For the past three years, the University of Houston’s African American Studies (AAS) Department has held the Emerge Leadership Academy, which gives high school students a deep dive into college life and Black history, while equipping them for success today.
But the real magic of ELA is that participants emerge from the two-week intensive program empowered for future success.
Exposure to college and culture
“[ELA] is our way of exposing students to a college life through academic rigor and cultural experiences,” said Dr. Tara Green, chair of UH’s AAS Department.
Green taught the ELA’s “Introduction to African American Studies” course.
“Participants learned about leaders from early explorers into more contemporary times, and then they also focused on arts projects, as well as math and their writing skills.” Added Green. “It gives them a leg up on getting into college, which is very important at this time because we do want them to go and get a college degree, because we know that that will help them and their families in the long run.”
ELA is designed to provide rising high school juniors and seniors with leadership skills essential to their academic or professional endeavors, though sometimes students younger than the target demographic are admitted.
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Student testimony
Take Sean Myers, for instance, who will be a freshman at Houston ISD’s Lamar High School this fall.
Myers shared how ELA set him up for future success.
“The biggest impact this program had on me was helping me to find my voice and the importance of not letting anyone take that from you because you only have one voice, and you need to learn how to use it,” said Myers, sounding wise beyond his years.
ELA champions the importance of emotional intelligence, critical/strategic thinking, collaborative learning, and other ideals within leadership development. While ELA is for all students, it is specifically crafted with the historically underserved and underrepresented in mind.
Black History
To that end, program instructors ground participants in African American history, culture and perspectives.
Christopher Knight, the UH AAS Department’s program director and director of ELA, underscored the importance of the program’s approach.
“It’s important because with the K through 12 curriculum, especially in public schools, they’re not afforded the opportunity to learn certain historical facts, facts that have been changed,” said Knight. “We give ELA students an opportunity with the academic freedoms that we have at the university to go more in-depth in what to learn.”
Held on in UH’s main campus (3553 Cullen Boulevard, Houston, TX 77004), ELA centers around academic excellence, self-improvement, and leadership development while familiarizing students with the intricacies of college life.
Students attend classes that include (but are not limited to) college readiness, African American Studies, the Creative Arts, critical/strategic thinking and SAT Math Prep. University faculty members, African American Studies alumni and other community partners serve as instructors and mentors.
Future focus
This year, the focus was on celebrating the contributions of African Americans in the cultural arts. That said, instructors maintained their focus on preparing ELA participants for the future.
Anthony Suber, a professor of art at UH’s Kathrine McGovern School of Art and Painting, helped connect Black history with ELA participants’ futures.
“For me, because I taught the visual arts component, one of my main goals was to give the students a better understanding of why art is important, the cultural impact and the legacy that they come from in terms of the African diaspora,” said Suber. “And I want them to be able to go forward into the future with a firmer grasp of why we have to tell stories and be authentic in telling those stories.”
Dr. Margo Hickman, who led ELA’s fine arts class, was a high school theater teacher at Jack Yates High School for 14 years before I moved into higher education. She currently heads the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) Theater Education Program at UH and recruits for all five of UH’s BFA programs.
“My hope is that ELA students will step into their leadership roles as my age transitions out and enjoys life as retirees, and that these young men and women have been inspired to lead our race of people with pride and dignity and respect,” said Hickman.
Knight, too, envisions a bright future for ELA participants.
“My hope is that they learn that education is not only in the classroom, but they can learn outside of the classroom and be their own educators by going into some of the research institutions that we’ve visited over the past two weeks, such as the Gregory School of Houston, Freedmen’s Town, Project Row Houses, even our archives at UH,” shared Knight. “And I hope that they will actually look at becoming AAS majors with the hopes that they can use that major to go back into the same communities they came from and use that information to empower others.”
The 20-plus ELA students are selected from the Greater Houston Metropolitan Area, which includes school districts within Harris, Fort Bend, Brazoria, and Galveston counties.
In April, the UH AAS Department announced that ELA received a $10,000 Modern Language Association Pathways Step Grant supported by the Mellon Foundation.
