The University of Toledo’s 41st Annual Conference for Aspiring Minority Youth is Saturday, Jan. 25, featuring high-profile author Jason Reynolds and actress Diane Guerrero.
The free, public conference for seventh- and eighth-graders, high school students and parents is sponsored by Owens Corning and Toledo Excel, a longtime scholarship incentive program that recruits and supports high-achieving and under-represented eighth-grade students in the region to attend UToledo. Approximately 900 students and parents are expected to participate from 8:30 a.m. to noon in Thompson Student Union Auditorium.
Jason Reynolds, among the most read and prolific Youth and Young Adult authors of the last two decades, is scheduled to speak at UToledo’s 41st Annual Conference for Aspiring Minority Youth on Saturday.
Reynolds is one of the most well read and prolific authors in the youth and young adult genre in the last two decades. His titles include “Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks”; “All American Boys” (with Brendan Kiely); “Long Way Down”; “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You” (with Ibram X. Kendi); “Stuntboy, in the Meantime”; and “Ain’t Burned All the Bright” (with artwork by Jason Griffin). He also authored two books featuring Marvel Comics’ iconic Miles Morales Spiderman character.
Rhonda Sewell, who interviewed Ruth E. Carter at the 2023 Conference for Aspiring Minority Youth, will moderate the conversation.
Guerrero, a multitalented actress and immigration reform activist, is known for her performances in Disney’s “Encanto,” the CW’s “Jane the Virgin,” and Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.”
13 ABC’s Alexis Means will serve as facilitator for the conference.
For more information, go to the Toledo Excel website.
