Building an Entrepreneur

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.