Shomair Dawkins, 17, a senior at Hempstead High School, with his aunt, Stephaney Holm, at home in Hempstead. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost

By Oliva Winslow

Shomair Dawkins, a 17-year-old Hempstead High School senior, is looking forward to a weeklong tour of 12 historically Black colleges and universities, colloquially known as HBCUs, beginning Saturday.

“I want to be the first person [in his family] to go to college and graduate.” And the tour, he added, might help him find the college “that is right for me on my journey to success.

“Mills said the roster was still being finalized, but he expected 80 to 82 students to make the trip. They come from across Long Island, from Hempstead to Bridgehampton, all five boroughs of New York City, as well as Westchester and upstate Orange County. Out-of-state students include those from New Jersey, Maryland, Florida and Indiana.

One of those out-of-state students going on the college tour is Cameron Morgan, of Indianapolis.

The 16-year-old high school junior said in a phone interview that he’s following in the footsteps of relatives who have taken this college tour. “A lot of people in my family went on this trip, and they told me … it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that I should try and take advantage of the trip,” he said.

“I really want to see more,” Morgan said, noting he’s only seen colleges in his home state and is looking forward to seeing “more options.” He added, “I really want to be able to go out and experience as much as I can.”

His mother, Andrya Peters, was excited for this opportunity for her son, noting it has been a tradition going back years for high schoolers in her family to go on this tour, spurred by a cousin who lives on Long Island and is an Alpha. Alpha Phi Alpha is the oldest intercollegiate historically African American fraternity, founded in 1906.

“In Indiana, we do not have that diversity in colleges. We just don’t have that cultural experience here,” Peters said. Her son, who is in a marching band at Ben Davis High School, “has never seen an HBCU marching band,” Peters said. “I can’t wait for him to see other Black excellence.”

Soraya Desrosiers, 17, is a senior at Westbury High School. She’s enthused about the tour but a bit apprehensive.

“I’ve never gone on a college trip before. I want to experience college life. I’m also nervous,” she said. And she wondered, “I don’t know how it will feel being surrounded by a large group of people.”

But, she said, “I’m excited to meet them and make connections.”

Derek White is a member of the ETL chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., which is launching its 43rd College Tour of HBCUs, departing Saturday from Hempstead. Credit: Rick Kopstein

Mills said people from out of state hear about the tour through the fraternity’s social media posts, as well as from others who have taken tours.

Peters said a cousin by marriage, Julian Goodman, who is a member of the ETL chapter of the fraternity and among the tour’s 25 chaperones, keeps the family informed. In addition to her son, her nephew, Aaron Beasley, 16, will be going. Both teens are scheduled to fly to New York on Friday to be ready to board the buses early Saturday in Hempstead.

There is much preparation involved, including “College Tour Success Workshops,” over the past month held at Hofstra University, for the students, and a few for their parents, covering areas such as college life, study habits and financial literacy, organizers said. The students are required to get permission from their schools to go on the tour, and to get their homework assignments.

Then there’s logistic planning. White, who has been a tour chaperone for 20-plus years, leads what they call the Pace Car Team.

“The Pace Car Team is me and two other members,” said White, who is financial secretary of the fraternity’s ETL Education Foundation. “We rent an SUV and our job is to stay out in front of the buses,” arriving at the hotels two to three hours before the buses. He said they coordinate with hotel security and local off-duty police to go over a safety plan.