UTSA hosts student leaders for civic leadership conference

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(Feb. 19, 2015) -- The UTSA student organization Volunteer Organization Involving Community Education and Service, the UTSA Center for Civic Engagement and the UTSA Student Center for Community Engagement and Inclusion recently hosted more than 100 students from area colleges and universities for the annual civic leadership conference, “Service on the Rise.” The daylong conference, hosted at the H-E-B University Center on the UTSA Main Campus, was designed to enhance students’ commitment to community and civic engagement.

The civic leadership conference featured a variety of workshops to encourage students to integrate civic engagement into their future careers, improve the usage of social media for civic engagement and join local volunteer and social justice efforts. Students also assisted in creating bone marrow donor registration packets for service organization “Be The Match” as part of an on-site team-building exercise.

Henry Cisneros, former mayor of San Antonio and former secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, served as keynote speaker for the conference. He spoke on the importance of civic leadership, using his personal experience in public service as the basis for his speech.

Carmen Tafolla, San Antonio’s first poet laureate and associate professor in practice in the UTSA Department of Bicultural-Bilingual Studies, concluded the day with a reflection session for students. Tafolla spoke about how one’s lived experiences influence their passion for civic engagement. Participants were given signed copies of Tafolla’s recent book of poetry, “This River Here: Poems of San Antonio.”

The Service-Learning Intercollegiate Collaborative, an organization comprised of volunteer and civic engagement professionals from local colleges and universities, presented the annual conference. The organization meets each month to share best practices and ensure quality civic engagement initiatives throughout San Antonio.

Besides UTSA, participating schools at this year's conference were: Our Lady of the Lake University, St. Mary's University, Incarnate Word University, Trinity University, University of Texas Health Science Center, Texas Lutheran University, Northwest Vista College and San Antonio College.

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For more information about the UTSA Center for Civic Engagement, visit the CCE website. Follow them on Twitter at @UTSAengaged or on Facebook.

For more informaiton about the UTSA Student Center for Community Engagement and Inclusion, visitwww.utsa.edu/inclusion.

For more information about Volunteer Organization Involving Community Education and Service (VOICES), visit www.voices.org.

Connect online with UTSA on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram.

 

 

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