New York City has opened the first high school committed to preparing students for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCU Early College Prep, located in Jamaica, Queens, was opened in partnership with Delaware State University (DSU), and, starting in 11th grade, students will take online college courses taught by DSU professors.
Principal Dr. Asya Johnson, a DSU graduate, spoke about the significance of having an institution like this in New York. “There’s just not enough exposure to HBCUs across the country,” she told ABC News ahead of the school’s opening. “We talk about college and college access, but we do not spend enough time celebrating the history and the data around it.”
According to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, HBCUs enroll almost 10% of all Black U.S. undergraduates and produce the majority of Black doctors, lawyers and judges. However, there are no HBCUs north of Pennsylvania on the East Coast, including in New York.
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Johnson hopes that her new school will address some of these problems.
“It’s important because it doesn’t exist,” Johnson said of the need for an HBCU-focused prep school. “We often don’t explain to students what exists beyond just our state or our local tri-state area. Why not expose students to that?”
The school was launched last Thursday with New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other policymakers from the city. The school can take only 100 people for its first class, yet over 1,000 applied for a spot. Johnson said prospective students had to complete an essay tackling a technology or health care issue in their community and record a two-minute video showing how they would use their degree to give back to their community.
The school’s mission is to cultivate a “community of learners dedicated to academic excellence, diversity, societal contributions, and social justice,” according to its website.
Students at the school will earn up to 64 college credits for an associate’s degree in liberal arts from DSU and are guaranteed admission at DSU.
“We’re just not trying to give kids a high school diplomas and associates degree, but we want to prepare them for the real world to make sure that they can be active citizens in this society,” Johnson said.
“HBCUs, and our school, in particular, are not just for students who are Black,” Johnson also stressed amid decisions by some institutions to pull back on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. “Anyone can attend an HBCU, just like anyone can attend and apply to HBCU Early College Prep here in New York City.”
