CATONSVILLE, Md. — A home away from home.
The Male Student Success Initiative has a new center at CCBC Catonsville, the Suite of Achievement.
“We got everything,” says second-year student Idris Fofana. “We can bond and connect and make experiences with. So, at the end of the day we leave not only as guests, but we leave as family.”
MSSI provides academic and social support for male students of color. What started out as an initiative to retain African American males now includes students with Latino, Middle Eastern and Asian heritage.
More than 500 men are involved on the Catonsville and Essex campuses, like second-year student Jamaal Muhammad. He says he didn’t know what he wanted to do when he started college. Thanks to the MSSI program, he wants to go into nursing.
“All the mentors here constantly push us and motivate us and try to make sure that we do the best that we possibly can and make sure that we're reaching limits that we wouldn't usually reach without the support,” Muhammad says.
Seventy-four percent of MSSI students complete their education, compared to CCBC's overall completion rate of 55 percent.
“Honestly, I don't know if I'd still be in school without this program,” he says.
The former alumni house is outfitted with big screen TVs, gaming consoles, and comfy couches and chairs for hanging out. As well as rooms for studying and meeting.
“We laugh, we talk, we talk about life,” says Marcus Teah, first-year student. “We talk about classes, and everything we going through. It's honestly just a place to come and laugh and learn and be better.”
The program gives these young men a sense of connectedness and belonging. That's often hard to find on a community college campus.
“They often hang around until six, seven o'clock at night,” says Jeffrey Wright, associate director. “They form, kinda like, similar to a fraternity that would be a four-year college, they form friendships. And they're able to build through ideas.”
And now they have a home, here in this house and in this program.
