In Detroit, a city known for its resilience and vibrant spirit, one mom is revolutionizing the way young Black students experience college tours. Remeta Hicks-Montgomery, through her program The Kindred Collective, has transformed the traditional HBCU tour into a week-long celebration of Black history, culture, and higher education, infused with joy and a deep sense of care.
From Personal Memory to Purposeful Program
Hicks-Montgomery’s inspiration stems from her own high school college tours. While she loved the travel and the idea of college, she remembers feeling unprepared for the academic and financial realities. “I honestly think my family was just glad I was at a school like Cass [in Detroit] and going to graduate,” she recalls. This experience fueled her desire to create a program that offered not just a glimpse of HBCUs, but also the holistic support and confidence-building she once lacked.
The Kindred Collective was born from this vision: an HBCU tour designed for the next generation of first-generation students, prioritizing culture, care, and confidence. It’s about more than just visiting campuses; it’s about igniting a passion for learning and empowering students to see themselves thriving in these historic institutions.
A Holistic and Joyful Experience
In just seven days, The Kindred Collective guides students through 10 iconic HBCUs, including Howard, Hampton, Spelman, and FAMU. The itinerary includes comfortable travel, curated meals, and immersive campus experiences. But Hicks-Montgomery insists that logistics are secondary to the mission. “I never believed that any of these areas needed to be traded to provide a tour that was as much exciting as it was impactful.”
Her own past experience of running out of money and going hungry on a tour deeply influenced the program’s design. “One, making sure that meals were a part of the experience so that if a family had to scrape to send their student, like mine did, at least the student would eat twice a day,” she explains. Safety is also paramount, with a robust system including student headshots for chaperones and themed days to easily identify students.
Cultural Inheritance and Reclaiming Legacy
Hicks-Montgomery believes that centering Blackness and heritage doesn’t mean compromising on quality. She ensures students travel in safe, comfortable, and amenity-rich motorcoaches and stay in highly-rated hotels, rejecting the notion that Black excellence must be associated with struggle. “I believe that we deserve the best,” she states.
Her favorite aspect of the tours is visiting historical sites. “It is one thing to read about historical figures. It is another thing to walk in their footsteps.” She calls this concept “cultural inheritance” – the right and audacity for students to choose their path with purpose, a right ancestors fought and died for. It’s about reclaiming agency and expanding horizons beyond limited options.
Joy as Strategy, Detroit’s Pride
The spirit of Detroit – its grit, hustle, and pride – is woven into The Kindred Collective. To ensure accessibility, fundraising is integrated into the model, offsetting costs and training students in securing resources for their future. But at its core, the program is driven by joy.
“Joy shows up in laughter, in comfort, in new experiences, in inspiration, and in the freedom students experience with us,” Hicks-Montgomery says. “We believe joy is strategy and radical and resistance.” This philosophy underscores the belief that joy is not just a feeling but a powerful force that has carried Black communities through challenges and will continue to propel them forward.
What do you think about Remeta Hicks-Montgomery’s innovative approach to HBCU tours? Share your thoughts on cultural inheritance and Black joy in the comments below!
