Success Stories is a collection of testimonials promoting the fourth annual HBCUstory Symposium which will be held on the campus of Paul Quinn College in Dallas, Texas on October 31 – November 1, 2016. Answer the call for papers through August 31.
HBCUstory provided me my first platform to speak about Club 1964, Inc., the nonprofit I founded just about a year ago. Then-second year student, HBCUstory allowed me the opportunity to captivate the attention of HBCU graduates and professionals, and tell them why my idea to create a “Grade-School-to-HBCU Pipeline” was the next best thing!
That, simply, is why I support HBCUstory. HBCUstory allows those of us who make up the HBCU community to tell our own stories, the way we want them to be told: the right way.
Oftentimes, we find ourselves in situations where it is not us narrating our experiences, but others. Picture that: others are telling our stories as if they’ve experienced them for themselves. And in an outcome we have all become too familiar with, when someone else tells our story, something gets mixed in translation, and somehow, someway, incessant and irrelevant jargon also finds a seat at the table.
I appreciate the visionary behind HBCUstory and everyone who makes this important work possible. We, the students, alumni, parents, staff, faculty administrators, and other stakeholders of the HBCU community, must support this. Even if for no other reason than it’s a direct investment back into us and the future of our institution which have for so long paved the way for us and the many who preceded us.
I love HBCUstory. Because HBCUstory is my story.
Marquise M. McGriff, the founder of Club 1964, Inc., is a graduate of Florida Memorial University – South Florida’s only HBCU. Having served as Freshman Class President, Residential Hall Council President, Residential Assistant and Fellow, and most recently, White House HBCU All-Star Student Ambassador, Marquise has a passion for education reform, which prompted him to join to the EdFuel team as a UNCF Walton Education Reform Fellow.
