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Alumni across the country are enjoying the appreciating asset of an HBCU degree, and the social capital it affords them.
Over the last few weekends, African-Americans around the country have been basking in the glow of their annual HBCU Homecoming season. And in the post-pandemic era, alumni are returning to the yard like never before.
Whether keeping up an annual tradition that only faltered slightly during COVID-19, or returning to their campuses for the first time in a few years, millennial and Gen X alum are reflecting on the magic of attending their institutions and appreciating the gifts of that special season of life – the relationships, connections, lessons, and sense of self that for many, seem to only grow stronger with time.
As HBCUs have seen their application numbers swell in recent years, alumni ten, twenty, and thirty years out are cherishing the appreciating asset of an HBCU degree – and the social capital it affords them.
LaTonya Clark, 44, is a technology strategy advisor in Alexandria, Virginia. She grew up in Charlotte watching her entire family attend HBCUS and never considered attending any other type of institution. She applied to and was accepted at four colleges – all HBCUS.
LaTonya E. Clark Howard University Class of 2001
LaTonya Clark
“Ultimately, I chose to attend Howard University because of family legacy, the hands-on learning environment of the School of Business, exposure to a diverse set of students around the world, and the metropolitan backdrop of Washington, DC.” Clark said.
“I never thought there was any other higher educational path for me other than an HBCU.”
Lyris Greene, 42, of Atlanta had a similar journey to the yard.
“Growing up I knew I was going to an HBCU — it was solidified early on,” Greene said. Attending a PWI was never a consideration.”
Greene chose to attend Tennessee State University in Nashville, TN after her father introduced her to the school.
“My father was a proud TSU alumnus, always bringing me along to campus, homecomings and games since I was three years old,” Greene said. “I practically grew up on TSU’s campus.”
Dr. Reisha Moxley is a psychologist based in Nashville, Tennessee. She attended Florida A & M University before furthering her studies at non-HBCU institutions. She researched high-achieving African-American women – many of whom attended HBCUs – and says for high achievers, homecoming can be a chance to heal.
“Homecoming represents an opportunity to reflect and reconnect with friends and parts of ourselves that have been altered by negotiating adulthood and weathering the costs of high achieving in predominantly white spaces,” Moxley shared.
And it can be a tricky navigation.
While stepping on the yard for many is a chance to party and reconnect with old flames, the grounds of many campuses hold memories that live on even when the experiences, and the people who shared those experiences, have long passed on. As the years go by and relationships change, the permanence of the campus can be both times healing and painful.
“When my father passed in 2009 almost a month after homecoming, I disconnected for a while,” Greene shared.
As a result, she says her love for homecomings has changed over the years. Now the full-time DJ gets back every few years as homecoming falls during her business’s busiest season.
“I used to attend homecoming every year, I couldn’t imagine missing them especially when I no longer lived in Nashville, it was an opportunity to visit my dad and have our bonding time,” she said.
For some, their HBCU homecoming experience is less about family tradition and more about the new connections made and networks built on the yard.
Nicole Venable is a lobbyist in Washington who attended Spelman College. She says she’s constantly in touch with her former classmates – she relies on them and considers them family. For her, homecoming is a priority.
Nicole Venable Spelman Class of 1991
Nicole Venable and her SpelHouse Network
“I make it a point to clear my work schedule for homecoming – and my Reunion -every year,” she said. “It’s good to go back and be around so much positivity; so much #blackexcellence; and so much support. I tap into my HBCU network daily in what I do.”
Alex Dixon, 42 relies on his HBCU network in a similar way. He graduated from Howard University in 2003 and since then has moved around the country nearly a dozen times with his family for work. He now lives in Dubuque, Iowa where he serves as a CEO. Through the many moves and life changes, one thing that has remained constant is his affiliation with Howard and his Howard classmates – a connection that sustains him.
“I’m a workaholic,” Dixon said. “I can live in a place like Dubuque and my world, for the most part, is in all white spaces. But my connection [to Howard] is always here.”
Venable says she considers the Spelman and Morehouse alumni community the family she has curated for life.
“When we see each other it’s all LOVE,” she said. “We catch up, but it’s also like we just saw each other on campus 30 years ago. When I travel, I always look up my classmates to have a drink. These interactions are sacred and special.”
Now that they’re in their peak earning years, millennial and Gen X HBCU grads are stepping up more and more. Their homecoming experiences are about more than nostalgia over the past; these alum are planning for the future.
Venable graduated Spelman in 1991 and says her classmates are focused on using their power as a collective to come together to make real change throughout the year.
“SPELHOUSE91 is very organized,” she said. “We have regular Zoom calls. We came together to [help] get our classmate Raphael Warnock elected to the U.S. Senate. And every year we have one of the largest tailgate tents. We raise money and give out scholarships to current students.”
Nicole Venable and classmate at Spelman College
Nicole Venable
Dixon, who was a campus leader while at Howard, has also stepped up his organizing as an alumnus. Now that he and his classmates are twenty years into their alumni journey, he’s hoping to kick off a new culture of class-based alumni engagement that doesn’t solely rely on coming together in geographic alumni associations.
For this year’s homecoming, he and other classmates worked for months to develop a class of 2003 website, reconnect with one another virtually, and reclaim their classmates in an effort to energize a new donor base for Howard. During the actual homecoming week, they organized around a series of class events and promoted their fundraising campaign to give back $1Million over the next ten years to their alma mater.
According to Dixon, the effort – Howard03MadeMe – is about more than giving back to the school, and even giving scholarships to new students. It’s about giving back to one another. The friendships formed decades ago while he and his classmates were students on the yard are now personal and professional lifelines.
While working this past year on the 20 year class reunion effort, he says he got to know many of his classmates on a deeper level and recognized the value hidden within his college network.
“If I just tap that network I never have to worry about anything,” Dixon said. “There’s lawyers, there’s doctors, there’s all these different people. We’re now no longer just the kids from down the hall.”
As alumni mature, HBCU Homecoming becomes about so much more than parties; it can be a truly healing experience.
“For those of us with trauma or unfulfilled connections during those formative years, we go back, more secure in ourselves, hoping to reclaim what escaped our grasps, or in some cases what was stolen from us,” shared Dr. Moxley.
“There is hope for a tangible tether— assurance that we can still belong.”
Dixon’s effort is proof that even when an HBCU alumnus hasn’t been back to homecoming in years, there’s still a place to get involved.
“Everyone who engages [in the alumni fundraising effort] engages because they want their cup filled. They have a skill set that they can offer,” he said.
Making the transition from homecoming party-goers to a more future-focused group of alumni can serve other purposes, too.
While at first glance, alumni-driven fundraisers can seem like service projects, but they could also be considered initiatives for overall wellness.
Connecting meaningfully to other people is shown to combat loneliness, depression and even the workplace burnout that hits hard in these prime earning years.
In many ways, Dixon believes staying connected to his alma mater will increase his quality of life…and his lifespan.
“If you read all these health and wellness stories [they tell you to] walk, drink water, consume alcohol in moderation, and have meaningful connections to other people,” Dixon said.
“If there’s something to live for, then you’ll live.”
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