The educator talks HBCU, inequality in schools, and what every Black student deserves to know
Earning a doctorate is a milestone for anyone. For Dr. Bryanna N. McClendon, it is the result of years spent demanding a seat at tables that were never set for her.
The educator, based in Tucson, recently earned her Doctor of Education from National University. Her academic path took her through Southern University at New Orleans, where she earned a bachelor of science in biology, and later to Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi for her master of science in fisheries and mariculture. Throughout that journey, she faced educators who tried to shrink what she was capable of. None of it stopped her.
What led you to pursue your doctorate in education?
What pursued me to pursue my doctorate in education is all the inequality I saw in schools, and all the inequality I’ve witnessed other people experience in schools. Unfortunately, unlike me, those other individuals didn’t have the will to continue, or the mindset of, I’ll prove you wrong. So I want to get in the classroom and start promoting that mindset so that we can get more Black people in this position, so it’s not as rare.
You first visited an HBCU on a college tour in sixth grade. What did it feel like to walk onto an HBCU campus for the first time and be surrounded by people who looked like you?
It was a culture shock in the best way. I don’t feel like I picked my jaw up off the floor the entire time. The only time I saw that many Black people were at a family reunion. So to see them all carrying books, sitting there studying, going in and out of classes that were harder than anything I’ve ever heard of, smiling. Or even just seeing that all the administration was Black also, it was just like, this is where I need to be. This is the positive light that I am missing.
You went on to attend Southern University at New Orleans. How did your HBCU experience shape who you became as a student and a professional?
It changed me in so many ways, in all the best ways. Southern University is a smaller campus, so I got the benefit of being at an HBCU surrounded by people of color with a smaller campus, so it was more of a family feel. I can go back to that campus today, and professors still know me by name, because it was easier to build connections, keep those connections, because we weren’t just numbers in a large lecture hall.
Throughout your educational journey, you’ve encountered inequality and people who tried to diminish your intellect. How did you hold on to yourself in those moments?
My strength came from as early as elementary school. Not to say that inequality was super evident. But it still was there, and seeing people that I knew I was on caliber with, educationally, get opportunities that I wasn’t provided, or opportunities that I had to fight for. Made me feel like I had to be more of my own advocate than others. I think more of my inequality came towards middle school, and then again in grad school.
There was a gifted education program that I watched my peers get offered. I requested to go test into that program. I passed the test! But it wasn’t something that was willingly offered towards me. The same dual enrollment classes that I was in, people were looking at me crazy as if I didn’t belong. But I passed the test just like everybody else. So, it made me see that I am not far different from anybody else, and I deserve those same opportunities. I’m just as smart.
You work in Tucson, a community where you’re often the only person of color in the room. What drives you to keep showing up?
What drove me to keep showing up, it might have been the culture shock. Just seeing people, and for lack of better words, uncomfortable. It’s just like, well, welcome to my world, where I am feeling comfortable everywhere. You feel uncomfortable because I’m in this gifted class, this AP class, this honors class. Or just the look of surprise when I’m making the same grades as you.
You chose education because you believe you can promote change for Black students. What does that change actually look like in practice for the students you serve?
Well, for one, just representation. Having another person of color as an instructor. It’s improved dramatically since I was a student, but there’s still room for change. Having another Black woman as a teacher. Just having someone to come to when the world is so against us. Even if it’s just to have a like-minded conversation. There’s someone that you can come to, talk to, because our students spend so much time in schools.
Do they want to just coast by or have something to excite them, or motivate them to want to continue? Because if we can’t keep our Black students through high school, how can we motivate them to go to college? If we can’t just keep them through primary school, how are they gonna continue on?
What would you want Black young students to know is possible for them, especially those navigating spaces where they feel they do not belong?
I would let them know that school is temporary. And that they are so much more capable than they give themselves credit, than others give themselves credit for. I would let them know that this is only one step to their full potential, or one step to their future. And to keep their mindset on their goal.
Because high school doesn’t last forever, college doesn’t last forever, even though it definitely feels like it. And there’s always another day to live. There’s always another day to try it again. Just let them know that they need it for life.
What is next for you? How do you plan to use this doctorate to keep pushing the work forward?
I am currently working on my substitute certification. I am choosing the substitute route so that I could get into several different schools in several different districts, so I can start making my impact sooner rather than later. Waiting for my full teaching certificate, even though I will get those eventually. The substitute teaching certificate is shorter, so I can get in the classroom sooner and spread my wealth of knowledge everywhere.