Introducing our spring HBCU fellows

We’ve selected six new students from historically Black colleges and universities to participate in the spring ’24 class of the Open Campus HBCU Student Journalism Network.

The program combines mentoring and professional support from Open Campus journalists and peers in newsrooms across the country with the opportunity to have their work published in national outlets.

Meet the fellows:

• Dasia Williams, a senior at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University studying multimedia journalism.

• Kylar Gray, a senior at Spelman College majoring in English.

• Richard Brown, a senior journalism student at Florida A&M University.

• Skyler Winston, a junior journalism major at Howard University.

• Niles Garrison, a sophomore at Morehouse College majoring in journalism.

• Adebola Aderibigbe, a sophomore at Stillman College majoring in journalism.

The fellows will report on all aspects of HBCUs, and some topics they said they are most excited to cover include international students’ experiences on HBCUs and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts on campuses.

Read more about our third cohort here.

From NIL deals to the dearth of Black male students, our fellows have covered a gamut of stories about the HBCU experience

This year was the inaugural year for our HBCU Student Journalism Network, and the upcoming spring group will mark the third cohort. It’s worth looking back at some of the hard work our fellows produced this year:

We examined how one HBCU athlete has navigated the NIL landscape and the disparities that exist for HBCU athletes in smaller or lesser-known programs.

We interviewed students at HBCUs in states where Republicans have attacked campus diversity programs who fear the entirety of their colleges’ rich history, traditions, and social mobility is in jeopardy.

At many of the nation’s HBCUS, just one in three undergraduate students is a man. Together with reporter Naomis Harris, fellow Skylar Stephens dove into why this is happening.

The path to a degree isn’t an easy one for student parents. Dejah Miles spoke with faculty and parents about the reality this demographic faces as they navigate school and family life.

Auzzy Byrdsell reported on the culture shift underway at Morehouse College to redefine what it means to be a Black man.

We hope to grow this program and deepen the training we offer students at HBCUs. Please consider supporting our work. Now through Dec. 31, donations to Open Campus are doubled up to $20,000.

Making connections

In addition to telling great stories about HBCUs, our fellowship has two main goals: training fellows to be better journalists and connecting them to professionals around the country. A consistent piece of feedback from previous groups is that networking is one of the most valuable parts of this program, and they really appreciate the opportunity to connect with industry professionals.

Are you interested in speaking to a future group of fellows? Please email us at [email protected].

Thanks for reading!

Reach out to us at [email protected].