SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — Seven Oak Park High School students started the day far earlier than sunrise, stepping out of Oak Park SUVs and into Cal Poly San Luis Obispo’s Chumash Auditorium just before 9 a.m., unsure of what to expect but ready for whatever the day held.

This visit was part of the United by Excellence Black Joy Celebration, Cal Poly’s annual event hosted by the Black Academic Excellence Center on Feb. 27 from 8:45 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eligible students were contacted by the College and Career Center, and interested students were able to  register through a Cal Poly provided link with parent and teacher approval. 

The free annual Black History Month celebration invites select high schools for a day full of events including admissions and college readiness preparation, “Learn by Doing” workshops, a campus tour led by current students, a Black History Month resource fair and live performances, all centered on honoring and supporting Black students.

Breakfast pastries and fruit were served during check-in as students gathered for a keynote address from Terrance Harris, a former alumnus and now vice president for Cal Poly’s strategic enrollment management and student affairs.

“We are here to celebrate Black excellence, Black joy, Black history, who you are today and who you are becoming,” Harris said. 

Harris highlighted that the day was purposefully centered on Black students, a tribute to both our presence and the potential we hold.

“You are living the dream today, you are living someone’s dream,” Harris said, emphasizing how  previous generations made the impossible possible.

His message instantly set the tone for the event. This is more than a field trip. It connects the past to the present and points toward our future, a central theme of Black History Month.

The OPHS group included juniors Skyler Cox, Luci Miller, Chrissy Berger and myself, Livana Anderson, along with sophomores Kylie McDonald, Kiera Ayivi and Cherish Anthonio. OPHS College and Career Center staff members Amanda Fitts and Ambyr Preston coordinated and chaperoned the trip.

At OPHS, Black students make up just 1.3% of the total enrollment. Being surrounded by other Black students from different schools created an immediate sense of belonging – every single student in that room had at least one thing in common.

Cox said she felt nervous arriving on campus.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Cox said. “I was kind of anxious because the drive was so far away.”

Those nerves did not last long.

“[All] the people were so kind,” Cox said. “It was so inclusive with all the activities, and everything that [the program] did. They really knew what they were doing.”

From 10 a.m. to noon, students toured campus including main areas, academic buildings and the recreation center before participating in the “Learn by Doing” workshops based on assigned groups. Cal Poly’s philosophy centers on hands-on education through projects, internships, research and sometimes studying abroad. At Cal Poly, experience is the curriculum, describing how the university uses the real-world as its classroom.  

During one workshop, Cox’s group visited a student-run print shop.

“They had a whole print room where they make stickers and other things,” Cox said. “I didn’t expect them to have it. It was like an actual business that the students ran [themselves].”

Lunch followed from a local barbecue restaurant, paired with live performances from the Xi Xi Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. and the Omicron Pi Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc., who performed traditional strolls. The Fortune School Marching Band and Majorettes filled the auditorium with music and dance, creating one of the most upbeat and energetic moments of the day. But beyond the performances, representation mattered most.

“Especially in the job field I want to go into, all the people that actually make it are older white men,” Cox said. “So sometimes when I see younger Black students, especially young black women actually doing great things, it makes it feel like I am going to be fine.”

After lunch, students attended a Cal Poly student panel, where undergraduates answered questions about finding community, majors, campus culture and life. From 1:45 to 2:45 p.m., participants selected breakout activities ranging from dance lessons and obstacle courses to graphic design workshops and a lecture by Dr. Denise Isom titled “The Unexpected Relationship Between Suffering and Joy: The Transformative Nature of Blackness.”

The lecture explored how struggle and resilience shape identity, strengthening the deeper message of the day: acknowledging history while using that to build forward.

College and Career Advisor Ambyr Preston said physically being on campus offers perspective that cannot be recreated online.

“You guys were actually there, walking the campus, getting the whole picture of what it might feel to be a real student there,” Preston said. “You can tell when you are on a campus if it feels like a fit for you.”

She added that she loved watching students engage with one another.

“My favorite part, besides just seeing the campus and all that it has to offer, was actually seeing you guys and all the other students, just really embracing the opportunity and being very interactive with everything that was going on,” Preston said. “I saw each of you actually trying to meet people from other schools.”

Preston acknowledged the trip overall seemed like a huge, memorable success. 

By midafternoon, students rotated through a resource fair featuring departments such as financial aid and on campus opportunities before gathering to head out. Our group made one final stop at the large “Cal Poly” sign for photos and briefly visited the campus store before beginning the three-hour drive home.

The opportunity made the idea of applying to college feel less hypothetical. It was no longer limited to websites and brochures but instead walls of the lecture rooms, in-person conversations and students who once sat in seats just like ours.

Cox said the experience led her to question her initial assumptions.

“It makes me feel hopeful. I always thought college was a really prestigious, expensive thing that you have to strive for, to work really hard to get into,” Cox said. “After seeing how chill it was and not only grade oriented. [As] they were talking about scholarships, activities outside of school, sports; it’s nice because it is not just about school.” 

The United by Excellence program did not guarantee future plans or admission letters. Yet, it guarantees perspective: exposure to higher education, to representation, to a community and to the opportunities available to Black students willing to put the work into pursuing them.

Black History Month is often recognized for looking back at what a whole race endured. But sitting in that auditorium felt like looking forward.

Throughout the morning, Harris reminded students that the celebration was intentional, centered on as a whole Black legacy: “who you are today and who you are becoming.” The message was not about exclusion, but about recognition. About honoring students whose families endured barriers many in the room will never have to face in the same way.

“You are living someone’s dream,” Harris said.

For many students in that room, their great-grandparents, grandparents and even parents may not have imagined a day like this where their children, would tour college campuses, speak directly with Black university leaders, leading organizations or running student businesses—not to just visit the campus, but to be invited, to be honored. A day focused entirely on students success and on their futures. 

Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” philosophy emphasizes that experience is the curriculum and that education and the real world are not separate. This reflects on a much bigger idea: access. In many ways, United by Excellence reflected that same idea: the past informs the present; the present builds the future.

Generations before endured much more than just discrimination and limitations: not long ago, Black Americans risked their lives for the basic right to read, write and learn. Still, they fought on because they believed and kept on believing that the next generations would have more. They stayed strong and resilient because they had to, using their sorrow and pain to create amazing and unfathomable ideas and things. Just because one person hoped and could imagine, now, younger generations do not have to fight the same battles in the same ways. 

We get a chance to step into what we worked for, opportunities made possible by resilience rooted in sacrifice, endurance and belief.

As we headed home from San Luis Obispo, tired from the long day and the even longer drive ahead, we had smiles on our faces, swag bags in hand, satisfied with what the day had become.

For one day, college did not feel distant.

It felt like something many before us had worked toward and something we now have the responsibility and privilege to carry forward. This is the exact opportunity that had been fought for. And for one day it felt possible, during one month dedicated to us and to remembering the past. The future couldn’t have felt even closer. And in many ways it is already ours.