Former Suggs Scholar Brian Hamilton recruits blacks to his alma mater

By Thanksgiving, Brian Hamilton, coordinator of culturally diverse recruitment programs at University of Missouri, will visit 52 high schools in St. Louis and Kansas City to recruit minority Mizzou students.

Hamilton, 24, graduated from Mizzou in 2010. When he tells his story about being an African-American male at Mizzou, it tends to calm parents’ anxiety about their children attending a “predominately white institution” (PWI).

“When I tell them that I was absolutely comfortable my four years here and I couldn’t see myself going to any other school,” he said, “they feel more at ease.”

But Hamilton remembers having anxieties as a high school senior. Hamilton graduated from Webster Groves High School in 2006 and received the Donald M. Suggs Scholarship, which includes a full four-year ride to University of Missouri–Columbia. He and his parents had some fears about him attending a PWI.

What fears? “Not really finding anyone to relate with or that looked like you,” he said. “Standing out in a class or in a crowd. My parents shared those anxieties. But I learned that happens sometimes, that’s life. Eventually, I got more comfortable with it, and I saw it as an opportunity to educate my peers as well.”

Hamilton’s story and experience are reaching parents and students. In the fall 2011 semester, the university had 538 African-American, first-time college students, which was a recruitment record for black students. And under Hamilton’s leadership, African-American freshman in fall 2012 rose by 23 percent to 662 students.

As a student himself, most of his personal fears were quieted when he attended the Clue N 2 Mizzou, an orientation event specifically geared towards African-American students from St. Louis and Kansas City. It was his first experience with the campus.

“The whole idea of the event is to make incoming African-Americans students feel more comfortable on campus,” he said. “You can talk with your academic department and meet with a student on campus. For me, it really did. I was a little more at ease, and that encouraged me to apply and do the same for other students.”

Immediately when he arrived at Mizzou, he applied to become a United Ambassador, a member of the university’s minority student recruitment team. He didn’t make the cut his first year, but he was persistent and applied again his sophomore year. He was accepted, and for three years he guided potential recruits as an ambassador.  

When he graduated in December 2010, he wasn’t sure what his next step would be, he said. Working at the front desk in the Office of Admissions as a senior, he found out about the open position for coordinator of culturally diverse recruitment programs. The coordinator also oversees the United Ambassadors, and when he was chosen for the post, he said it was the natural next step.

“I have been recruiting since before I graduated, and it’s nice to do that in a bigger capacity now,” he said.

Hamilton graduated with a bachelor’s in English, although he came in as a secondary-education major.  

“Wherever life takes me next,” he said, “I want to continue to work with minority students and in the realm of education.”