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The energetic, clear sounds of bomba drums called the room to attention as window screens lowered to shield the audience from the bright blue sky and Manhattan skyline. Performers Cultura Lovers and the NJ Bomba Collective played and danced to welcome the assembled professionals, academics, scholars, and high schoolers.
âI came for the opportunity,â said Kash Shahzaman, a 17-year-old from Ewing High School in Ewing, NJ, near Trenton. âItâs good to go out and experience as much as we can. Thatâs why weâre all here to be honest.â
Shahzaman was joined by other high school students, all men of color from high schools across the state, most located in urban, low-income areas. Each young man volunteered to come to Montclair State University (MSU) on Friday, March 8 to attend the second Male Enrollment and Graduation Alliance (MEGA) symposium. They hoped to learn more about what attending MSU might look like for them, but they were also looking to find community and connection in their shared experiences.
MEGA is a workgroup at MSU that targets the recruitment and retention of Black and Latinx men to college. The theme of this yearâs symposium was âTriumph Over Trauma.â Its goal: to break down barriers around mental health, discuss what it means to be Black, Brown, and male in todayâs world, address and acknowledge the burdens young men carry, and discover best practices for how to best support students (and professionals) on their academic and healing journeys.
When Dr. Daniel Jean, assistant provost for special programs at MSU, took the stage, he immediately connected to the high schoolers by sharing his own backstory, revealing how his beginnings may be similar to theirs.
âMy family moved 12 times before I graduated high school. We were homeless, and I had to move in with family members. If you have experienced any level of housing insecurity, you are not alone,â said Jean. âI lost my father when I was 13, and several loved ones to COVID. I had a teacher tell me Iâd be dead before 25. If youâve ever been in the presence of so-called educators, you are not alone.â
While college enrollment numbers have been declining, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, fewer men are now enrolling. According to the Pew Research Center in December 2023, only 39% of male high school graduates enroll in college.
âWith the pandemic, we lost a large percentage of our minority males. Theyâre not even pursuingâor thinking about pursuingâpostsecondary education,â said Dr. Marcheta P. Evans, chancellor of Bloomfield College of MSU. âMy grandmother said, âOnce you get your education, no one can take it from you.â So, my mission in life is to go out and show some of these marginalized communities why they need to be present and pursue education.â
Before its July 2023 merger with MSU, Bloomfield College was one of two Primarily Black Institutions (PBIs) in the state. It was also a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). Fifty-two percent of Bloomfieldâs students were first generation, and the majority of Bloomfieldâs students came from Essex County in NJ, home to Newark. U.S. Census data shows the median household income for Newark in 2022 was $46,460, and just under 25% of Newarkâs population lives in poverty.
The pandemic caused a massive stop-out at Bloomfield, said Evans. In one semester, the already small, private school lost 300 students. But by merging with MSU, another HSI, Evans said she still gets to serve her students and be a visible role-model in programs like MEGA.
âAll these young men on campus, they need to be able to see themselves here, see others that look like them here, with similar stories,â said Evans. âRepresentation matters.â
Dr. Rahjaun Gordon, director of MSUâs NJ Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF), which offers financial and support services to students from economically and educationally challenged backgrounds, said this second symposium is purposefully mixing together students and professionals.
âThe college students can see the high school students, and they can impart wisdom. The professionals can see the issues the high school students and college students face, so we can change our practices to make sure theyâre best supported,â said Gordon. âI hope the scholars walk away with a lot of inspiration and motivation to carry on and persist to college, but also with tips to how theyâll overcome things related to their own mental health. Thatâs really what this conference is about, how they are overcoming mental health battles they donât even know they have.â
Psychologist and panelist Dr. Enmanuel Mercedes, founder of mental health company Your Wellness Space, said that one way to open the door to tough discussions regarding trauma can be to talk about oneâs own struggles.
âItâs why I tell people Iâm in therapy,â said Mercedes. âItâs not a humble brag, like, âOh, heâs enlightened.â No. My role is to be a model for individuals having difficulty. Even as a psychologist. It happens to all of us. You share your personal narrative, thatâs how you start cracking people open.â
Dr. Milton A. Fuentes, a professor in the Department of Psychology at MSU, said that a personâs wellbeing includes both physical and mental health. But, he said, not all faculty are equipped with the know-how to take on mental health in their classroom. Itâs why he wants âinstitutions to invest resources to prepare our faculty with the level of trauma our students are experiencing,â he said, trauma that has a name.
âThe messages, the practices, the oppression weâve been experiencing for decades,â said Fuentes. âItâs intergenerational trauma.â
Liann Herder can be reached at [email protected].