Spartan News
NSU Students acccpeted into HBCU in L.A.
Second-year graduate student and media production major Braxton Harris is one of the five
Norfolk State University students that have been accepted into the HBCU in LA Internship Program this past spring semester.
With this acceptance bringing him one step closer to fulfilling his dreams, he spoke on the
process and his career in media.
Founded in 2017, HBCU in LA is a program centered on helping a select group of students from different HBCUs that are underrepresented in their desired industry with launching their career.
“It’s a massive networking cohort or fellowship and allows students from HBCUs to gain
opportunities for different companies that allow them to get internships and then possibly jobs,”Harris explained.
Harris has been working at WNSB Hot 91, campus radio station since his freshman year of undergrad in 2017.
Since then he has also done audio and visual production work with Mass Communications professor Lateef Gibson.
In the past, Harris had applied to internships and was denied. However, his goal of becoming an entrepreneur kept him motivated to apply for the competitive program.
“My plan is to own multiple radio stations and then move up from radio stations to TV and then my own festival.”
The HBCU in LA application required a resume, resume reel, and a personal statement. Then the final people that were chosen had to submit a two-minute video.
For Harris’s two-minute video,
he did a recreation of MTV’s Total Request Live. He discusses the creative process behind this.
“I was essentially speaking in third person. I was hosting a show where I found talent in Virginia and I was one of the people and we got to talk about what I’m interested in," Harris said.
"And why I believe that HBCU in LA is beneficial to me and what I can do to be a benefit to HBCU in LA,”Harris continued.
He notes that the application process was overwhelming for him personally.
“I’m sometimes wary of applying to things that are multiple-step processes with large groups of people from different places,”Harris said.
Harris also mentions that he once applied to a fellowship and was shocked and upset when he didn’t get in– making his acceptance into HBCU in LA an even bigger accomplishment for him.
“So to apply for this and get in, I’m grateful for the
opportunity.”
Harris highlighted his admiration for what HBCU in LA is doing for the black community and how it aligns with the mentality he has when he enters the workplace.
“I’ve been told no one will respect an HBCU degree, but that won’t diminish what my degree means to me and to that person who hires me, my mindset isn’t just to get a job. It’s to step into the door and then find out how I can own the room,” Harris said.
Braxton Harris Courtesy of wnsbonline.org
By Jillian Pippins
Courtesy of eicop.org
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