Over 1,800 Students Attend EvCC’s 2024 Students of Color Career Conference
Press Release
Date: March 22, 2024
Contact: EvCC Diversity and Equity Center, diversity@everettcc.edu
EVERETT, Wash. – More than 1,800 middle and high school students from western Washington learned about college and career options at Everett Community College’s Students of Color Career Conference on March 21.
More than 300 volunteers made the event a success. Over 160 professionals shared about their college and career experiences, 33 EvCC students moderated panel discussions, 50 school representatives organized logistics to get their students to the conference, and over 70 volunteers directed students and served thousands of slices of pizza.
Students of Color Career Conference MC Dennis Denman energizes the crowd during the opening ceremony March 21.
Students watched performances by Quil Ceda Elementary School and entertainer Jony Villemar and heard a keynote speech by Professor Michael Tuncap, a higher education and non-profit leader who has worked toward racial justice since 1998.
Born in Aniguak, Guam, and raised in Tacoma, Wash., Tuncap is a Pacific Islander abolitionist and ethnic studies expert. He is published in Matamai: “The Vasa in Us,” a collection of poems, short stories and art by students of Pacific Islander Studies. He is a three-time delegate to the United Nations in New York City.
Keynote speaker Michael Tuncap, a higher education and non-profit leader, interacts with students during the opening ceremony at the Students of Color Career Conference at Everett Community College March 21.
First held in 2003, the Students of Color Career Conference was the idea of former EvCC accounting instructor Bill Reed, who remains part of the planning committee, in response to changing demographics, education trends and the economic impact of earning a college degree. Reed partnered with Everett business owner and member of EvCC’s community diversity advisory committee to organize the inaugural conference.
The 2020 U.S. Census showed that Snohomish County is becoming more diverse, with the number of residents of color increasing 82% between 2010 and 2020, while the number of white residents declined 2%.
In Washington state, 84% of white students and 93% of Asian students graduate from high school in four years, while Native American, Black, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and multiracial students had lower graduation rates, according to the state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction’s graduation and dropout statistics for 2022-23. Students of color are also less likely to make the transition from high school to college or the trades.
The conference went on hiatus from 2020 to 2022, making this the 19th year.
Everett Community President Chemene Crawford welcomes more than 1,800 middle and high school students and hundreds of professionals, volunteers and chaperones to the 19th Students of Color Career Conference.
“The conference is a way to motivate and empower middle and high school students of color to dream big and/or expand their dreams, see firsthand role models in charge of programming, meet professionals from a variety of career tracks, and, equally important, believe continuing education is possible for them,” Reed said.
For more information about the conference or to donate to support the event, visit EverettCC.edu/SOCCC.