Students of Color Career Conference: Frequently Asked Questions

Everett Community College’s annual Students of Color Career Conference offers middle and high school students of color in Snohomish County a chance to learn from prominent local professionals of color about college and career options. Through keynote speakers, cultural sharing, and panel sessions, students will have the opportunity to engage in discussions and reflect on their own career aspirations. This year’s conference takes place Thursday, March 27, 2025.

The outcomes of the 2025 conference will be: 

• Showcase EvCC: Student participants, community partners, and volunteers are aware of the opportunities available at Everett Community College.
• Student participants will make a connection with professionals of color and see a path to career options.
• Student participants will know how EvCC can be a vehicle for their careers through ongoing communication.

The conference is the creative concept of Bill Reed, former accounting instructor at EvCC. Bill’s idea stemmed from data on local demographic trends, education trends, and the economic impact of education. Based on this information, the conference was created in 2003 to motivate and empower students of color to pursue higher education in order to provide more and better career options.

For the 2025 conference, we are focusing on local middle and high schools who are most likely to attend EvCC in the near future. This means we are not extending invitations to schools outside of EvCC's service area, which includes roughly Snohomish County. The conference will include information geared specifically to middle and high school students, like how to pay for college, how to earn college credit in high school, and how to apply to EvCC after high school.

While this year's focus is on local middle and high schools, we warmly invite other middle and high schools from Western Washington to join our waitlist by emailing soccc@everettcc.edu.

This year, we’re excited to introduce a refreshed approach to our annual conference, prioritizing local middle and high school students. By focusing on schools in our immediate area (Snohomish County), we can make meaningful connections that showcase the opportunities available at Everett Community College. 

While this year's focus is on local middle and high schools, we warmly invite other middle and high schools from Western Washington to join our waitlist by emailing soccc@everettcc.edu. 

School counselors and principals are the only ones who may register school groups. For middle and high school students interested in attending the event, please contact your school counselors.

There is no entry fee. Students and chaperones are able to attend for free.

No. All students from Snohomish County middle and high schools are welcome to attend. The focus of the conference is students of color because the dropout rate and poverty rate among students of color are higher than that of the majority student population. 

Yes, we welcome all professionals to serve as panelists, and anyone can volunteer. However, the conference is focused on students of color, and so topics will be oriented on how they can achieve success, find careers that interest them and learn more about being a professional of color in their future.

Yes! This conference is one of many ways students get information about college and careers, but it may be the only opportunity for students of color to speak with a professional of color to learn about career options.

We’ve heard from many students during the past 19 years of the conference that the event made a meaningful difference for them. 

The first Students of Color Career Conference took place in 2003, and the conference has welcomed students to Everett Community College each year since then, except for a two-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our registration for this year is now closed. For more information, please email soccc@everettcc.edu.

Please note any accommodations needed during registration. For students, school counselors can include this information on the school registration spreadsheet. Chaperones, panelists, volunteers and moderators, you can add this information when you register. SOCCC organizers will work with EvCC's Center for Disability Services to accommodate your needs. We will have a golf cart available if needed to move between buildings.