CNN news 2012-02-28 加文本

cnn news 2012-02-28

TINKER: And, of course, the term HBCU refers to schools that were founded before 1964, explicitly for African-American students. Today, there are around 100 historically black colleges and universities in the U.S. And as part of our continuing coverage of Black History Month, we talked with some students at Morehouse and Spelman Colleges right here in Atlanta, about their experiences attending HBCUs.

REGINALD SHARPE, JR., MOREHOUSE COLLEGE JUNIOR: The reason I wanted to come to Morehouse is because I heard about so many of its alumni. The first black mayor of Atlanta, Maynard Jackson, went here. Spike Lee and so many others went here.

Martin Luther King Jr. went here, and the list goes on and on and on, and I said, well, if those men made it here, I want to be here, and I wanted to have the opportunity to learn what they learned and walk where they walked.

Every day, there are moments when I just have to -- I walk outside and look at the statues. There are statues of Martin Luther King Jr., Benjamin E. Mays (ph) around the campus. There are certain spots on this campus, like Sale Hall, where different leaders actually sat. They used to have graduations there.

And I`ll just walk in there and just breathe the air, because it`s just -- there`s a sense of belonging that I sense here.

GABRIELLE HORTON, SPELMAN COLLEGE SENIOR: An HBCU is really an environment that cultivates and nurtures the young minds of African- American men and women, although, you know, it`s a very multicultural environment.

I think you get to see people from different walks of life in terms of diverse socioeconomic experiences, but I don`t think I was ever exposed to, throughout any my years of schooling, and I think this international mindset I`ve kind of kept in mind, you know, this going global theme is -- permeates throughout Spelman`s culture.

JARRAD MANDEVILLE-LAWSON, MOREHOUSE COLLEGE JUNIOR: I feel like Morehouse is built on the fact that all the students here are accountable for their brothers. We`re not going to let one fall behind or fall below. We`re going to constantly have our brothers` back and uplift them.

I heard Oprah say when you empower men of Morehouse, you empower the world, and I thought that was just the -- that was so moving, and I wanted to be a part of it. Morehouse gives you different characteristics so you can surround yourself with different people that help empower your identify, empower your inner man.

KIRSTIN EVANS, SPELMAN COLLEGE JUNIOR: I did grow up in a majority white environment in Malta (ph), New Jersey, and I didn`t have many black friends there. So when I came here and I was surrounded by African- American women that were driven, I really connected with my identify.

When I was a freshman, I was very shy. Spelman has allowed me to grow and to be more forward and have the ability to talk to anyone. Just the opportunity that Spelman has given me -- and I call my parents and tell them stories, and they`re just like, wow, Kirstin, you do belong at Spelman.

SHARPE: And sometimes when I am discouraged and classes are getting rough, I will literally just walk slowly through these walls and listen to the voices. And I hear them saying, "If I made it, you can make it."

TINKER: And sometimes we like to feature cute animals in our "Before We Go" segment.

TINKER (voice-over): But, man, that is one ugly looking dog. Luckily, it looks perfect for a baby aardvark. This little guy is the newest arrival at a zoo in Illinois. He`s only about 40 days old, so he doesn`t have a name yet. The zoo, for now, is just calling him "It."

Officials made sure to point out that "It" is an aardvark, not an anteater --

TINKER: -- although when they described how he was feeling, they said he was strong, but a little bit antsy. You know, it`s "aard" to come up with puns sometimes, so we "burrowed" that one from the zoo. Hope they don`t mind.

And before we take off, as we promised, we want to mention that the students at Daniel Wright (ph) Junior High School in Illinois, one of you guys got the answer to our social media question right. That`s going to wrap things up for us. Enjoy your weekend, everybody. For cnn Student News, I`m Ben Tinker.