Changes have been implemented for the Black Female and Male Summits on Sept. 20 and 22 to increase student involvement and add more similarities between the two.

“We wanted to make sure that the summits are reflective of what students want,” Ahmadou Dramé, Community and External Affairs Coordinator said.

The overarching theme this year for both summits is “Reclaim”. Feedback from last year’s summits showed students wanted to choose how their day went, so the summit organizers decided to let students pre-register for a specific subtopic of their choice. Now, students can choose from four different subtopics to explore: reclaiming your voice, future, history, or identity.

“We spent a lot more time collaborating about the planning process,” Drame said. “In the past we spent a lot of time reaching out to adults, so this summer we had a lot of students involved in the planning.”

There will be three guest speakers this year: David Stovall, a professor at UIC, Krenice Roseman, the Assistant Illinois Attorney General and ETHS Alum, and Connie Lindsay, the Executive VP of Northern Trust Bank. Each speaker will have a 30 minute to an hour long keynote on what “reclaim” means to them.

Another addition to the summits involve students performing poetry and music throughout the day along with other hands on components to increase student interaction.

“The summits have inspired other affinity groups in the school hold their own summits,” Dramé said. “ I’m glad that they can be used as a model to recognize students throughout the school.”

Other events include the Latinx, LGBTQ, women’s and SAME summits which will all occur this year. Continuing the discussions and collaboration from the summits into the rest of the school year is the next step.

“We want to build something that lasts throughout the years that engages students and takes them through a journey,” Dramé said.