THE CHOICE II: How one student found an HBCU with a little help from her parents

Kourtney George, a 2011 graduate of Woodward Academy, faced difficult choices when it came time to pick a college.

Credit: Nedra Rhone

Credit: Nedra Rhone

Kourtney George, a 2011 graduate of Woodward Academy, faced difficult choices when it came time to pick a college.

Before she was #Hurtbae, Kourtney George was a high school senior trying to navigate her college choices.

A 2011 graduate of Woodward Academy, George’s Louisiana ties ran deep as both of her parents had gone to Southern University in Baton Rouge.

»MORE: The story behind the Atlanta native known as #Hurtbae

So she was headed to Louisiana State University – at least she thought she was.

“We value education, not just what’s learned in books and classrooms but the knowledge gained from the entire college experience,” said George’s mother Marci Chapman McKenna, a 1991 graduate of Southern.

“Nothing beats the experience of a HBCU and we wanted our daughter to have it. Lifelong friends, faculty and staff who know her as a person and not a number, pride of belonging and the pride of ownership. We know that HBCUs are ours.”

For college-bound African-Americans like George, choosing between a historically black college and a predominantly white one has become more complicated with each passing year.

As part of our continuing series on HBCUs, read about how George and her parents came together to make difficult decisions on where she would go to college. And what that means.

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