July 12, 2025
Spelman and Morehouse alums, Reagan Fresnel and Brian Wright, are introducing college students to higher-ed via “Camp HBCYouth.”
HBCU alums are giving Atlanta campers an early style of school life at an HBCU-led summer time camp, Capital B Atlanta reported.
Camp HBCYouth was designed to spark curiosity in traditionally Black faculties and improve educational abilities. This system gives reasonably priced entry and “camperships” for underserved households, mentioned Reagan Fresnel, founder and Spelman alum.
Fresnel recalled attending a summer time program at Morgan State and eager to convey that have house. Together with Morehouse alum Brian Wright, that’s precisely what she did.
“Solely 5% of Black kids attend summer time camp, so we’re carving out area for our college students,” Fresnel mentioned to Capital B Atlanta.
She described the camp as a pipeline into HBCUs. HBCYouth strives to instill faculty values like legacy, group, and excellence in college students early in life. To that finish, the camp at present serves elementary faculty college students.
Camp counselors are present HBCU college students or graduates. At a July 3 discipline day held at Morehouse’s soccer stadium, campers took half in tug-of-war, water video games, and soccer coaching led by NFL cornerback A.J. Terrell Jr. of the Falcons, sponsored by his basis.
On the West Finish Spelman campus on July 9, elementary-aged women painted a mural below the steering of HBCU college students. The camp integrates STEAM, Black historical past, wellness, sports activities, and educational enrichment aimed toward stopping summer time studying loss. Campers obtained classes in budgeting, literacy, and tennis classes licensed via a partnership with the USTA. Every website serves 60 to 70 kids, and organizers say almost 1,000 college students have participated for the reason that program started.
Lauren Reed, Camp HBCYouth’s director of promoting, mentioned that hiring HBCU college students offers youthful campers with mentors who appear like them and replicate faculty success.
“We would like them to see folks they’ll look as much as,” she mentioned. Spelman senior Skylar Sanford, working as a counselor, mentioned she noticed her function as mentorship and sharing pleasure.
Supported partially by Walmart and Amazon Entry, Camp HBCYouth additionally gives meals to fight meals insecurity and maintains a tuition of round $250 per week. Fresnel mentioned the founders are exploring enlargement to all HBCUs, extending programming from elementary to highschool age to construct a sustained pathway into faculty.
Based in 2021 by Spelman alums Fresnel and Wright, Camp HBCYouth gives a seven-week day camp on 4 HBCU campuses—Spelman, Morehouse, Tennessee State, and Clark Atlanta.
Atlanta’s strong HBCU presence—pushed by the Atlanta College Middle, the nation’s largest HBCU consortium—offers a wealthy cultural backdrop for this initiative . Camp HBCYouth goals to bolster that legacy and guarantee Black youth have early publicity to environments that replicate their potential and aspirations.
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