Key points

Mentors and champions provide sunlight to help opportunities grow and expand.

Speaking up in class plants seeds of visibility and engagement with professors.

Extracurriculars are fertile ground where joy, leadership, and culture can flourish.

Blooming at a PWI requires strong roots in strategy, self-advocacy, and support.

When you step onto the campus of a predominantly white institution (PWI) as a Black student, you might feel like you’re entering a world where you have to balance who you are with where you are. That balance can be exhausting, but it doesn’t have to hold you back from blooming.

I know this from both sides of the classroom—first as a student, now as a professor. I did my undergraduate studies at Georgia State University when it was still very much a PWI. W

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