MU to host Conference on Black Student Government

The conference will feature leadership workshops and keynote speakers.

By Kelly Olejnik

Published Feb. 22, 2011

Correction appended

MU will host the 34th annual Big XII Conference on Black Student Government on Thursday through Sunday.

The conference consists of workshops, a career fair, social entertainment events and speaker events.

The conference will host students from 40 different universities. Each university will choose student representatives to attend the conference, Big XII executive secretary Chelsea Drake said.

“The conference is comprised of different workshops that are interesting to students our own age,” Big XII Conference head delegate Rachel Parrish said.

The workshops will teach students ways to become leaders, said Lisa White, Big XII Conference Planning Committee chairwoman and Legion of Black Collegians president.

“Some may be about health, financing, family issues and how to become a leader,” she said.

Planning Committee member Lakeisha Williams said the workshops are meant to provide participants with valuable leadership skills and inspirations to use at their own institutions and communities.

There will be six keynote speaker events during each meal throughout the conference, Williams said in an e-mail.

The speakers include Deputy Chancellor Michael Middleton, who will speak Thursday.

Keynote speaker and CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien will speak at Jesse Auditorium on Friday.

“Soledad O’Brien is actually open to the public,” Parrish said. “Anyone interested in coming to see her speak is able to.”

The event is free to students, but students will need to pick up their ticket at the box office, Parrish said.

A career fair will also take place during the conference. Students will have the opportunity to take their resumes to companies at the fair, Parrish said.

“Students will be able to go to the career fair and look at the different job outlets available,” she said. “We have insurance companies coming and different engineering companies as well.”

The conference will also hold two entertainment events, the Gospel Extravaganza and the C.O.L.O.R.S. Step Show.

“The Gospel Extravaganza is the evolution of gospel music,” Parrish said. “Different gospel choirs will be doing different performances of how gospel music has evolved.”

The Gospel Extravaganza will feature choirs from MU and the Columbia community, Drake said.

The C.O.L.O.R.S. Step Show showcases an African-American form of dance known as stepping, Parrish said.

C.O.L.O.R.S., the Coalition of Leaders Organizing Radical Segues, is also the theme of the conference, she said.

“C.O.L.O.R.S. is a group of leaders that are trying to work out different problems they may face or any adversities by looking at the problems in a different light,” Parrish said. “For example, instead of resorting to violence ask, ‘How can I be a leader on my campus and try to figure out how to solve an issue I’m having a problem with in a more diplomatic way?’”

Williams said the theme was chosen to depict the different shades of skin found in the black community.

“This theme is also intended to inspire participants to utilize their individual voice and power to make a positive change, just as our forefathers and black ancestors did,” Williams said. “It is to be noted that while the Big XII Conference on Black Student Government does clearly have an African-American focus, it is open and welcomes everyone.”