- [Narrator] On this episode of "Around Texas", a student designer from Prairie View A&M and a construction science instructor discuss a new museum exhibit that honors African American heritage with some unique furniture.

Also we visit the treeline campus at Prairie View A&M, which is thriving under the leadership of President Ruth Simmons.

With new buildings, new programs and a rapidly growing endowment, the future of Texas' first historically black university is looking brighter than ever.

All that and more on this episode of "Around Texas".

[smooth music] Everything is bigger in Texas.

The Texas A&M University System is no exception.

Bigger plans, bigger ideas.

We strive to make a bigger difference across the lone star state and around the world.

11 universities, eight state agencies, one mission.

Working every day to build a brighter tomorrow.

Meet the people striving to make a Texas size difference every day across the A&M System.

Welcome to "Around Texas" with Chancellor John Sharp.

- As part of a school project an architecture student at Prairie View A&M University designed several pieces of furniture that reflect the centuries long journey of African-Americans in this country and their African heritage.

Today we'll meet the student designer, the professor who inspired her and a board member of a local museum that is displaying the work.

[smooth piano music] - Sankofa, artistically they're stamps, symbols, and they're like parables.

So they all mean something.

There's power in the symbol.

In the beginning, furniture was not on the radar.

And I was like, it'd be kind of cool.

I wonder if we could kind of make furniture out of these.

So you're sitting on an historical symbol.

This project is so important because it's a collaboration between two schools.

Beause I want our students to know you are just as talented as the folks in the big school.

Right?

Let the student shine.

I just gave them a concept and they were able to run with it.

- Even being an architectural student, I didn't know that I'd be granted this opportunity.

So I was like, okay well, let me see if I can create different type of pieces that would relate to these parts.

- And going forward, you need to reach back and bring the good things from the past with you into the present.

Because the worst thing in the world is to get somewhere down the road and realize you didn't bring with you what you needed.

Making the museum that, we were able to transfer to the next generation, the things that were important to our generation.

- It's a beautiful feeling.

There's honestly no words to describe it.

It's symbolic to actual feelings.

It's symbolic to actual collaboration and understanding that people of all colors and races are meant to be together.

Are meant to work together.

And it's more than exciting.

It's obviously...

It's gorgeous.

It's beautiful.

It's beautiful.

[Alexis chuckles] [smooth music continue] [background chatter] - My name is Ann Johnson.

I am Assistant Professor of Art Practice at Priarie View A&M University.

School of Architecture, Department of Art.

We are the number one producer of minority architects in the country.

We have a great faculty here that tries to interact the students with community projects.

The project is called the Sankofa Furniture Project.

And Sankofa is an African Adinkra symbol.

Adinkra symbols originate in Ghana and they're created as parables.

And the Sankofa is one of the most popular and prominent symbols.

And it means remember your past or return and get it.

I teach African-American art history and I incorporate African Adinkra symbols in my lectures.

In 2019, I curated an exhibition at Texas A&M's gallery.

And through that partnership, there was a grant available with the Brazos Valley African-American Museum.

So, we had to come up with a concept and we ended up deciding on creating patio furniture.

So Alexis was one of my... Well, she was a student in the hallway at the time that I was talking about the project and she was interested and curious.

- The scope of the project is to make the museum more inviting to children as well as other families.

So, I took pieces of Adinkra symbols and which symbols would symbolize family, love, good health and love for children and then I came up with final designs of the furniture.

[smooth music continue] - Well, I think one of the things that is very, very important is to realize that there can be collaborations in a lot of different areas.

This museum, the collaborative effort of many, many people in the community and other places that gave and donated money to make this actually happen, opened to the public on July the 22nd in 2006.

I think it was outstanding that Priarie View was willing to collaborate with Texas A&M and us that we could have this exhibit.

Two talented departments with talented young people in it.

But what if those talented young people who may not share common experiences can come together and envision something and then make it happen?

- The first piece was beautiful and it was exactly how we wanted it to look, but it took up more than half of the budget.

So we ended up redesigning the furniture, she did, using oil barrels.

But there is such a rich Texas history with black oil field workers.

And there is this whole library of songs that they would sing out in the oil fields.

And we put those on the bottom.

So we were able to kind of unify that and it was a smooth pivot.

And it seemed like at the reception people really enjoyed the furniture.

When I said Alexis, we're out of money.

We're not gonna be able to use this material.

What do you think about oil barrels?

And within an hour she had four or five sketches because she can actually draw.

Which is kind of the lost art with students in technical fields.

And she's able to use the tools that she's learned in the School of Architecture and convert those into furniture design.

She just has a brilliant creative mind.

And so, it was just such a pleasure to work with her.

- It is a great honor to be a part of this project.

The location of the actual museum, it was a primary school for African African-American children during the time.

And then they ended up making a museum out of it, incorporating African-American art, sculptures and also just historical figures that have made a great influence.

- Stories can be told that didn't necessarily happen in your family, but you can grow from them.

And so that's what I love about the museum and the collaboration.

Because seeing Alexis, seeing a couple of the other students that were there, the ability that they had to just envision that, that can be in anyone.

Imagination, creativity, we all have it, but it just needs to be stimulated sometimes.

I love that because architecture is still art.

- I would hope that we have future collaborations together because we're all under the same system.

We're one big family.

Because sometimes there's a stigma, with the HBCU that this school is not as good or as talented as what's going on up the road and we are.

And they got to see that.

- For those who haven't been been at the museum for awhile, they need to see what was done by Alexis and the crew at Prairie View.

Only what's passed on becomes history.

And so whatever we're not talking about though it may be the past, if we're not talking about it, it's loss for our history.

And so that's what I think is so beautiful about the symbols is taking those things that should always remain a part of our culture.

- To see it done is a great thing.

Artists always have ideas, but to get them fabricated is a whole other story.

But the most special part for me is when I drive in Bryan, I'm going to say, my student did that.

I don't even have to be involved.

My student did that.

So that's all I could ask for.

- I hope that the kids and families that experience this project is just appreciation and love for the history from their culture and the history from Bryan.

Because it's a beautiful history and there's so much... there's been so much turmoil and so much strength that's come out of it.

These symbols are meant more than just furniture pieces, or just art for an exhibition.

There is no divide.

We're only creating our own divides.

So, just come in and eat at the table and just love each other.

- We're here with Alexis Adjorlolo.

She is the Prairie View A&M student that has designed the furniture that we've been talking about.

And everyone's raving about.

So Alexis, where this idea come from?

Give us a sense of where this came into your mind.

- It was already in the works for like the past two years.

And Ms. Johnson, one of the professors at the...

In the Art Department at Prairie View A&M, she brought me and a couple of other students in to the project and wanted our input and our designs to be showcased into the project.

And she gave us the precedent for the subject.

So Sankofa, which are symbols that were used in West Africa for either religious purposes or other symbolic purposes.

And I chose a few symbols that I felt really connected with the African-American community.

And it's diaspora and how the history of it kind of has been ingrained in American society and bringing that to the exhibition was something that I thought was important.

- Tell us something too about how you hooked up with the construction science department at Texas A&M and y'all collaborated together.

And... - I believe it was already between Ms. Johnson and that department and then connecting with the Dean of Architecture and the Assistant Dean...

Associate Dean of Architecture at Texas A&M.

And from there, it just grew into a wonderful collaboration between two of our schools.

- Something tells me that some folks watching this show are gonna go, hey, I want that for my house.

Do you have any plans to maybe start a business to... upon graduation or something, [both laugh] to make this furniture available to people that want it?

- Yeah, I mean, why not?

Because this is something I did enjoy a lot.

I didn't even know that this would be a field that I kind of would be brought into, furniture design.

I didn't think that was an option, honestly.

But, I'd be more than happy to make a... kind of like a business to connect with other artists that feel this passionate about African history.

- When did it pop in your head about furniture?

When did you get interested in furniture?

Was that something that you've always kind of talked about or thought about?

- Um, somewhat I know...

I mean, as a younger child, before I even came to university and decided to go into architecture, I did have some feel in to understanding like, oh, how can we make this more interesting because chairs they seemed a bit boring from where I was standing.

And so I'll be like, okay, let me try to draw this chair and see what funky thing I can do with it.

Add a little swirl here or something of the sort.

And I kind of forgot about it for awhile.

And then coming into here, I was like, oh, I could come back and play into that creative mind of mine and play with it and have fun with it.

- Designed by Alexis Adjorlolo.

- Yes.

So it's just... Yeah, it would be more personal to me because I'm also a student.

So I thought it was really interesting because in my perspective it's a unique experience and also a unique opportunity for me to showcase what young artists can do while in school.

- I think Ruth ought to put it in all the dorms.

[Alexis laughs] - I hope so.

I think that'd be really fun, especially in the community areas.

- Alexis, thank you for being here and we'll be right back.

[upbeat music] - [Announcer] Texas A&M Corpus Christi is a destination like no other.

As an Islander, you can immerse yourself in an educational environment, offering more than 80 areas of study.

Explore unique hands-on learning opportunities with award winning professors and choose from more than 150 clubs and organizations.

At Texas A&M Corpus Christi, you'll earn a degree designed to impact your life and the world around you.

Your island, your university.

[upbeat music continues] [smooth piano music] - When I was student body president of Texas A&M students petitioned the Board of Regents to increase spending at Prairie View A&M.

Now nearly 50 years later, I'm proud to show you just how the Board of Regents has done just that.

As we talk about the future of Texas' first historically black university with president Ruth Simmons.

[bright upbeat music] - The reason why we are all here today, for today is a historic day at Prairie View and celebrating a historic day like this is exactly most meaningful for our system.

And it's because we all rally around the vision that Prairie View will compete with the Ivys for top academic talent, faculty and research dollars.

And that Prairie View is recognized not only as the top HBCU in Texas, this institution continues to advance as a top university in Texas, period.

[bright upbeat music continues] - For us, this new building is like a symbol of continued growth and evolution for our students and for the College of Engineering.

So our new building overall will be a testament to the creed that Prairie View A&M University and the Roy G. Perry College of Engineering produce productive Panthers and produce productive Panther engineers.

- Having led institutions without the kind of assets available to us here in the system, I'm quick to tell people how fortunate we are to be able to rely on the A&M System.

They have launched engineering building projects at every campus that I've led.

But none of those buildings at Brown or at Smith, or even at Princeton was as pivotal as the one we set out today to erect here at Prairie View.

And that's because the intersection of the nation's needs in these times and what PV can produce uniquely well, is represented in this project.

So on behalf of the College of Engineering, our students and alumni and the community we have served unerringly since 1876, thank you.

Now let's get this show on the road.

[audience applauding] [bright upbeat music] [birds chirping] One thing is for certain as I often say here at Prairie View, we are extremely fortunate to be part of the A&M System.

[birds chirping] One of the great things about these buildings that have been erected on the campus is that there's a lot of forethought that goes into them.

Which means they are built for the whole campus.

They may pertain to a particular subject area, but in reality, we all use those buildings.

[smooth music] We have a trading floor.

Which is very exciting to me that we have students who are actually involved in stock trades.

Because there's lots of Bloomberg terminals there that they use.

[smooth music continue] Today, students have access to all kinds of things that prepare them for the work world.

And so, by the time they go into finance or they go on to Wall Street, they have all kinds of experience.

And then companies come in, then they give them internships and summer jobs and so on.

But why do they do it?

They do it because of the quality of our education and the quality of facilities that we offer.

[smooth piano music] - The Fabrication Center here at Prairie View A&M University, it's one of the state of the art facility.

It helps a lot with our students.

It sort of expands the potential of designs.

They're limited to what they can imagine.

[smooth piano music continues] - These facilities say a lot to our supporters, to our donors and to the business world about how important we are.

And that's why it's so vital to help us make this such a beautiful campus.

The process of designing a campus facility, it's a very all-inclusive process where you bring different stakeholders together.

You bring experts together.

And then you sit and plan the kinds of facilities you're going to have in that building that will be useful to the whole campus.

[smooth piano music continues] We have some extraordinary buildings that serve multiple functions.

In the case of the Rec Center, I mean, what's more important today on a college campus than students to be able to go into a recreation center and exercise?

[smooth piano music continues] - The Rec allows us to achieve many things other than just working out.

The facility itself is probably one of the best I've seen as far as HBCUs in the state of Texas compared to our counterparts.

One, it's big.

Two, it has a lot for us to utilize as students.

The additional funding is amazing to us because we're able to not only change our infrastructure, but also improve it and manage that we couldn't have done without some of the assistance of the Texas A&M System.

[smooth piano music] - The stadium.

What an asset that is.

We bring loads of high school students to campus to see the stadium and to participate in events there.

And of course I have to mention, we have a world-class marching band.

- A lot of support was generated to help us build these facilities.

Student athletes are looking and students in general are looking for great opportunities and venues of which to pursue their education.

We're committed to continuing to provide excellent opportunities for our students and student athletes.

[bright upbeat music] - Engineering is probably one of our most visible successful programs for Prairie View.

For a long time we've been producing engineers and we've come to have a reputation for graduating a very large number of African-American engineers.

Having a state of the art facility to provide a resource for the kinds of students that one gets today in engineering.

[bright upbeat music continues] This is going to provide that kind of space for innovation.

It's going to have first-class laboratories for our students.

We think of it as the next stage of engineering at Prairie View.

[bright upbeat music continues] I so respect the people who put these buildings together.

The forethought that goes into it.

[bright upbeat music continue] Those of us who work in universities have the best job ever.

We are at the birth of so many new things.

And more than that, we get to help young people find a way to do things that have never been done before and that will ultimately help the country, help their communities, help the state of Texas.

What could be better than that?

- Dr. Simmons, your historic fundraising efforts are transforming Prairie View.

What's been the key to that success?

- We're very fortunate to be singled out by donors and organizations for funding, but honestly it really is from telling our story as well as we can.

And I've been encouraging all of the units on campus to be aware that people don't just automatically know what you're doing.

So tell your story well.

And most of the good luck we've had with fundraising has occurred without our soliciting the funds.

- Tell us about the new academic programs.

Obviously Prairie View is growing.

You're adding academic programs.

Tell us about that.

- We're very excited about that as well.

We have a new master's degree in social work.

Which as you know, is such an important field right now with the social issues that we have.

We also have a new doctor of business administration, which focuses on the global economy, essentially.

We have some new proposals coming forward that the Regents will be looking at for a new program in African-American studies.

Which of course, was very important to me to get started.

We have a master's degree in natural resources.

You'll notice that most of these are areas that are in severe need right now.

And then of course also a bachelor's degree in public health.

- Tell us about faculty development.

You've done a lot of work in faculty development at Prairie View since you've been there.

- Well one of the things that you often say about Texas A&M is that there are these great faculty who are members of national academies.

So you understand that what makes the difference for universities is the quality of the faculty.

And so the first initiative that I organized when I got there was, we have to provide the resources to faculty for them to be outstanding researchers, outstanding scholars.

Because how are our students to become outstanding if they're not taught by outstanding people?

So, we quickly attracted funding from different places to help us provide resources to faculty to do that.

So that's what we're trying to do.

We're trying to increase the standards overall at the university, but especially in terms of those who are in the classroom offering instruction to our students.

- Tell us about the Prairie View's African-American studies initiative that you were talking about.

Tell us what's happening there.

- Yeah, it was odd really, that I know that I helped build Afro-American studies at Princeton.

I helped with Afro-American studies at Harvard.

I thought it was very odd to get to Prairie View and to say, there is no Afro-American studies at Prairie View.

But the kids at Harvard and Princeton and Michigan and everywhere else can study it.

So, I wanted to correct that.

And so we have now been working on developing this.

So far, 4,000 students have taken courses from faculty in this area.

We've been building it very slowly and we want it to be unique in a sense and deal with issues that affect Texans and the communities that we serve.

And so there is a proposal coming to the regions this year to approve it formally as a program.

And so I couldn't be more excited than that.

- Yeah.

Dr. Simmons, thank you very much.

And thank you for everything that you do for the A&M System in particular for Prairie View A&M University.

Just a wonderful institution.

- Thank you.

- [Narrator] The unique spirit and traditions that make Texas A&M University a place like no other are deeply rooted in the Corps of Cadets.

Established in 1876 along with the university, the Corps is the most visible part of Texas A&M's rich history.

These are their stories.

[crowd cheering] The Ross Volunteer Company is the oldest honor guard in the state of Texas.

Originally formed in 1887, the unit serves as the official honor guard of the Governor of Texas and is comprised of junior and senior cadets.

The Ross Volunteers ceremonial uniform is an all white dress uniform.

Company officers carry sabers and wear red sashes.

Throughout the year, the RVs perform it's silver taps and at the annual campus Muster ceremony held every April 21st.

In addition to appearances at parades and other ceremonial events across the state and nation.

The keepers of the spirit have many traditions and experiences that have shaped the Texas A&M legacy for over 145 years.

This is the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University.

- [Announcer] "Breaking Away", how the Texas A&M System changed the game, chronicles a decade of system milestones and the people who achieve them.

Available from major book retailers and the Texas A&M University Press.

[bright upbeat music]