For Magnificent Male Weekend, the New Orleans HBCU recently welcomed 100 Black male high school students, out of nearly 500 applicants, to empower them and assist them in reaching their full potential, WDSU reports
.The weekend consisted of mentorship, networking opportunities, and workshops.
“This program allows the university to walk alongside these young men and their parents from their sophomore, junior, and senior years in high school to get them ready for not only coming to Xavier but going to any college,” said Curtis Wright, Xavier’s vice president of student affairs.
“There is some data point that’s like one in three African American men will find themselves interacting with the criminal justice system,” Wright continued. “We want to disrupt that school-to-prison pipeline.”
The participating students now have a few requirements to meet after the encouraging weekend. They must complete virtual sessions from September through May. However, those who do complete the sessions will get two amazing boosts: automatic admission to Xavier as well as a $5,000 scholarship.
Students like 17-year-old Kavon Strong
from Washington, D.C., said he really enjoyed the program, and it seemed like the message of preparing for a better future today hit the mark. “You can do anything you want to do in life,” Strong said. “Just be great at it.”The New Orleans-based school is doing some amazing things as it prepares for the incoming class of 2027.
Four of its students recently took first place in the Department of Homeland Security’s Invent2Prevent competition, a contest for students to develop innovative strategies to prevent targeted violence and terrorism in local communities, according
to OSV News. The Still We R.O.S.E. effort will work to educate people in New Orleans on the Black and Jewish history as Xavier is the only historically Black Catholic university.