Courtney Hicks is a prime example of what it means to immerse yourself in a higher education experience that is truly worthwhile, and her college journey is not even halfway complete. When not in class, this Communication major is a Charleston 40 tour guide, Student Ambassador, orientation intern, resident assistant, peer academic coach and a member of the Black Student Union (BSU). But with such immense involvement on campus, this sophomore noticed that one thing seemed to be missing at the College: an organization that truly embodied and celebrated diversity. In an effort to actively do something about this issue, Collegiate Curls was born!
Chelsea Anderson: What is the mission of Collegiate Curls?
Courtney Hicks: The mission of Collegiate Curls is to help multicultural students – male and female – be able to embrace their natural beauty; being able to embrace their skin color, their beautiful hair God gave them. Even if your hair is natural or chemically processed we will still accept you. It’s just for students to be able to feel comfortable in their own skin. When you’re not feeling comfortable about who you are on the inside it really does show and it has a direct impact on how you do perform in the classroom. So it is empowering and letting students know that they do have an environment where people do love and care about them outside of being apart of greek life or other organizations. It’s another window of opportunity for multicultural students.
CA: What was the process like of getting Collegiate Curls to be a recognized organization on campus?
CH: Over the summer I worked on different draft and proposals just to see how I wanted this club to be organized. As bad as it sounds, when you have a large group of multicultural people, you have to be very careful on how you show professionalism. So I wanted to make sure this was more than just students meeting to just do hair, but that we had an actual goal and things we wanted to achieve. This semester I submitted my proposal to Student Government Association, they looked over it, they gave me a date for my approval meeting – just to see if there was a need for this on campus. You had to bring at least 5 students to say that they want to be a part of your organization. This is when I really knew it was a big deal because I had 17 people show up! So I knew that there was actually a reason that God gave me this idea, to have this organization.
CA: What has been the student’s reaction to Collegiate Curls so far?
CH: The student reaction has been really crazy! I’ve had so many students come up to that are interested in it. I just put up executive board applications and I’ve gotten around to 20 people that want to apply for different positions. Even males have been really excited. I’ve had lots of people from Latino descent, and a few causation people. But it transcends race – anyone can have a better feeling about themselves. Anyone can want to walk into a classroom and feel better about who they are as a person and be more confident in themselves. So it’s nondiscriminatory. It will be more African American-centered and that will be the direct interaction. But we do not discriminate.
CA: What do you envision the future of Collegiate Curls to look like?
CH: My goal after this year is to get collegiate curls on multiple campuses – at public and private White institutions that are all around the United States. I’ve talked to a lot of students that go to different PWIs [predominantly White institutions] and a lot of them have that same issue of feeling as though they don’t belong if they’re not in Greek Life. Or that they don’t belong if they aren’t active in the BSU [Black Student Union] or NAACP [National Association for the Advancement of Colored People] that’s on their campus. So this right here is an organization that can unify students all over the spectrum – no matter who the person is, they have hair somewhere on their body. Also, I just wanted students to see “Oh there is an organization for pretty brown girls like me” and to feel a sense of belonging on campus. People always highlight the cheese club on campus. I want people to start highlighting Collegiate Curls!
All photos courtesy of Courtney Hicks.