When Darnell Davis Jr. arrived at the University of Akron from Pittsburgh in spring 2012, his confidence had been shaken by a failed experience at another college.
As is the case with an inordinate number of young black college students, he wondered if he would find his way back to a college campus.
Ultimately, after a year of searching, he found his way to Akron, where a mentoring program helps black male students such as Davis successfully transition from high school to college.
The success and failure of African-American college students, particularly young men, are often influenced by sometimes inescapable realities — financial hardship and a higher education system still burdened by the challenges of racial disparity.
To address these issues, the University of Akron’s African American Male Learning Community provides a student network that encourages black male students to be persistent in conquering the academic demands of college life.
The program, which started in 2011, selects up to 25 underclassmen to focus on leadership, responsibility and academic achievement.
The freshmen and sophomores get to know their classmates, establish relationships with their professors and receive personalized advising and mentoring from staff.
The students take two to four core classes together, including English composition and public speaking. They also use study tables for time management, which holds them accountable, especially among peers.
“I would tell my classmates that I expect to get an A in this class and I don’t expect any less from them,” Davis said. “And if ‘so-and-so’ is on Page 6 of their paper, I knew I had to step up my game if I was only on Page 2. We also learned how to act in specific settings, when to ‘dap’ [fist bump] and when to shake hands.”
The African American Male Learning Community is part of UA’s strategy to address racial disparities when it comes to student success.
The college graduation rate for black men nationwide is 33 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Black men represent 7.9 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds in the United States but only 2.8 percent of undergraduates at public flagship universities.
About 58 percent of black students fail to graduate from college, according to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.
At UA, 221 of 5,573 degrees awarded during the 2014-15 school year were earned by African-American males.
“When we look nationally, we understand who’s not graduating on our college campuses and it’s black males, so we’re trying to put an emphasis there, trying to improve those numbers,” said Lee Gill, the chief diversity officer in UA’s Multicultural Program. “We have all of these wrap-around services as well, such as peer mentoring. We don’t want our male youths to disappear, because when you disappear, you are forgotten. We want them to graduate.”
Davis said he left another college after several months because he didn’t feel like he belonged.
Afterward, he got a job at a call center, saved his money, bought a car and told himself, “I’m better than this.”
During his search for a college that would be a better fit, he found out about the African American Male Learning Community online and applied to UA.
The UA program helped him re-evaluate his life and change his major from pharmacy to political science.
Davis has succeeded in the classroom and university community, serving as a student representative on UA’s board of trustees. The 23-year-old is on track to graduate in May, with aspirations of becoming a college administrator.
“Learning doesn’t just happen in a classroom. Each person you encounter, every experience, negative or positive, you learn something,” Davis said. “College is a journey where you evolve into a professional. This program is a support system that helps you stay on the right path to reach your destination.”
Caring like family
Gill said the program provides a framework that makes the students realize they can do the work.
“When you are in a learning community, you’ve made those kinds of connections and relationships, you’ve studied together and have cried together and had challenges together, so there’s a brotherhood,” Gill said.
The participants know people are looking out for them.
“If you’re not showing up for classes or you’re not showing up for study table, people are calling you or knocking on your door,” he said. “We care like family. We are your parents away from home.”
Sophomore David Queen Jr., 19, has learned if he skips a class, the mentors will call him inquiring about his whereabouts before the class ends.
“I learned right away that skipping class is not an option, because you will hear about it.”
Another program participant, Chicago native Joseph Gogins, 21, joined the learning community while seeking other black males after his first semester at UA.
He decided to come to Akron as a way to get out of Chicago, away from hanging out with the wrong crowd.
“When I was a freshman, I didn’t see anyone like me in any of my classes and no one at the residence hall looked like me,” said Gogins, who is majoring in business information systems management. “I wanted to reach out to more black males. I didn’t even know where I could get a good haircut.”
In contrast, Travonte Cole, 22, of Columbus, was reluctant to join any organization as a freshman.
“I wanted to steer clear of being lumped together with one group,” he said. “I wanted to get the whole college-life experience.”
He said he got lured into the program by a $500 book scholarship, but he got far more out of the program than he expected.
He’s an inaugural member of the group and encourages others to join.
“It helped me get a better sense of self,” said Cole, a digital forensics major. “It made me feel more comfortable going to classes because I could be with people who were like-minded and had similar goals. The program evolved into a brotherhood for us. We became a family. It gave us a healthy balance between socializing and classroom interaction.”
Voice of experience
The university recently hired Fred Wright, former head of the Akron Urban League, to mentor students along with advisers. Wright also is helping the university recruit students from Akron Public Schools.
Wright has a six-month contract from January to June, capped at $48,000.
“It takes a certain degree of education to be successful,” said Wright, who grew up in Baltimore. “I have had both a street education and a college education. I have always been an advocate and mentor, especially to youth. … It does a lot to see somebody who looks like you and has the same experiences when they come on campus. Our minority students need role models that look like them.”
Marilyn Miller can be reached at 330-996-3098 or mmiller@thebeaconjournal.com.