High school senior Anthony Johnson knows he wants to go to college, but isn’t sure where he would like to land. Meeting with recruiters from 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which gathered Wednesday, February 7, at Etiwanda High School, gave him some long-distance options he hadn’t thought of. And for his father, Brenton Johnson, it was music to his ears.

“I think (Anthony) wants to stay around here. I get that. But learning to be independent is such a big part of what you get from college. I would love for one of these schools to take him in, get him his degree, and send us back a man,” Brenton Johnson said.

Judging from the results of the HBCU Caravan, a number of Chaffey Joint Union High School students will be starting their college journeys at schools such as Florida A&M, Grambling, Alabama State, Morgan State and Talladega College. By the end of the two-hour recruitment fair, 51 students had received on-the-spot acceptances, and $867,600 in scholarships had been awarded.

The Caravan was coordinated by Joshua Kirk, Director of College Readiness & Access for the state’s second-largest high school district, in partnership with Dr. Theresa Price, founder of the National College Resources Foundation. Kirk, himself a graduate of an HBCU (Southern University), was instrumental in building a guaranteed-enrollment partnership between the District and Florida A&M earlier this year.

“It’s such a great opportunity for our students to explore all sorts of different opportunities as they begin this incredible journey into adulthood,” Kirk said.

Tirrell Hamilton, a recruiter and alumnus from Florida A&M, said events such as the Caravan and the 25^th Black College Expo in Los Angeles can open students’ eyes to the bigger value of the college experience. “I tell kids all the time, college is not a destination. It’s a place to prepare you for the rest of your life,” he said.

For Anthony Johnson, that’s beginning to resonate. Speaking with a recruiter from Texas Southern University, the Colony High School senior asked about the college’s computer science program and fitting in as a student there. “This is good,” he said afterward. “I’m learning a lot about the HBCU community.”

Dr. Mathew Holton, Superintendent of the Chaffey District, said he appreciated the support of the National College Resources Foundation and the 20 colleges and universities that participated in the event.

“For many students, it’s not just about opening a door to a new opportunity. It’s finding out that door even exists. The HBCU Caravan is showing our students just how many opportunities, how many doors, are out there waiting for them,” Holton said.

Lon Weind, Director of Admissions Recruitment at Talledega College, described it as a win-win for students and for schools such as his – a small college of fewer than 800 students.

“They probably wouldn’t know all that we have to offer,” Weind said, adding that through recruitment fairs and programs such as the HBCU Caravan, “we have a lot of students from California.”

That’s what it’s all about, said Dr. Price, who founded the National College Resources Foundation to inspire students to attend college.

“I realized that many students were told they weren’t college material, so I said to myself, ‘What can I do about it?’” she said.