D’Andre Brown Jr., a dedicated student at Edison High School, actively engaged in a community initiative by organizing a fundraiser to support his dream of attending a historically Black College while also showcasing his commitment to inspiring others through his passion for dance.
On Nov. 24, 2025, mentors like Roger Brown from local nonprofit Breath of Evolution and family members rallied together to support D’Andre in hosting a dance-a-thon to raise funds for an HBCU college tour. HBCUs, or Historically Black Colleges & Universities, are institutions that foster academic success and educational equity, which produce a significant percentage of Black professionals and leaders.
“I grew up watching HBCUs in the movies. I grew up thinking about going to an HBCU because my grandfather and grandmother always talked to me about it. And once I was in school, I learned more about them by being in AP African American Studies. I learned more about Black colleges and what they can do for Black people, and I’ve been interested ever since,” D’Andre said.
D’Andre has another passion he grew up with: dance. To D’Andre, dance is everything – he considers it his lifeline. He remembers when it first made him happy, when he was watching his cousins perform and feeling their joy. He fell in love with dance and found his own happiness in it.
D’Andre said he started dancing at the age of six or seven, and remembered starting in church when he went with his grandfather. He then enrolled in the dance academy called Purpose to Praise. After that, he formed his own dance group called Drip Squad.
Drip Squad started out practicing mostly outside where D’Andre lived, in what he said is considered an undesirable neighborhood. His mentor, Roger Brown, or Syrup as the community calls him, saw this and helped D’Andre and his group find a safer space to do what they loved and continued to move them toward better opportunities.
“I have to think of creative ways to help my youth get to college. By D’Andre being my mentee, I called and told him I had a perfect way of raising money,” Brown said.
Like many youth in Fresno, especially in Southwest Fresno, D’Andre is in survival mode, according to Brown. He said that going to college liberates youth from other things they shouldn’t have to worry about at a young age.
By going to college, Brown believes that D’Andre will have a chance to really focus on school and become a better version of himself.
Today, D’Andre is the choreographer for Saint Rest Baptist Church and is also part of many other organizations, including Breath of Evolution and his school’s Black Student Union.
Drip Squad has danced at the Big Fresno Fair, Tower Theater events and in parades. Since then, D’Andre has become a dance leader and choreographer in his own right, and he said it has given him greater self-respect and integrity, even when he is just with friends, so that he can avoid trouble.
“The journey has not been easy. I’ve been impacted in powerful ways. I’ve been bullied, and there have been moments when I wanted to quit dancing, but God has big plans for me,” D’Andre said.
Miz-unique Slater, co-owner and founder of ReVive Dance Company, is one of D’Andre’s dance coaches. She said researching Historically Black Colleges and going on HBCU tours can be fundamental to the West Fresno community because youth need to see themselves in different lights and spaces in time, especially since the Central Valley is stifled in how HBCUs bridge culture and camaraderie.
Slater met D’Andre at a young age and remembered asking him what he wanted to do and to what degree he wanted to do it. He showed her a dance group on Instagram, and she confidently told him that he was bigger than that. She said she wanted him to expand his skills and asked what he needed to be successful.
“D’Andre needs to see himself through other people succeeding and doing stuff that’s outside of the norm he is used to here. A lot of the time, it’s just simply guidance and support that is needed,” Slater said.
D’Andre has his eye on Alabama State, noting that he likes the dance program there from videos he has seen. He has also looked at Morehouse College in Atlanta and Southern University in Louisiana, which are schools he wants to tour as well.
“There are more talents and arts out there. Many people don’t express themselves because of being talked about or bullied, but there are so many more talents out there,” D’Andre said.
D’Andre said he gives credit to his mother, his church family and his mentor Roger ‘Syrup’ Brown, for providing spaces that allow him to express himself creatively.
