DURHAM, N.C. – Senior student-athlete Tamina Kienka returned to the North Carolina Central University campus on September 22 from a three-day conference in the Nation’s Capital as part of the annual National Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Week Conference to begin his year-long term as an HBCU All-Star.
Kienka was one of 83 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to be selected to the 2015 HBCU All-Star Student Program out of than 450 applicants for their accomplishments in academics, leadership and civic engagement. The National HBCU Week conference that featured meeting U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan, influential African-American leaders and some actors kickoff a year-long campaign that will also include more national events, web chats and other exceptional opportunities to engage with other HBCU scholars and to showcase their individual and collective talent across the HBCU community.
“For me it was very exciting, obviously, because it means I am doing something right to be placed in a group of such amazing scholars, who are really trying to make a difference in their communities,” said Kienka.
Over the course of the year, the HBCU All-Stars will serve as ambassadors of the White House Initiative on HBCUs by providing outreach and communication with their fellow students about the value of education and the role of the Initiative as a networking resource. Through social media and their relationships with community-based organizations, the All-Stars will share promising and proven practices that support opportunities for all young people to achieve their educational and career potential.
“It also means a greater sense of responsibility being able to be given such leverage to have access to the influence the White House has and to use it to back my endeavors and my activities; programs and initiatives I have pushed for,” stated Kienka. “It means a greater sense of responsibility to give back to communities and to actually make a difference here at North Carolina Central being their student ambassador.”
After being selected as an HBCU All-Star by the U.S. Department of Education, Kienka’s already busy schedule became even more hectic this past week.
Kienka, who is scheduled to graduate from NCCU in December, just returned from the HBCU Tennis National Championships in College Park, Georgia, late Saturday evening before departing for the National HBCU Week conference in Washington early Sunday afternoon.
The 2015 Capital One Academic All-America honoree helped the Eagles place second in the HBCU Tennis National Championships to begin the week, advancing to the finals in both a singles and doubles bracket during the event.
Kienka – a biology (pre-med) and pharmaceutical science major at NCCU – then boarded the short flight to D.C. alone Sunday but found familiar faces on the plane in several NCCU employees, who he later found out were also making the trip to the Nation’s Capital to attend other events at the conference.
The annual HBCU Week Conference is planned under the leadership of the White House Initiative on HBCUs and with input from the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs and its conference sponsors. It provides a forum to exchange information and share innovations among and between institutions. Stakeholders, which include: federal agencies, private sector companies and philanthropic organizations provide an overview of successful engagements that if replicated could improve instruction, degree completion and the understanding of federal policies that shape and support higher education.
“The conference was focused on STEM, Entrepreneurship and Partnership along with the importance of HBCUs,” explained Kienka. “It shouldn’t even really be a question. The conference slowly shifted from why do we need HBCUs to what do we do without HBCUs. It was also for us and how we can leverages ourselves as HBCU All Stars and further the White House initiative and use social media to keep building our brand and things like that. Throughout the conference, we started to build a very strong support system across the nation and built up relationships with STEM representatives.”
Breakout sessions included building sustainable partnerships; framing new pathways to science, technology, engineering and mathematics; strengthening access and opportunity; removing gender barriers in STEM, responding to the needs of non-traditional students; and responding to issues of diversity and inclusion.
“The highlight of the trip for me was just interacting with the scholars,” said Kienka. “In my day-to-day activities, it is very easy to get overwhelmed and feel like your efforts are being wasted; the difference you are trying to make is going unnoticed; and so it is very easy to get tired to speak. It was great to go and see all these other students that are making equal or greater contributions to their communities. We’re all going through the struggle together and can support each other. That was amazing for me. It is great to have somebody in say Kentucky that I can text and to see all these individuals go through struggles and come out of it successfully was very motivational for me.”
Kienka plans to start medical school in the fall of 2017. Kienka will have a year and a half before starting medical school after graduating NCCU in December so he plans to pursue a research assistantship. Kienka has been offered a position at Yale University at a lab he used to work in but he also plans to spread his wings out and look at what other options are out there for him and hopefully get in a couple publications before starting medical school.
Kienka concluded, “It gives me a renewed sense of purpose. Yes, I graduate in December, but I will be an HBCU All Star for the year so I still expect to be making contributions to not only NCCU but whatever HBCU I find myself close to in the future. First, I want to make sure we still have the HBCU All Stars next year. Not too many people were even aware of the award and I want to make sure that information gets out, that we get more and more people applying, and that we get that influence and backing on this campus. I also just want to raise the intellectual climate of the university. I saw black men and women focused on not just getting degrees but inspiring to reach the greatest heights possible.”