Q: What makes your HBCU unique?
My HBCU is unique because it is the youngest HBCU in Mississippi. Like most other HBCUs it was established to train teachers for rural and elementary schools and to provide vocational training, similar values shared across the HBCU nation.
Q: What are some mythbusters you would like to share with the world about your HBCU?
Mississippi Valley State produces well rounded individuals and are great at preparing their students ahead for what’s in store in the future. HBCUs in general are perceived reluctant to produce ubiquitous black students who can compete with students at PWI’s.
Q: Who’s your favorite notable alumni of your HBCU and why?
My favorite notable alumni would be Katie Hall, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana’s 1st district from 1982 to 1985. Hall received her B.S. at Mississippi Valley State University in 1960 and later received an M.S. from Indiana University, Bloomington. She died February 20, 2012.
Q: How did your HBCU shape you as a person?
It is often said that if you can make it an HBCU you can make it anywhere. The push for excellence from my black professors helped me set the basis I needed to reach my fullest potential and how to deal with the challenges not only while in college but in the professional world.
Q: How did your HBCU prepare you for the world?
By my own experiences and understanding for society because people turn their noses at anything not Eurocentric. HBCUs are discredited because of how other people view blackness and my HBCU has helped prepare me to nullify that stereotype.
Q: What do you love about your HBCU the most?
The thing I like most about my HBCU is the small family type of atmosphere. My HBCU isn’t the biggest and most fancy black school let alone University period in Mississippi but I have established friendships and sisterhood with some amazing people.
