When it comes to college and career readiness, do you teach your students and staff about HBCUs? I've always found this to be a great way to "marry" Black History Month with my role as a school counselor! Check out some of my Instagram reels on HBCUs https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFtPlKDxuQa/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==. An HBCU is a Historically Black College or University. An HBCU is any college or university founded before 1964 with the ORIGINAL mission of educating Black students at a time when many colleges in the United States would not allow them to enroll. They became places of opportunity, leadership, culture, and community when higher education was largely inaccessible. Today, HBCUs serve students of all races (they're HISTORICALLY black, NOT exclusively black :-) and backgrounds while continuing to honor their history and traditions. There's so much more history to it than that, but thats basically it in a nutshell. Some of our favorite celebs who attended HBCUs are.....Oprah Winfrey, Thurgood Marshall, Kamala Harris, 2 Chainz (who knew?!) Samuel L Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Martin Luther King Jr., Lionel Richie, Keisha Knight Pulliam (Rudy from The Cosby Show!). Couple fun facts: My DAD went to Virginia State University with Uncle Phil! Yes, from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Uncle Phil didn't finish his education there, but he's a product of an HBCU. And oh yeah! Another fun fact, (my soon to be second husband) Matthew Mcconaughey has been pretty vocal over the years about his desire to attend an HBCU when he was a youngin. Yep, he wanted nothing more than to go to Grambling University! That of course, didn't work out for him, but the impact of the HBCU clearly transcends all of our experiences. If you want to tackle the task of educating your school, students, and staff about HBCUs, check out these lessons, bulletin boards, and activities!