The talk was a part of the iBelong Male Mentoring Program gave attendees the chance to engage in conversations about issues impacting male students of color while receiving free haircuts from local licensed barbers.
The Center for Access and Success hosted the first annual iBelong Male Mentoring Program Barbershop Talk on Monday, Feb. 27 at the College Street Tap House. Attendees had a chance to engage in conversations about issues impacting male students of color while receiving free haircuts from local licensed barbers.
Barbershop talk is meant to engage the students but also encourage students to listen to one another and raise awareness from within the Elon community about issues working against male students of color.
iBelong Male Mentoring Program is funded by the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities (NCICU). The program provides funding to implement a strategy designed to increase persistence, retention and/or graduation rates of minority male students on campus through programmatic efforts to mentor, coach and make forums available for the students to explore various career opportunities.
Other participating colleges include Brevard College, Campbell University, Catawba College, Davidson College, Gardner-Webb University, Greensboro College, Guilford College, High Point University, Livingston College, North Carolina Wesleyan University and Queens University of Charlotte.
Local barbershops that participated in the event were Heads Up in Greensboro, the Greensboro campus of the Winston-Salem Barber School, Cutz Inc. Barbershop and Tapered Mental Barbershop.
Marcel Anderson, project director for the NCICU iBelong Male Mentoring Program, attended the event and encouraged students to prioritize their work and strive for excellence.
Rene Jackson at the Student Professional Development Center encouraged student connections with career advisors at SPCD. In addition, professional mentors Carlos Grooms, Michael Williams, Fredrick Evans were available to prompt conversations with participating students about career and professional, development, challenges and experiences.
For more information, visit the iBelong Male Mentoring Program webpage through the Center for Access and Success.