This session will show participants how to create a Student Equity Council on their campus, explain what a SEC is, and why one would be beneficial to their campus. We will go over student recruitment, member retention, goals, and practices.

We are ALL natural! As a part of nature, we can connect with representations of ourselves in the animal kingdom. Many of our LGBTQIA2S+ students (and ourselves) are being told they are not natural for being queer, however that couldn't be farther from the truth. We will learn about many wonderful examples of queerness in nature and look at some resources that teachers could take into their science lessons to make them more inclusive.

"Schools have become battlegrounds and recruitment sites for extremist organizing and white nationalist
groups targeting young people. Youth and adults are susceptible to rhetoric from white nationalist groups
and conspiracy theories. This session will empower educators to recognize and respond to white nationalist
rhetoric in the classroom. Participants will leave equipped to help students understand tactics like
scapegoating, false equivalency, conspiracy theories, and hateful ideologies disguised as humor. They will
also gain access to a free toolkit (published by the Western States Center) to support prevention strategies
throughout their school and communities."

After this session, participants will have a better understanding of the immigration process in the United States, including the different types of visas for teachers and the challenges that immigrants face. They will also learn how to create a safe and inclusive environment that supports immigrant teachers and how to advocate for the rights of immigrant teachers and students.

Charmen is a special education teacher who is passionate about equity, especially for women and girls and other marginalized populations in our communities. She has been involved in advocacy work for years, with a father who was a lobbyist to her own work through the organization, AAUW. She also enjoys teaching parents how to advocate for their children with special challenges and considers it part of her job. Charmen has been teaching for over 16 years and has two sons and one grandchild.