201 6 J oi ntCollegi ate BlackStudentSummi t
2016 Joint Collegiate Black Student Summit University of Rochester Rochester, NY 14627 jcbss2016@gmail.com
31th March 2016
Dear Mayor Lovely Warren, On behalf of the 2016 Joint Collegiate Black Student Summit we would like to send a sincere thank you for your commitment to ensure that our conference was a success! We would like to thank you for sponsoring and helping to fund the 2016 JCBSS summit. Your contribution to our vision, created a gateway for many students at the University of Rochester and participating schools to participate in a remarkable weekend full of wisdom, advice and enlightenment. The summit, which took place March 4th-6th, 2016, hosted about 150 registered delegates, and close to 300 student/community members at events. Students from as far as New Mexico and Indiana; and as near as Syracuse and Albany attended the summit. Here are some highlights from the weekend: ● Friday, our Networking Reception successfully fostered conversation and sharing of ideas. At this event, we played “Four Corners” and was able to ● Saturday was our busiest day of the summit. ● The opening session consisted of regards from the summit committee, President Seligman and Dean Feldman. Daon McLarin Johnson gave an inspirational presentation about standing up when faced with adversity and being resilient. After the opening session, summit delegates broke out into separate sessions that focused on the social climate of college students in either the Social Sciences or STEM fields. These sessions were led by Dr. Valeria Sinclair Chapman, Professor and Director of Diversity at Purdue University and Sossena Wood, past National Society of Black Engineers chairwoman for two year. ● Following the breakout sessions, delegates participated in “The State of the Black Student Panel.” This session was a Q/A with a diverse set of students and professionals from the Rochester community. ● The Keynote Address with Mitizi Miller, Former Editor-In-Chief of Ebony Magazine, was a great inspiration to all students and community members. She spoke to the power that each student leader has to achieve their goal no matter what. ● Night of Black Royalty Gala was a time of celebration and acknowledgement to our shared history and culture as black students.
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Sunday, we discussed what we’d like to see change or occur on our respective campuses and how we would go about creating that change. This session was led by Lomax Campbell, representative from the Black Agenda in Rochester, NY.
Once again, thank you for your contribution to our cause! Your kind contribution helped make our vision a reality by helping to balance the cost of holding the conference throughout the weekend. Without your support, it would’ve been much more difficult to accomplish our goals and attain the victory we had for this vision. As we continue to grow for future year, please know that your office dedication to our mission is vital to our successes. Sincerely,
The 2016 Joint Collegiate Black Student Summit Committee
Fr om t heJ oi ntCol l e g i a t eBl a c kS t ude ntS ummi t Ex e c ut i v eCommi t t e e :
T h a n kY o u !