During Spring Break this month, the Educational Talent Search and Urban Options programs of the Southwest Youth Collaborative took a total of 68 youth from 14 separate high schools and alternative programs on college tours across the country, and did it in two separate trips!

The Urban Options Workforce Development program took a group that traveled on the historic black colleges & universities tour, giving students from Chicago's southwest side the opportunity to visit college campuses, speak with college students, and learn about struggles that people of color have overcome for a quality education. According to Maria Sarabia, the trip "created a sense of camaraderie and community amongst the students, where we held each other accountable to our actions and represented Chicago with pride."

Sites visited included: the Little Rock Central High School national historic site, Philander Smith College, University of Central Arkansas, University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, Tennessee State University, Fisk University and Lane College.

In the same week, 28 youth, mostly from Hubbard High School, participated in a college tour through SWYC's Educational Talent Search program that afforded them the opportunity to visit universities throughout Boston, New Jersey, and New York.

In addition to visiting the African National Burial Ground Museum and the Hispanic Society of America, the students participated in a community service project that involved aiding the bone marrow drive at Williams College. High School tudents from the previous year's college tour had been planning this project with Willams College students well in advance of the trip and upon seeing it through we're excited at the enthusiasm and energy everyone every brought to the cause.

Aside from college visits to 16 separate college and universities, the cultural and service-oriented projects brought a valuable added dimension of personal empowerment to the trips, something all SWYC programs aim to foster. Learning from stories of struggle and about cultural pride amongst people of color in particular, according to Sarabia, are "empowering for us in achieving goals not only in academic settings, but also within our personal lives and well-beings."

She added that "the college tours offered students the opportunity to step up and challenge the stereotypes that youth of color often carry when they go into different areas- they presented themselves as scholars and young people eager to learn."

College Tour Photos