SAN BERNARDINO, CA—Cordell Hadnot first saw Edward Waters University while on a summer college tour that took him from San Bernardino to Florida, Alabama and Georgia. Three months later, the university’s answer came to him at Cajon High School: he was in!
Cordell, a San Gorgonio High School senior, learned of his acceptance at the September 22 U-CAN HBCU College Recruitment Fair, just two weeks after applying to the private university in Jacksonville. Edward Waters was just one stop on a three-state tour that introduced African American students in San Bernardino City Unified to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including Morehouse College and Tuskegee University.
“I went to Edward Waters in June, and I looked around and thought, this one. This is my school. It felt like home,” said Cordell, who plans to major in business. “Florida has always been a place I wanted to live in. I want to meet new people and have new experiences.”
Cordell was one of hundreds of seniors who came to Cajon High with transcripts and test scores in hand. Students from SBCUSD high schools moved between booths lined with college pennants and swag, stopping to talk with recruiters from more than two dozen HBCUs. Recruiters from schools including Tuskegee University and Howard University stayed busy as students asked questions, interviewed and explored where they might fit.
Pacific High School senior Camille Munerlyn, 17, had just finished an interview with a Dillard University recruiter when she teared up. The interview ended with an on-the-spot acceptance to Dillard. Camille will be the first in her family to attend college, and her successful interview brought years of late nights and hard work into focus.
“I got emotional because it shows that my hard work is paying off,” she said. “Staying up late and doing the work is going to take me far in life.”
For Cordell and Camille, the fair brought the answer they had hoped for, a college acceptance. Other students received scholarship offers and a few even received full-ride scholarship offers.
A Howard University recruiter described San Bernardino as one of California’s strongest sources of prospective college students, alongside Oakland and Los Angeles. She said Howard looks beyond grades to consider the whole student, even as admission remains competitive.
U-CAN fair organizers announced new college acceptance and scholarship awards over a PA system, punctuating conversations at college booths with another student’s good news. Again, one student’s hopes became a moment the whole room could savor.
The celebrations had a red carpet feel. Students posed in front of a U-CAN backdrop with acceptance certificates and oversized scholarship checks, giving each announcement its own photo moment.
One student held a check for a $20,000-per-year scholarship from Paine College in Georgia; another posed with a $20,000 award from Virginia State University. Nearby, two students smiled for a photo with their acceptance certificates from the University of the District of Columbia.
For many students, the fair turned a possibility into something tangible: an acceptance certificate, a scholarship offers or a clearer picture of where they might belong.
Cordell traveled across three states to find a campus that felt like home. At Cajon High, he learned that campus had a place for him, too.
