West Virginia Secretary of State Betty Ireland will be among the speakers at the second annual West Virginia Student Service and Civic Engagement Conference Friday through Sunday (Feb. 2-4)at the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown.
Empowering Today, Influencing Tomorrowis the theme of the eventhosted by West Virginia Universitys Center for Civic Engagement and expected to draw dozens of student leaders from across the Mountain State.
A lot of people talk about community,said Brett White, conference co-coordinator and president and chief executive officer of Youth Service West Virginia.This is an opportunity to learn to be a part of it.
The conference not only gets young people excited about active service through workshops and small group activities with top leaders from service-learning and political organizations, it also provides them with a hands-on community action experience, said Kimberly Colebank, conference co-coordinator and director of WVU s Center for Civic Engagement.
Participants will be able to gather new ideas about service projects and network with people from across the state, White added.
Among the presenters are Steve Culbertson, president and CEO of Youth Service America, and Richard Kiely, faculty director of the Cornell Urban Scholar Program and city and regional planning lecturer. Kiely is scheduled to speak at 9 a.m. SaturdayCulbertson at noon that day.
Workshops includeCivic Engagement: Staying Involved in Collegeled by Colebank;Politics: Learning the Ropes in West Virginialed by White; andPlanning Successful Eventsled by Barbara Copenhaver-Bailey, director of WVU Student Support Services.
That evening, conference goers will take a break from workshops for a Youth Service Gala, featuring a slideshow presentation, dancing and other entertainment from 7 p.m.-midnight. Irelandis scheduled tospeak around 8 p.m.
The conference concludes with a four-hour service project Sunday at local nonprofit partnership sites to be determined.
A full schedule of events and downloadable registration form are available on the Center for Civic Engagement Web site:http://cce.wvu.edu/
For more information, contact White at brett.white@mail.wvu.edu or 304-293-8761.