Firsthand impressions

COLLEGE tours

NW/VIEW--Rev. Kelcey West talks about his oranization that provides African American youth on tour of black colleges at Missionary Baptist Church Wednesday Feb. 9, 2005. View photo Henry Vargas.

While most local high-schoolers may be spending their entire summers lounging around the pool in swimsuits or sitting in front of the television in their sweatpants, one group of Las Vegas teens, inspired by the Rev. Kelcey West, will pass the hottest part of the year dressed in business attire.

West will lead 50 to 100 local teens this July on his six-day Unity Through Knowledge Black College Tour around the southern United States, enforcing a strict dress code along the way.

"I tell the students that's how schools decide between who's serious and who's not serious," West said. "Also, they never know who they're going to meet -- university officials, professors. I once ran into Rosa Parks at the Atlanta airport in 1995."

West, an associate minister at Greater Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church and a donor recruiter for United Blood Services, has been using his vacation time to take teens on chaperoned tours of historically black colleges since 1994, after he formed the nonprofit 32nd Street Theater.

The theater group's initial purpose was to produce plays he had written. But West was always heavily involved in youth ministries through his church, and he saw a need to help introduce local teens to college.

"I saw many students in Las Vegas graduating and going to historically black colleges without ever having visited the campus," West said. "I saw a definite need in the community. I wanted to put a tour together so they could see the cities they would be living in."

West runs 32nd Street out of his northwest Las Vegas home and leads yearly tours during the Clark County School District's spring break. This year, because of popular demand, he's added a summer tour to Dillard, Xavier, Southern and Grambling State universities in Louisiana and Alcorn State and Jackson State universities in Mississippi.

"I took 102 students on tour to Atlanta last year," he said. "That was our biggest tour ever. It was an overwhelming experience."

West helps keep the cost of tours low for students and parents by working with airlines and hotels to get the best deals.

"We deliver what we promise," he said. "I tell hotels it's a business trip for these kids. It's a college prep experience. They're not going to have 50 teenagers running wild. We start at 5 a.m. each day and don't end until after midnight. It's long hours -- just like college."

The summer tour, scheduled for July 18-23, costs $700 per student, including air-fare, hotel, bus travel, tours and college prep seminars, plus a trip to Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans.

"How I keep the price low is beyond prayer," West said. "When we started, in 1994, the cost was $500. The cost of travel has increased a lot, but our price hasn't gone up that much."

Besides forming positive bonds with hotels and airlines, West said he also has developed good relationships with the schools he visits.

"We've gotten schools to waive their application fees because they fall in love with our students," he said. "They also provide scholarships to our students. They know they're serious."

West said his reward for spending so much time planning and leading tours is seeing pupils succeed.

"Many of these kids have never been out of Las Vegas," he said. "I get graduation announcements from students who still credit us with playing a role in their graduation from college. I save those things. I can't express what it feels like to know you helped someone attain their goals."

Donnell Thomas was one of those success stories. He went on West's tour in 1998 and 1999 while a student at Cheyenne High School.

"I wanted to see what else was out there," Thomas said. "Those two tours definitely broadened my horizons, to say the least. I saw how college life really was instead of just what I had heard."

Being involved in the tours helped him grow up, Thomas said.

"There comes a time in every young person's life that they have to leave home," he said.

Thomas went on to attend a junior college in California. He graduated from UNLV and now works as a warranty technician for Richmond American Homes. Although he chose not to attend a historically black college, Thomas said touring higher-learning institutions was still worthwhile.

"I recommend it to anybody, of any race, color or creed," he said. "It opened me up big time and helped me see what college was about before I even set foot on a campus. It was a real blessing."

In the future, West hopes to expand his tours to Ivy League schools. He also wants to start a tour geared toward Hispanic teens.

"It's not about black colleges. It's about motivating students to go to college," he said. "We really care about the success of students who participate."

For more information about the Unity Through Knowledge tour, call 656-9133 or visit www.32ndst.us.