity to come down to UCLA and conduct my college survival workshop with incoming freshman as well as a few upper class men.  It is interesting to see how many of the issues that I struggled with at my University are not isolated to just my school. The more I travel and visit Universities it is clear that students of color across the country deal with the same issues of navigating through college.

It might be the fact that UCLA is so close to Hollywood but these students were HILARIOUS. Going through the different scenarios they were eager and excited to act out some of the more challenging issues that we go through in the workshop.  Two students did an excellent job of conveying the right/wrong way to approach a professor. I have become less of the solution giver and allow for students in the audience to come up with their own solutions and have found that many times they are spot on with some of the best approaches.

One thing about UCLA that I found interesting is that the students indicated that there was not a centralized “hang out” spot for Black students on campus. Most Universities do have a common place where students seem to gather to socialize.

Out of the 40 plus students that did attend the workshop less then a quarter were male students. Black women on campus’s seem to be thriving and taking on leadership roles ranging from social groups to science and engineering.

What incentives are pushing us away from education? What could these students find of more value then going to college? We need to find more effective ways of selling the concept of college to students, this will become another focus of mine. Not just helping with the adjustment but actually the cause and reason for going to college. It might be apparent and clear to me but I also had parents that STRESSED the message to me as well.

One challenge that I see is even though I have my college degree and I am rather successful I can’t compete with the image of entertainers or athletes. Much of these students time and energy is allocated in pursuing these passions and school goes by the waste side.  I need to find a way to make being a young working professional sound as attractive as the above mentioned professions.  Wish me luck on that one!

Our team of young professionals comes from unique cultural and academic backgrounds and varied interests.  Our passion for learning and mentor-ship is a combination that we feel obligated to share with others. We have developed engaging workshops that students find helpful and also entertaining.

I cannot believe how fun these workshops are getting! In previous workshops we handed out our 16 page College Survival Guides and had students work in small teams. What we have been doing recently is giving students the guides but having them work on the material on their own time.

During the hour and half that I have with students we act out situations and focus on the best plan of action for them. For example acting out a bad way to approach a professor(being unprepared, making excuses) and more effective ways(being prepared, organized, introducing yourself, the list goes on).

The  exciting thing to see  is how engaged these students get during the workshops. Everybody without realizing it is giving positive feedback on the right way to navigate their college experience. By giving examples and letting the students act out situations they no longer are unsure about possible challenges that we discuss.

Good times

AVLA(Alliances for Learning and Vision for Underrepresented Americans) guides incoming freshman through the rigors of college life, establishes community, develops leaders and pays them in the process. Truly a great program for students to get involved in.  Check out what one of the students had to say about me and the workshop, turns out I am a “pretty cool guy.”