Members of Emporia State’s Black Student Government will be attending the Big XII Conference in Austin, Texas over the weekend. The conference is for all black student governments across the nation, with over 20 schools attending, and roughly 20 ESU students participating.

“The conference is an opportunity for us all to be black and celebrate that and learn what that means,” said President of Black Student Union Kayla Gilmore, junior political science major.

The conference offers those who attend a chance to learn and strategize, attending seminars and events, in the hopes of bringing what they learn back to campus to make universities a more diverse and inclusive place for students of color, according to Gilmore,

The conference is made up of sessions and speakers. Among some of the speakers at last year’s conference were pastors, lawyers and a poet who performed for the mothers of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin. A business expo is also a part of the conference.

“You can bring your resume and there are opportunities for freshman all the way down to seniors looking to meet and connect with people in the field for possible internships or job opportunities,” Gilmore said.

Some of the workshops include topics on black men and mental health, black women in social justice, archetypes of black women and other more general things like pursuing higher education.

Gilmore stresses that above all else, the conference is an opportunity to celebrate diversity.

“It is an opportunity for us to explore blackness as a spectrum rather than a binary to whiteness,” Gilmore said.

The group is preparing t-shirts in advance to wear to the conference.

“We’re trying to incorporate the school’s colors to represent ESU,” said Tria Brown, Black Student Government’s public relations officer and sophomore communications major.

The conference has been in discussion since October, according to Brown.

Of the 20 ESU students attending, Cale Bolen, senior political science major, is the only white student. Bolen could not be reached for comment.

“We aren’t afraid to bring non-black people with us,” Gilmore said. “It is a space for learning for everyone, and it is about educating ourselves and how to mitigate the violence we go through on a day to day basis.”

Brown, who will be attending the conference, looks forward to meeting people and attending the many different seminars.

“Maybe I’ll come out feeling different and feeling better,” Brown said. “We are there to have fun, but this is a teaching experience as well.”

In order to attend, students had to pay $200, a luxury price, according to Gilmore, when considering the price for the hotel, transportation and other expenses.