State Sen. John Unger II will be a guest speaker at the Student Service and Civic Engagement Conference slated for Feb. 19-20 at the Radisson Hotel in Morgantown.

The theme of the conference isRaise Your Voice and Move Your Feet.The event, sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission and the National Campus Compact, brings together students from the 15 West Virginia Campus Compact member colleges, including West Virginia University.

Unger, a 1992 WVU graduate and the Universitys 24 th Rhodes Scholar, is scheduled to speak at 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, aboutMaking Your Voice Heard on Public Issues: How to Engage in Public Policy.

He was instrumental in developing WVU s Office of Service Learning Programs and the West Virginia Campus Compact, a statewide coalition of colleges and universities that works with students, faculty, staff, administrators and presidents and is dedicated to promoting service opportunities for students as well as partnerships between campuses and community groups .

WVUs Office of Service Learning Programs is one of the few, if not the only one in the nation, initiated by students, Unger noted.

What I want to talk to them about is how their voices can be heardhow they can be engaged or be an activist in making the world a better place,he added.We so often hear they are the future leaders. They can be leaders today.

In addition to leading the first Campus Compact project, Students United for Relief in Florida, Unger has coordinated relief efforts in Pilkhana, a Calcutta slum, for Mother Theresa. He also worked for the U.S. Refugee Program and Amnesty International in Hong Kong, and after the Gulf War, he coordinated emergency relief to Kurdish refugees in Northern Iraq.

Getting young people involved in community service and public policy is the focus of the conference, said Kelly Regan Taber, West Virginia Campus Compact program manager. Participants will interact with students from other campuses and meet leaders in community service and public policy for two days of workshops, panel discussions, networking and community action projects. Also, student fellows will be recognized.

Besides Unger, guest speakers include Steve Culbertson, president and chief executive officer of Youth Service America, an alliance of more than 300 organizations committed to increasing the quality and quantity of volunteer opportunities for young people; and Rich Games, co-executive director of AppalYouth Service Learning Project and former executive director of the Indiana Campus Compact.

Another highlight will be a political action panel discussion from 2-3 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 19. Among the panelists are Ron Justice, Morgantown mayor; Noelle Lee

with the West Virginia African-American Voting Electorate; and Kevin Leyden, WVU

associate professor of political science and interim director of the WVU Institute for Public Affairs.

Also on Saturday, anaround the worlddiscussionfeaturing an expert in international law and panelists who have worked in Slovakia, India and Latin Americawill take place at 4 p.m.

On Sunday, Feb. 20, Alexis McMillen, executive director of Rock Forge Neighborhood House, and Tammy LeBarge, director of the child development center at Scotts Run Settlement House, are scheduled to speak at 8 a.m. about what it is like to run nonprofit agencies.

The weekend will culminate with students participating in a community action projectinvolving waterproofing a basement, pulling up carpet, painting and organizing roomsfrom 11 a.m.-3 p.m. at the Rock Forge and Scotts Run facilities.

This is a huge opportunity for students to learn from other students doing work with nonprofits, to plan service-learning projects and increase dialogue about ways to create more opportunities,Taber said.

While many of the workshops and discussions are student-led, organizers say anyone with an interest in service learning is encouraged to participate.

Registration applications are available online athttp://www.wvu.edu/~wvcc/registration.doc. The one-day registration fee is $25; the group rate is $70 per person and includes all meals and one nights stay at the Radisson Hotel. The deadline to sign up is Saturday, Jan. 15.

West Virginia Campus Compact on the Net:http://www.wvu.edu/~wvcc/