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Episode #1722
CIAA for HBCU Recruiting
Holloway: Jay Holloway,
Host
Holt: Deborah Holt, Producer
Graves: Gladys Graves, CIAA High School Day Chair
Sparks: Eric Sparks, CIAA High School Day Committee
Williams: Jocelyn Williams, Raleigh CIAA Events Coordinator
E.C. Jones: Emanuel Chance Jones
Moore: Kimberly Moore
Butler: Marquise Butler
Buie: Jessica Buie
Wills: Lawrence Wills
Dr. Jones: Dr. Lee Jones
Holloway: It's
more than good times and great basketball. The CIAA is an
opportunity for high school students and HBCUs. If you don't
know what I'm talking about, stay tuned next on Black Issues
Forum and you'll find out.
Voiceover: This program
was made possible by contributions to UNC-TV from viewers
like you. Thank you.
[THEME MUSIC]
Holloway: The Central
Intercollegiate Athletic Association annual basketball tournament,
better known as the CIAA, is an African-American tradition.
Many are aware of the week-long entertainment, sports and
even the tremendous economic impact. But equally important
to the organizers of the CIAA is the opportunity to attract
students to CIAA schools.
Good evening. I'm Jay Holloway
and tonight we'll talk about that recruiting opportunity.
It's a focus that the CIAA itself deems important enough to
dedicate a committee of individuals and a day of activities
solely for high school students. Producer Deborah Holt has
more.
E.C. Jones: I've never
been to, like, one of these kind of events and this, I like
it because, you know, it's a lot of different people.
Holt: CIAA High School
Day is a huge event and each year it gets bigger. Organizers
plan a day that includes workshops and a college fair featuring
the CIAA schools. Many students leave the day better informed
and excited about the offerings of historically black colleges
and universities, while others discover a desire to learn
more.
E.C. Jones: It seems
like we're all a family. Everyone's friendly, everyone's not
like that. You have to have that in school.
Moore: We don't really
get a chance to talk, you know, people face to face. You know,
we're just trying to go out and see what schools we would
like to attend so when we get a chance to talk to people about
the school and about our majors and what we want to do then
we get a better understanding of, you know, our majors and
stuff.
Butler: You'll probably
get a lot more opportunities and, you know, you can probably
have a better relationship with your teachers and, you know,
the students. A better atmosphere.
Buie: Some of the schools
do recruit very hard and you feel like they really want you
there. But some of them, especially ones that are in Virginia
and Bowie State in Maryland, I don't feel like they're pulling
as much. And I would like to hear much more about those.
Wills: I really didn't
know that they had, some of them had the highest graduation
rate of blacks for the specific program so that's a real good,
good thing when you think about all the colleges in America.
Holt: In addition to
personal contact with recruiters and counselors, some students
are provided financial assistance in order to travel to Raleigh
to participate. And all students receive an informative packet
with tickets to a CIAA game. The final game is always a winner
with CIAA fans but it was a dynamic speaker who scored big
points with the high school students.
Dr. Jones: More importantly
to the question, "Who are we?" we're like ______
when she says that we are so bad that even our errors are
correct. You ask me the question, "Who are we?"
More importantly to the question, "Who are we?"
We are children of God. Good morning.
E.C. Jones: The speaker
was awesome. He just made some different points, some great
points. People just coming out of poor families he just showed
them how they can make it. It's not all that. You don't have
to be rich and everything to get it. It's just getting it.
Holloway: Now I'd like
to introduce tonight's guest to talk about the CIAA's focus
on high school students. First Gladys Graves. She's Director
of North Carolina's Teaching Fellows Program and she's Chair
of the 2002 CIAA High School Recruitment Day. Thank you, Gladys,
for being with us.
Graves: Good to be
here.
Holloway: And Eric
Sparks. He's Senior Administrator for Guidance and Social
Work for the Wake County Public Schools and member of the
CIAA High School Day committee. Thank you, Eric, for being
with us.
Sparks: Thank you.
Holloway: And last
but not least Jocelyn Williams. She's a Principal with JMG
Marketing and she's the Raleigh CIAA Events Coordinator. Thank
you all for being with us.
Williams: Thank you
for having us.
Holloway: Now let's
clarify that just in case our audience didn't get what CIAA
stands for. Tell us what it stands for and what it's all about,
Jocelyn.
Williams: CIAA is the
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. It's one of
the many conferences of the NCAA, the national association
for college athletics. And it is the largest of the HBCU's
conference as well as.
Holloway: There's another
one. HBCU.
Williams: Okay. Yes.
It's Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Holloway: Okay.
Williams: And as many
may or may not know, there's over 100 colleges, African-American
colleges and universities in the country. And the CIAA has
12. And they're basically located on the East Coast and mainly
in North Carolina. Some are in Maryland as well as Virginia.
Holloway: Right. And
most of the schools are actually in North Carolina.
Williams: That's true.
Holloway: Yeah.
Williams: That's true.
Holloway: And I think
12 of them are public institutions - I mean six are public
and six are private.
Williams: Right, right.
Holloway: And we probably
will put a graphic up to show you all 12 of the schools and
we won't have to go through and list all of them.
Williams: And it's
great for the city of Raleigh because you have two right here.
Shaw University as well as St. Augustine's College. And then,
of course, right up the road - as they say - is North Carolina
Central University which is the largest of all the institutions
in the conference.
Holloway: Well, I guess
I'd better mention the ones in North Carolina.
Williams: Let's do
that.
Holloway: Elizabeth
City State University. Fayetteville State University. Johnson
C. Smith University. Livingstone College. North Carolina Central
University. St. Augustine's College. Shaw University, the
winners of the tournament, basketball tournament.
Williams: Yes, yes,
go there.
[LAUGHTER]
Holloway: And Winston-Salem
State University.
[LAUGHTER]
Holloway: Yeah. So
this event is a major impact on the city of Raleigh. Now the
tournament is over but you all are still calculating the economic
impact and the results. But have you been generally satisfied
with it here in Raleigh?
Williams: I think we
have been more than satisfied. The community has embraced
the tournament. The corporate community has embraced the tournament.
So we are very excited that it has been here for three years
and equally excited and more maybe excited that it will be
here for another three years because the city of Raleigh did
win the bid again for the next three years. So we're really
excited.
Holloway: Okay. Well,
what we really thought we'd talk about today is people hear
about that and it got pretty good media coverage about the
tournament and the impact. But it's over now. But one of the
most important things we thought was the recruitment effort,
that high school students got an opportunity to learn about
this. And it helps these HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges
and Universities, recruit students.
Williams: Right.
Holloway: And, Eric,
you're with the Wake County Public School System. How did
this event help in terms of the local efforts here for high
school students in Wake County?
Sparks: It's a great
opportunity to promote HBCUs as well as just college aspirations
in general. What we do with this event is target students
who have been successful in school. We allow for students
who are interested to sign up and attend the day. And it gives
us an opportunity to really, to take students on a very educational
event where they can see some of the positive results that
come out of specifically these HBCU schools but also any college
experience.
Holloway: Gladys, you
are the Chair of this and I must say it was a very well organized
event and I heard positive things in there and all of you
have had a chance to see some of the highlights of that. But
have you found that you also have to do a certain amount of
education for the high school counselors on this day and on
these HBCUs?
Graves: Yes, we do.
But first let me say I graduated from Shaw University.
[LAUGHTER]
Graves: I just want
to put that plug in.
Holloway: The institution
that finally won!
Graves: That finally
won!
Holloway: Congratulations!
Graves: Yes. That really
has been an education piece because, for us, many times we
just say "CIAA" and we know exactly what that means.
But for some people, even in the school systems, you say,
"CI double-A" and they have no concept of what that
is.
Holloway: Or even worse,
if you say, "CIA-A."
[LAUGHTER]
Graves: CIA-A. That's
right. So we know you aren't from North Carolina if you say,
"CIA-A." But it's really been a good effort. In
fact, Wake County last year allowed us to go meet with the
counselors to talk about the program and to get them excited
about it and they were. And this year it wasn't as hard to
sell because more of them did know about it. But there still
is an education piece that has to take place.
Holloway: Now what
are the goals for the High School Day?
Graves: Well basically
the goal is to give high school juniors, that's our target
population, to give high school juniors who have a 2.0 GPA
or above an opportunity to interact, interface with college
recruiters. And for college recruiters they have a captive
audience all in one place and it gives them a chance to expose
their schools. To give the students an opportunity to learn
more about - well, sometimes it's not so much more as it is
to just learn about the programs because many times students
don't know about the schools that are in the CIAA. And so
our effort - what we aspire to is to give them an opportunity
to learn more about these schools.
Holloway: And you got
up a group of volunteers. You are a volunteer.
Graves: Yes, it's all
volunteers. And in my own job which is being the Director
of the Teaching Fellows Scholarship Program, North Carolina
Central is one of our Teaching Fellows campuses. And they
also are involved in providing volunteers. St. Augustine's
College, Shaw University and Central provided student volunteers
who helped us throughout the day as well as many other volunteers
from the community. I've got a really strong base of volunteers,
of people who don't have to make a long-term commitment but
many of them are graduates of HBCU schools or CIAA schools
and they see this as an opportunity to give something back.
Holloway: Jocelyn,
explain how the whole organization effort takes place in terms
of getting volunteers to work at the local level versus the
staff of the CIAA office.
Williams: Well the
CIAA office proper - I guess you would say - located in Hampton,
Virginia, they basically handle all the basketball stuff,
if you will, for the tournament. And the host city, the city
of Raleigh, we have a Steering Committee that's made up of
corporate folks here, bankers as well as, you know, VPs of
corporations and presidents. And the Steering Committee is,
for the most part, a fundraising committee. We have Co-Chairs:
Former Mayor Paul Kobel as well as Hugh Allen who's a Senior
Vice President with, I guess it's First Union Wachovia or
Wachovia First Union, depending on where you sit. But we have
a great group of folks that help up to raise the funds that
are necessary for the CIAA to be here in Raleigh. I work as
the liaison between the host committee and the CIAA office
to make sure that contractually speaking all the funds are
raised, all the events have a place, and all the coordination
that is needed for those events takes place as well. So I
work with the local city and all the venues here. The city
venues as well as making sure I am a bridge with the CIAA
office to make sure that everything happens and happens smoothly.
Holloway: Now I would
imagine that the same type of thing has gone on in previous
cities where the city partners with this CIAA office.
Williams: Right, right.
We're in the biding process, of course, it's quite a hectic
kind of time. Contractually speaking, you know, there are
scholarship dollars that have to be raised. And then there
are events that have to be put on and that's within the contractual
agreement that the CIAA requires of the host city. So, as
I said, it's my job to make sure all those things within the
contract happen. And, of course, High School Day is one of
the ones that we're really excited about and has grown tremendously,
the three years that it has been here in Raleigh. As Gladys
was saying, it's very important simply because the CIAA Basketball
Tournament, as we all like to say, is more than just a basketball
tournament. It's a well-rounded event that includes basketball,
athletics, of course. We have academics with High School Day
and we also have a Career Expo that we do. And then, of course,
it's a social event. It's a reunion of sorts and folks come
back for that. They know they'll see their folks and they're
excited about coming back. And then, of course, you've got
those little things called parties that happen all during
the week.
[LAUGHTER]
Holloway: Right. Eric,
how important do you think this High School Day was and will
be continued for the future for these students? Do you get,
have you gotten much feedback? We saw some of the feedback
from some of the footage that we had, but what feedback have
you been getting?
Sparks: We receive
excellent feedback on the event. Our students enjoy it. It's
an opportunity for them to be exposed to many different people.
They get to hear inspiration stories and they get to hear
really personal stories from possibly even celebrities who
are part of the event. As well as the opportunity to meet
with the college admissions officers. So it's that opportunity
where they are learning really about, they're seeing the showcasing
of these particular institutions and we look forward to continuing
to do this in the future.
Holloway: Do you get
any negative feedback at all about that's it's just focussed
on these CIAA schools or are students just anxious to learn
more about these schools?
Sparks: I think our
students are anxious to learn more about them because a lot
of times they may not have had a lot of experience. When they're
in their college admissions mode and are thinking about that,
often they hear the ACC schools and the big name schools.
And a lot of our students are really interested and are often
asking counselors about NC State or UNC-Chapel Hill or Duke
University. And this is a chance to learn something that they
may have not been exposed to before.
Holloway: Gladys, this
event, I'm sure it was not free to the CIAA to put on and
there had to be an expense. How did you all cover the expenses
to put this on?
Graves: Well, for the
scholarship part of it, we have sponsors. Duke Energy was
a major sponsor. Coca-Cola provided t-shirts which is a real
good incentive. They also helped - McDonald's provided lunch
for them. Krispy Kreme provided doughnuts and milk and what-have-you
so we had a lot of food to give to them. And that's real important.
But everything else was done by volunteers. All, every activity,
every venue that we had that day was all done by volunteers.
And in my job, a lot of my volunteer time went into that so
now I guess I can get back and work in my real job.
[LAUGHTER]
Graves: But, Eric had
also mentioned - you had asked Eric about what impact it had
on the schools and the school system. If you don't mind, I'd
just like Eric to share with you a project that they came
up with and to let him share what that project is and how
successful it is and what happens next.
Sparks: Okay. The CIAA
is a great opportunity with all the media attention to really
work with high school students and let them, to learn more
about this. But we have taken that and expanded that, very
much by the efforts of Lynn Moody who is with Wake County
Public School System. We have put together a Staff Development
where we have counselors, career development coordinators
and high school coaches who have gotten together and they're
taking part in three different opportunities.
One was at the actual tournament
itself. The group attended the Friday and Saturday night tournament
games. And we sent out information to the local universities
and invited them to come to our section, actually in the arena,
to talk with us about their institution.
The group also had a chance to
hear panelists who could talk about their experiences in HBCUs,
why they chose that, the benefits of those.
And then the third piece of that
is when our group got together to really pull all this together.
What did they learn from going to the event? What did they
learn from our panelists? And how can they take that out into
our high schools and continue to spread the word about the
opportunities through HBCUs?
Holloway: Well, let's
talk about some of the panelists. Who were some of the people
that were there and what were kind of some of the things they
were talking about?
Williams: I think Gladys
could probably address that a little bit more about the speakers.
Graves: Oh, for the
speakers?
Holloway: Yes.
Graves: Okay. We had
several of the students from Shaw University who were, who
are Presidential Scholars, Miss Shaw University, and some
others. We also had celebrities from the NFL and the NBA.
One person who was one of our speakers talked a lot about
why HBCUs are trying to help the students understand a lot
more of that. That was Jeff Smith out of Johnson C. Smith
University. His brother was also a speaker. We had Frederick
Faison who is a Director of the Learning Project with Wake
Partnership that's based out of Chavez Heights. And we also
had this year Antonio Pettigrew who is a St. Augustine's College
graduate and a renowned Olympic winner in his own right. We
also had folks from the National Society for Black Engineers,
Andrea Green and Dr. Fonda Daniels-Barnes. Some of these names
you may not recognize but once these folks get in front of
the students and tell their stories, it is a very, very powerful
experience. And, as the local paper reported a couple of days
ago, one student who said, "I came here ready to fill
out an application." So it's really about how early can
we get these students thinking about the college experience
and we've actually - people have chastised us because we don't
let seniors come. And we said, "If it is March, it's
too late for seniors." And so hopefully the effort that
we do through the High School Day these students will interact
with these speakers, hear their stories and be inspired to
go in and fill out those applications, get ready to take the
SAT, and know what they have to have to be prepared to go
to school. And I think they miss out on that a lot of times.
Holloway: Jocelyn,
I would assume that listening to what Eric mentioned earlier
about - this is also ACC country in addition to CIAA country
and a lot of students are also looking at those schools. But
what are some of the challenges of some of these CIAA schools
in attracting those students? Are all the schools equally
excited about a High School Day here so they can recruit right
here in this area?
Williams: I think -
I'll talk about all the 12 schools of the conference.
Holloway: Those in
Virginia and Maryland.
Williams: .right. For
sure, for sure. We get calls all the time, all the schools
wanting to come and be a part of it because they know the
impact that it would have if they had someone there recruiting.
We did that last year and the CIAA Board, of course, of chancellors
and presidents would prefer that it remain the 12 schools
so we adhere to that. And it's a great idea because we want
to do what, you know, the Board wants us to do. And, of course,
that's just the way it is. You know, the 12 schools. There
are plenty of schools. And the HBCUs of the conference, of
course, have a little bit of a disadvantage in the way of
the ACC or all the other big schools because simply they are
big schools. We talk about Livingstone College or Fayetteville
State. The numbers are small. But what we are trying to showcase
to the students is that it may be small and maybe that's where
you belong. Maybe that's what your needs are going to be.
But the bottom line is that these schools have the academics
excellence just of any other larger school. And given the,
I guess, the alumni that come and go from these schools it's
kind of a testament that these schools have what you need
as well. And I just wanted to go back and say, you know, that
the Committee, you know, they work hard to make sure that
we try to satisfy all facets of what the CIAA is about. Whether
it's the CIAA Office, whether it's the Board, whether it's
the Host Committee, Gladys and the Committee there. You know,
I've been blessed because Gladys, this is her second year
with me as the Chair of the Committee and she does an excellent
job of doing that. She doesn't ask for much in return but
she gives 120%. But the schools, they need that opportunity
to express themselves and let the students know that we may
be small, yet and still we have what you need and the opportunity
for them to be there to express that and the students to be
able to come and see that. It's an opportunity that is unmatched
especially during the tournament time, because the excitement
is just so high.
Holloway: It is a great
time to focus on those efforts.
Williams: Right.
Holloway: And what
about in terms of your outreach to make this bigger and to
attract more students from outside of the Triangle area or
even North Carolina? Any intentions?
Graves: Well, if I
could have had tickets to sell I'd be rich.
[LAUGHTER]
Graves: Next to the
CIAA basketball tickets, this was the hottest item in town.
One of the challenges that we've had for the last two years
was really not having the space to accommodate more than 1100
to 1200 students and their counselors. But this coming year
we're happy to report that we will have access to the entire
Raleigh Convention Center so that will give us an opportunity
to involve other school systems outside of the Raleigh area.
Holloway: And many
of them are watching right now. So if they want to participate.
[LAUGHTER]
Holloway: .next year.
It's going to be state-wide, right?
[LAUGHTER]
Williams: You have
to start with your counselor, right Gladys?
Graves: That's a good
place, the counselor. We extend an invitation to the superintendent
to have his schools or her schools participate in this program.
And if that is the case then we will be sending out information
to the superintendent. But for counselors who might be listening,
the information then will go to the counselor. And if they
want to get in touch with me, they can get in touch with me.
Can I give a number?
Holloway: Yes, please.
Graves: Okay. This is
my work number. It's 919-781-6833, extension 107. Or they
can get me by email at ggraves@ncforum.org.
Holloway: And
we'll have all that on our website if the viewers missed that.
And, Eric, what would you say to other high school counselors
and folks in your similar position in terms of why this should
be beneficial to their students in their system?
Sparks: This event
really helps us do our job in terms of the college planning
and postsecondary opportunities. It gives us a chance to show
students about a wide variety of possibilities. And as we
work with them and help them clarify their postsecondary ideas,
this event plays right into that in showing them many opportunities
to expand their horizons.
Holloway: Well, I want
to thank you all very much. I believe our time has run completely
out. And congratulations on a successful event and we wish
you well the next two years while it's here in Raleigh.
Graves: For sure.
Williams: Three.
Holloway: Three. That's
right. Yeah, is only the third year.
Williams: Thank you
so much for having us.
Holloway: Well, thank
you.
Graves: Yes, thank
you.
Holloway: And good
luck on that Winston-Salem and Greensboro and Charlotte are
fighting for it the next few times.
Williams: Trying.
[LAUGHTER]
Holloway: Hopefully
you've learned more about the CIAA and the significance of
HBCUs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and their
unique recruitment effort. If you'd like to learn more about
the CIAA games or get us your comment, contact us online at
www.unctv.org. Or you can call us at 919-549-7167. And, by
chance, if you did miss the CIAA this year, I'd like to leave
you with some of my experience from the biggest night at the
tournament, the last night, as we depart. Be sure to join
us every Friday night at 9:30 right here on UNC-TV. You have
a blessed evening. Good night.
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