(ThyBlackMan.com) “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” William Butler Yeats
Students attending HBCU’s need to be engaged and participate in educational, social and leadership building experiences. It is important that students from freshmen to seniors understand the importance of Marketing themselves and having a strong personal Brand.
HBCU students must understand how to market their abilities, develop talents, build skills and achieve goals are planned strategies. HBCU seniors if they have not done so in their sophomore or junior years start entering the doors physically and digitally of academic and career counselors.
Requesting guidance in choosing the direction of their career options before graduation.
HBCU SWAG is not just style in clothes, footwear, hairstyles, or even language, SWAG is; being prepared to academically compete in a 
highly competitive and diverse world.
Branding skills should begin developing in the freshman year of college. Every studentshould build their self-confidence, their ability or talent this must be recognized, respected and developed. HBCU students and their parents will make decisions that have long lasting affects in their personal and professional lives; decisions have to be made, allowing for financial stability, professional growth and security that influences social and economic wellbeing.
There are many things to consider and understand as a developing adult and building a Brand that is transformative and a lifelong goal.
Marketing your Brand can be conducted in diverse ways:
1. Connecting with people of similar abilities and interests using Social Media and networking opportunities. Not just using social platforms like FB to party, HBCU students must participate in serious networking opportunities in sites like LINKEDIN.COM to connect and collaborate with professionals.
2. Avoiding people with personal dramas, negativity and rebellion for educational growth and social/professional conformity. This is not selling out, but adapting to the environment and scaling the ladders of corporate success.
3. Speaking with instructors and administrators for guidance and mentoring, receiving wisdom and common sense suggestions. The “real world” will not be kind nor forgiving like parents.
4. Volunteering in service to the community to create/share a positive personal Brand. Networking and volunteering have created careers where there were none.
5. Participating in activities that build academic strength, social skills, leadership abilities and cultural exposure. HBCU students need to know where they came from so they know their potential for greatness.
6. HBCU students need to attend conferences, seminars, workshops and other professional development. Learning does not just take place in the classroom so HBCU institutions should bring in more speakers and hold workshops on campus.
7. The diversity of the student body strengthens HBCU institutions because they allow entrance to and embrace faster other students of color and culture.
HBCU students need to understand that their academic and social lives are under digital scrutiny, people are watching their personal decisions, who they are associated with; “guilt by association” and alliances. Strategically placing themselves where they can network to increase their visibility with others of similar interests and goals.
Teaching Educational Technology, provides me the opportunity to share my experiences in Social Media, Digital Technologies and Branding and Marketing. HBCU students need to know the Why’s and How’s of Branding even if not business majors. The hope of this blog is to help HBCU students understand that their activities and associations do matter. How they Market and Brand themselves can earn scholarships, internships and start careers.
The criminal justice system is not a place HBCU students or students of color should be associated with, this association will ruin lives for years. Denying higher education, employment opportunities, and voting rights. There sometimes are no second chances when entering life. “To have once been a criminal is no disgrace. To remain a criminal is the disgrace.” Malcolm X HBCU student’s reputation is important so preserving it and keeping it “clean” is important.
In this world of paradigm changes, competitiveness and diversity HBCU students must leverage and utilize their greatest asset THEMSELVES!!!
Malcolm X stated simply, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”
Staff Writer; William D. Jackson
Find out more about this talented writer over at; OCS For Education.