The Ivy Center for Education (ICE) visited several schools and universities on the 2023 University Tour/Cultural Experience Excursion, June 14-21. This was the first tour since the covid-19 pandemic, and the tour host hotel was in Atlanta.
Twenty-three scholars participated in the with nine chaperones, adding members of the Ivy Center Board of Directors, President Mattie P. Collins, Executive Director Patricia Berry, and Secretary Patricia Richard. Other chaperones included Damiccah Robertson, Virginia Hymes, Chanta Pulliam, Brandun Flannigan, Calvin Thomas and Dr. Karl Walker.
During an excursion on Thursday, June 15, the academics visited 3 schools and universities. The scholars and chaperones visited Spelman College, which is the oldest traditionally black school for women in the United States. It was founded in 1881. It has a graduation rate of 76%. Male scholars and male chaperones visited Morehouse College, the largest liberal arts school for men in the United States. His notable alumni come with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Julian Bond. The scholars visited Emory University, founded in 1836 by Methodists. and is named after John Emory, an American Methodist bishop.
On Friday, June 16, scholars and chaperones traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, and visited Alabama State University, founded in 1867 in Marion, Alabama. It is one of the oldest establishments in the country in the cradle of the civil rights fashion movement.
On Monday, June 19, scholars and chaperones visited the Georgia Institute of Technology. It is one of the 10 most sensible public studies universities that develops leaders who advance generation and the human condition.
On Tuesday, June 20, scholars and chaperones visited Fort Valley State University, a traditionally black public university in Fort Valley, Georgia. Fort Valley State University is the state land grant university of 1890. . In 1902, William Merida Hubbard founded the State Teachers and Agricultural College in Forsyth, which in 1939 merged with Fort Valley School at Fort Valley State College. It became Fort Valley State University in June 1996.
On Wednesday, June 21, scholars and chaperones visited Tuskegee University, a traditionally black personal college in Tuskegee, Alabama, that was founded in 1881 by Lewis Adams, a former slave, George W. Campbell, a former slave owner, and Booker T. Washington, an instructor at the Hampton Institute, began as the Tuskegee Normal School for color instructors in a one-room slum near a church, with thirty adults as the first class. It has one of the most notable establishments of higher education in the country, with a project of service to others and schooling of the whole person. It was also the home of scientist George Washington Carver and the Tuskegee Airmen, an organization of African-American pilots who fought in World War II. The campus is a National Historic Site through the National Park Service.
The fellows had various cultural amusements while visiting two museums in Alabama. They visited the Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum, which provided a comprehensive history of the United States with a focus on the legacy of slavery. It is situated on a site where enslaved blacks were forced to paint in servitude. The museum provides an immersive experience with state-of-the-art technology, world-class art, and a critically vital scholarship to American history. They also visited the Equal Justice Initiative’s National Peace and Justice Memorial, which is a national memorial to commemorate black victims of lynching in the United States. It intends to focus and acknowledge beyond racial terrorism and advocate for social justice in America.
In Atlanta, the scholars visited the museum of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, which is committed to the achievements of the civil rights motion in the United States and the broader global human rights motion. Investigators were to read and hear vital facts about the civil rights motion in the United States. They also visited Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park, where they visited the graves of Dr. King and his wife Coretta Scott King, the Eternal Flame, the Reflection Pond, and the King Center. .
Participants devoutly attended Father’s Day, Sunday, June 18, at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where U. S. Senator Raphael Warnock is pastor. After the service, other people from Pine Bluff arrived to greet the scholars and chaperones. , the World of Coca Cola and the Georgia Aquarium. The last night of the tour took place at Urban Air and Trampoline Park in McDonough, Georgia, courtesy of Dr. Kenneth and Deidrea Collins.
Collins took Walker on his first school field trip as a senior at Pine Bluff High School in 1997 under the direction of the program, then had the honor of taking him back as a chaperone with two of his children on the ICE 2023 College Tour. . . I am so pleased to see that our parents perceive the importance of exposing academics to universities and cultural reporting from an early age,” she said.
ICE Fellow Lea Williamson, a young emerging woman from Berkeley, California, left the Atlanta airport on an educational trip to Japan to enroll in academic studies in her community. Lea’s mother graduated from Pine Bluff High School.
Another notable finding is that ICE Scholar James Ento, a successful junior and athlete at Pine Bluff High School, improved his ACT score by 3 points.
Scholars were asked to write daily in their diaries about the schools and cultural sites they visited. They answered questionnaires every day and at the end of the visit, they had the opportunity to be rewarded.
Flannigan announced the winners of the 8th Annual College Tour Quiz and Debate Contest sponsored through the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Delta Sigma Lambda chapter. Jatwan Wells, John Thompson, John Richardson and Gwendolyn Robinson won $25. charge ($100), Christopher Carlock; position at the moment ($50), Alala Bugg; and third place ($25), Jessica Parker. The $100 Emerging Leader of Tomorrow Award went to Kennedi Scaife.
The rising seniors on the field trip were: Chandler Blunt, Alala Bugg, E’Layah Jones, Malachi McDonald, John Thompson, Zric Washington and Jatwan Wells of Pine Bluff High School; John Richardson of White Hall High School and Kennedi Scaife of eStem High School.
Other participants: Ivan Armour, Christopher Carlock, James Ento, Sinez Herring, Bryan Madden, Ryan Madden, Dylan Parker, Jessica Parker, Addisyn Richard, Gwendolyn Robinson, X’Zaevium Sims, Karl Walker Jr. , Victoria Walker and Lea Williamson.
The Ivy Center for Education expressed gratitude for a grant from the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame and donations from Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. Sorority. / Delta Omega Omega Chapter, First Sisters Outreach, Inc. , Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, Juan and Tanya Williams, Dr. Kenneth and Deidrea Collins, attorney Keidra Burrell, Shunika and Betty Mosley, Torii and Katrina Hunter, Mayor Shirley Washington, Saracen Casino Resort, state representatives Vivian Flowers and Kenneth Ferguson, Go Forward Pine Bluff, family, friends and the entire network partners who helped make the 2023 University Tour and Cultural Experience a wonderful success.
ICE also thanked the Arkansas Minority Health Commission for the mask and hand sanitizer, photographer Damiccah Robertson, the Amahni Tyler/Facebook team and other Ivy Center board members: Vice President Jeff Pulliam, Treasurer Chandra Griffin, Chief Technology Officer and the visit to Marguerite Flannigan University. Evaluator, Future Engineer Trainer and UAPB HBCU Med Track Site Director, Dr. Sederick Rice; and ACT Boot Camp coach Charity Smith-Allen. Transportation was provided through Little Rock Coaches, A. C. Crosley, bus driver. Accommodations for the tour were provided through Home2Suites Perimeter of Atlanta.
For more information about ICE: email Mattie Collins at [email protected] or [email protected]; or Patricia Berry at [email protected]; or join the Ivy Center for Education on Facebook, Instagram and Ivycenterforeducation. com.