Thursday, March 24th, there will be an all day Student of Color Career Conference at Everett Community College (EvCC) from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The event is geared to middle and high school students with a diverse background, according to Black Student Union advisor Michael Boxley. The conference will provide students time to meet and ask questions with some prominent individuals of color in the Snohomish County area.

During the Conference, students of color will learn all about different career options. According to the EvCC website, the conference will be encouraging students to think, dream big and to believe that education is the root to reaching career goals. A familiar theme they have is for students to look at their dreams and evaluate how close they are to reaching it.

“They always have a key speaker who does a speech to inspire,” Boxley said, “One year there was a [speaker who was] an undocumented student who went on to further his education. He talked about that process and how tough that was for him with that transition. Another year they brought a hip hop artist who talked about his experiences being a student of color and about promoting students to continue to pursue their dreams.”

There is roughly 100 different workshops to choose from and students who attend are able to go to three, according to Boxley.

“Those workshops allow the students to go through a large list of workshops and pick out things that specifically relate to things that they’re interested in, whether that’s a career goal or an educational field they want to get into,” Boxley said.

Workshop options include an African-American lawyer who will speak about the process in education, especially as a minority. There are also people who work in healthcare, coaching and direct representatives from schools such as the University of Washington who will be conducting workshops.

Boxley believes that students should go to the conference for many reasons, such as motivation and networking. During the event, students will be able to network with other students who can relate to each other’s situation and also with current professionals in a field or educational environment that a student wants to pursue.

“It gives you the opportunity to, without working in a profession or going to a school, speak with someone who’s been in that field or went to that school, [and] it will allow students to make an educated decision on how or what they want to do with their futures,” Boxley said.

There are also scholarship opportunities available for students attending the event.

The maximum amount of students from MTHS able to attend is around 100, and most years it’s filled up quickly, according to Boxley. Students who are interested in going must sign up and have their permission slips done by March 16th. Sign ups are in the Career Center.