Dear Future Fiskite

Dear Future Fiskite,

Congratulations on your acceptance to the Fisk University class of 2022!

I was accepted into Fisk in 2006. The decision wasn’t easy, but it was right for me, especially given my high school experience.

I was born and raised in Orlando, Florida, in a home with great respect for Blackness. Many of my family and friends are HBCU alumni, but I spent my time in my high school classrooms like many middle class Black kids: alone.

Overall, my high school was very diverse, but there were few Black students in my Honors classes and even fewer in Advanced Placement classes. My peers’ reactions to my decision to attend an HBCU made it clear they did not share my respect for Blackness. Even as a high school student, something in me knew that Blackness was something to be celebrated, studied, and honored. Fisk affirmed this. My classmates were brilliant. Our professors were challenging- but caring.

At Fisk, you will never be “the Black kid”. The campus is small, so you will meet and learn to love so many brilliant people from different places and backgrounds. Don’t let anyone convince you HBCUs aren’t diverse. Stacy-Ann, my freshman year roommate, is Jamaican- we crossed Delta Sigma Theta together in 2009. Six of our other line sisters are from Jamaica, and four have parents from different African countries (Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia). We range from first generation college graduates to fourth generation college graduates. We are from New York, California, and plenty of states in between. My time at Fisk with my friends and sisters is a representation of the beautiful diversity of the Black diaspora.

My time at Fisk helped me understand my high school experience as a microcosm of the macro issues of systemic racism and privilege. That knowledge continues to impact me personally and professionally: Fisk became one of my greatest loves, and HBCUs became my passion. After graduating from Fisk, I earned a Masters in Philanthropic Studies and studied how white philanthropists impacted the founding of HBCUs.

After working for a few years, I’m now earning a PhD in Higher Education Leadership. Since my freshman year at Fisk, I’ve completed nine internships and assistantships at organizations ranging from a Fortune 100 corporation, a billion dollar foundation, and large and small nonprofits in New York, Atlanta, and Indianapolis. In each of these roles, I’ve applied the management, communication, and organization skills I learned from my Business Administration and Management courses at Fisk. My dissertation focuses on finance, policy, and board leadership- concepts I was introduced to firsthand when I sat on the Fisk University board of trustees as SGA Vice President my senior year. If you choose Fisk, I hope you will also be able to have amazing opportunities like these.

Each of the experiences I’ve shared with you helped shape me into the person I am today. I am a woman raised in a home grounded in love and respect for Blackness, its excellence, and its beauty. I am a graduate of a university grounded in respect for Blackness, its scholarship, and its history. I am a scholar who teaches respect for Blackness, its people, and its institutions. I am an advocate who promotes respect for Blackness, its diversity, and its future.

You are that future. Whatever your intended major and career, if you are a young person with similar sentiments or goals, then you are the future of Fisk University.

Welcome home.

Kayla C. Elliott c/o 2010