Sixteen years ago, collegians at Texas A&M needed a forum in which African American students in the southwest could assemble to address problems affecting the black community. In order to do so, the Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference (SBSLC) was formed.
Since then, the SBSLC has been dedicated to empowering black scholars to be productive leaders of tomorrow.
Under the theme “Developing Collegiate Leaders: The Catalyst for a Productive Tomorrow,” students from across the nation will gather at A&M today through Sunday for the 16th annual SBSLC.
Anverly Black, marketing director for the conference, said this is the largest student-run conference that unites schools across the nation and is not limited to black students.
“This conference is open to all races and nationalities,” she said.
Anverly said the conference will feature workshops that focus on developing strong leadership skills as well as stress management and how to be a better student.
The SBSLC encourages participants to look to the future, Black said.
“We want them to be leaders in the community,” she said.
Shawna Smith, chair for the SBSLC, said the conference has been utilized for corporate networking and for the development of leadership skills.
“We, as the executive staff, have worked diligently to provide thought-provoking speakers, a career fair presenting some of the biggest companies and informative workshops,” she said.
This year’s keynote speakers will be Bryonn Bain, Nikki Giovanni and Lee Jones.
Giovanni is a world-renowed poet and has published more than 14 volumes of poems. Her speech Saturday is open to the public, but a ticket is required to attend, according to the SBSLC Web site.
Bain is a Harvard Law School graduate, and Jones is the associate dean of academics at Florida State University.
Black said she expects 700 participants to attend the conference, which coincides with the “Campus with a Dream” week.
Executives said the goal of the week is to increase cultural diversity on campus.
For more information on the conference log on to the SBSLC Web site at http://sbslc.tamu.edu.
Student leadership conference topic
January 22, 2004
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