Building a Beautiful Legacy

Hollins’ Black Alumnae Will Help Black Students Thrive

By Karen Adams M.A. ’93, M.A. ’00, M.F.A. ’10

Over the past year, when so many things were ending or constricting, one wonderful thing was growing: Hollins’ Black Alumnae Chapter.

The chapter became more active during the pandemic, despite lockdowns and widespread isolation. It also gained new members through focused communication efforts.

The rebirth was the work of the chapter’s leadership team: Shaneka Bynum ’07, Krishna Davenport ’96, Kim Dokes ’06, and LaNita Jefferson ’07, all of whom had held leadership positions while they attended Hollins.

Davenport formed a Facebook page for the chapter several years ago, and last year Jefferson began to think about how to grow it. “We decided to get together to discuss how to help Black students really succeed at Hollins,” Jefferson said.

The chapter now has more than 200 members, with more than 140 new since early 2020. Besides the Facebook page, it also has an e-newsletter, created by Dokes.

The first step in growing the chapter was making connections. “We wanted to know what other Black alums were doing around the country,” Bynum added. The group held several online meetings via Zoom and promoted the Facebook page that Davenport had created. Dokes offered her editing and computer skills to start the quarterly e-newsletter, to supplement the Facebook page, and to reach members who are not on social media.

“We have tripled the number of engaged Black alumnae/i in well under two years,” said Suzy Mink ’74, vice president for external relations. “It is phenomenal, and we are so grateful for this exceptional level of growth from this creative grassroots effort.”

Jefferson, a sociology major who now works as a mental health therapist in Columbia, South Carolina, and her longtime friend Bynum began talking at the beginning of the pandemic lockdown about how they could connect with other Black alumnae/i.

“We asked what we could do to impact other Black women and how we could help them,” said Bynum, a women’s studies major who works as an administrative and training coordinator at Duke University’s school of medicine and is earning a master’s degree in higher education at UNC-Wilmington.

Those conversations led to a coordinated effort to create a Hollins University Black Alumnae (HUBA) scholarship to support Black Hollins students who accept internships requiring extra money that they or their families may not be able to provide — a reality that may cause them to decline those opportunities.

The scholarship idea arose while the four friends were discussing their own Hollins experiences. “We wanted to raise money for a student who identifies as Black and wants to study abroad or accept an internship but whose family would find it hard to pay for,” said Jefferson, who was not able to study abroad herself.

Some students cannot ask for additional funds from their families, Bynum explained, to cover the cost of traveling abroad for a semester or for the added expenses of an internship far from home, such as housing, transportation, work clothes, and other needs.

She recalled her own experience of wanting to study abroad and accept an internship far away but not being able to. “I grew up poverty-stricken, and I could not just ask my mom to help with the extra cost,” she said. “But I did learn how to advocate for myself while at Hollins.” She found a good on-campus internship that led to a job in alumnae/i relations.

As part of a generous gift from John Belk of $500,000 to the Hollins endowment in 2007, the Claudia Watkins Belk ’60 International Scholarship Fund was established. Intended to honor his wife and former Hollins trustee, the fund specifically aims to address similar financial concerns related to study abroad opportunities. The fund provides financial assistance to Hollins students who have demonstrated financial need for funds to meet their college expenses and who desire to participate in Hollins Abroad or in one of Hollins’ other international study and/or service learning programs.

Presently, however, money to address similar concerns for students with internship opportunities is an identified need that lacks sufficient funding, Mink noted. Even as certain alumnae/i do not intend to be regular donors to the annual Hollins Fund, they are increasingly motivated by a specific current need that connects them to their own past experiences.

After finalizing the HUBA scholarship idea, the group’s leadership team met with President Mary Dana Hinton to explain their purpose. Hinton offered her enthusiastic support.

The chapter announced an initial goal of $2,500 to support at least one student in need for the first year but quickly surpassed that goal and had raised over $4,000 by August 2021. The chapter also created special T-shirts and hoodies for sale, with proceeds going toward the scholarship. “This amount means we can possibly help two students this school year,” said Jefferson.

“When Hollins alumnae/i know of a need that is personal to them, a need that can help others in a similar situation, they work diligently to make giving a reality. There’s something incredibly rewarding and empowering to that experience for all of our alumnae/i,” said Hinton. “I’m grateful for the energy and passion our alumnae/i have brought to this effort, and I’m optimistic that we will see more and similar efforts like this from our alumnae/i in the years to come.”

Their mission is to help Black students succeed at Hollins, the four leaders said, because — even during hard times, past and present — Hollins has shaped their character and helped them grow.

Jefferson recalled a day in her second year at Hollins when she thought she would need to drop out due to a lack of funds, brought on because of her mother’s expensive medical bills at the time. The late sociology Professor William Nye saw her crying in a computer lab and sat with her.

“He talked to me for half an hour. He said I needed to stay and fight for myself, and he told me where to get help.” She did get assistance, including a work study job, and remained to complete her degree. Now a wife and mother of three as well as a therapist, she is also studying for her doctoral degree in counselor education at the University of South Carolina.

“His talk changed my life,” Jefferson said. “I would not be who I am today without that experience and without Hollins.”

Dokes, who majored in dance and German, lives in Fremont, California, with her husband and three children and is both a general manager for Bath and Body Works and a teacher of hip-hop dance. During the height of the pandemic, when her retail stores were closing, she was home on maternity leave and far from most of her Hollins classmates. Deeply affected by the Black Lives Matter movement and the divisive political climate, she reached out to the chapter.

“I was searching for a way to get involved and make a difference for our community,” she said. “We wanted to create something so that Black students can turn to this resource for help.”

Recalling her own challenges, she described how expensive it was for her to attend the prestigious Alvin Ailey dance program in New York one January Term. She stayed with a friend in New Jersey and took the daily train to Manhattan because she could not afford nearby housing.

Support for the scholarship has blossomed, but Dokes noted that support for each other has been just as important.

“I’m really grateful for these ladies, especially during a difficult time,” she said. “This has changed my life.”

Davenport, who majored in economics, has worked on Wall Street since graduation. She noted that as a student she was able to accept an internship in expensive New York because she was from Brooklyn and could live at home. She recently formed her own trading and consulting company, which focuses on helping Black women, especially mothers, understand the stock market.

“I want to help all women, but it’s especially important for Black women, who don’t often get the financial information they need,” said Davenport, a mother of two herself.

Her experience in a male-dominated field taught her many things, one of which was that women need to support each other. She finds it remarkable that during the pandemic, a time when so many women were isolated, the chapter was able to make new and stronger connections.

“It was the pandemic that got us together, and it was the pandemic and President Hinton that helped us make this scholarship a reality,” she said. “Our work is being recognized.”

Hinton has made diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) a key and ongoing priority at Hollins, and noted that the increased connection with and between Black alumnae/i is part of the efforts.

Nakeshia Williams, who began her role as vice president for DEI at Hollins in July, sees the long-term on-campus goals of this work as inextricably linked to building stronger bonds between the university and its alumnae/i of color.

“HUBA is actively working with us to establish a legacy of learning and becoming something better and greater for young women of color at Hollins,” Williams said. “Together we are creating meaningful pathways for our students to start practicing the power of their voices so that our next generation can lead and deliberately foster change within their communities and beyond.”

Davenport noted the full-circle feeling of creating a scholarship that grew from the needs she and the others had while students at Hollins. “We are using our voices as catalysts for change,” she said. “It’s a beautiful legacy.”

Karen Adams (M.A. English/creative writing ’93, M.A. ’00 and M.F.A. ’10 children’s literature) is a local writer and teacher.

Interested alumnae/i are invited to consider purchasing a sweatshirt or T-shirt, with profits from the sale going to support the Hollins University Black Alumnae/i Scholarship dedicated to Mary “Miss Emma” Bruce and Hazel Lawson, two women who provided significant years of service to the Hollins community. This HUBA scholarship will be utilized by a student who identifies as a part of the African Diaspora and who seeks additional financial support for pursuing an internship.

BOTH STYLES HAVE THREE DATES THAT SIGNIFY THE FOLLOWING:
1842—First enslaved
1966—First Black student enrolled
2020—First Black president of Hollins
T-shirts ($25-$27) and hoodies ($51-$56) can be purchased through the Hollins Store (hollinsbookstore.com). Prices vary depending on size.

If you are interested in more information about the scholarship and/or joining the Facebook group, please contact the alumnae relations office at alumnae@hollins.edu.