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The 35th Annual Conference for Aspiring Minority
Youth
Sojourner’s Truth Staff
The University of Toledo’s TOLEDO
EXCEL program held its 35th Annual Conference for
Aspiring Minority Youth on Saturday, January 26 as hundreds
of EXCEL students, parents and guests had an opportunity to
exchange ideas and receive motivation from a variety of
speakers including from keynote speaker, Terrell Strayhorn,
PhD. The theme of this year’s conference was “Onward and
Upward: Persisting Through Barriers and Obstacles.”
This year’s attendees were welcomed by
Alexis Means, 13 abc, mistress of ceremonies. The welcome
speakers included Morgan Baker of the Toledo EXCEL Group
XXIX; Sharon Gaber, PhD, UT president and Toledo City
Councilwoman Yvonne Harper. A welcome poem was offered by
Toledo EXCEL, Group XXVIII class member Lydia Myrick and the
introduction of the guest speaker was presented by Russell
Chapman of Toledo EXCEL Group XXVIII.
Strayhorn, founding CEO of Do Good
Work Educational Consulting, LLC, is the interim vice
president of academic and student affairs and professor of
urban education at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis,
Tennessee. He previously served on the faculty at The Ohio
State University as professor of the Center for Higher
Education Enterprise.
Strayhorn is an
internationally-recognized student success scholar and the
author of 10 books and more than 200 book chapters, journal
articles and other scholarly publications. His most popular
book, College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A Key to
Educational Success, sold record numbers nationally and
its second edition was published in September 2018. He was
named one of the nation’s top diversity scholars by Diverse:
Issues in Higher Education in 2011, one of Business First’s
“Top 40 Under 40,” one of the “Top 20 to Know in Education
and became the youngest full professor in OSU’s history in
2014.
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Guest
spreakers (center) and UT staff and facult
Marie Bush, PhD (center) and former EXCEL participants
Terrell Strayhorn, center, with EXCEL students
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After Strayhorn’s keynote address,
David Young, director of Toledo EXCEL and Special Projects
gave the day’s acknowledgements and presented a special
tribute for the late Emerson Ross.
Christopher Scott was the sessions
speaker this year. Scott, founder of Reach to Teach
National, an organization that provides motivational
services for youth throughout the country, is a graduate of
the University of Toledo with a master’s in education
concentrating in Theory and Social Foundations. He recently
published his first book titled 7 Secrets to Surviving
College, which teaches students how to prepare for their
college experience.
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