Photos courtesy of the Amityville Union Free School District
Students from Amityville Memorial High School recently visited seven schools in North Carolina during the school’s annual Historically Black Colleges and Universities Tour.
Track and field coach Reynolds Hawkins, high school Dean of Students Natasha Lim, Guidance Director Dr. Stephanie Thomas, and high school teacher Nakia Williams accompanied 33 high school students on the annual college tour. During tours of the campuses, students learned about admissions requirements, academic programs, extracurricular activities and sports, residential life, scholarship opportunities and tuition and fees. They interacted with current college students and experienced the culture of each campus. Students also had the opportunity to visit the International Civil Rights Center & Museum in Greensboro.
“I always put some sort of historical twist into this tour,” said Hawkins, who helped to launch the program 15 years ago.
Hawkins, who was then a social worker at the high school, pitched the idea about the program to the district’s administrators as an initiative to keep students actively involved. “We’re the only high school on Long Island to have a tour exclusively for HBCU schools,” Hawkins said. “As an Amityville graduate and an HBCU graduate, this was a great opportunity for me to show students that there are other places to go outside of New York.”
This year, students also visited Duke University and Queens University of Charlotte. At Duke, students met with former Athletic Director Kevin White, who is an Amityville Memorial High School graduate. At Queens University, the group met with President Daniel Lugo, also an Amityville graduate.
“I want these kids to see people that have gone through the same route that they have and realize that they can accomplish great things as well,” Hawkins said.
More than 90% of the high school students who took part in this tour have attended college, according to Hawkins. “I’d like to thank the district for supporting this program and financing the annual trip through the years,” Hawkins said. “The feedback from the kids, the parents and the community have all been positive, so I hope that we can continue this program beyond my time here in Amityville.”
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