This year’s multicultural education conference will feature Brian D. Schultz, author of “Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way,” an acclaimed and widely read book by Sacramento State education students.

The 16th Annual Multicultural Education Conference entitled “Social Justice Through Civic Engagement and Action” will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Nov. 14 at the University Union.

It will include a panel forum by the candidates for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction and multiple presentations by faculty and graduate students from the department. Schultz will also have a book signing after the candidates’ forum.

The daylong conference is co-sponsored by the bilingual and multicultural education department, the Serna Center and Project Citizen, a national, curricular program for middle, secondary and post-secondary students that promotes participation in local and state government among students.

“The conference aims to network with our current and former BMED (bilingual and multicultural education department) students and public educators about issues related to social justice education and equity in the community,” said conference chair Maggie Beddow.

Schultz is an associate professor of education, honors faculty and the associate chair of the department of educational leadership and development at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago.

Schultz said he will talk about his book, which chronicles the Project Citizen work he has done with his fifth-grade students to get them involved in their community.

In the last few years, Schultz worked with black fifth-graders at Carr Community Academy in downtown Chicago.

As part of the project, Schultz asked his students to name the biggest problem in their community and challenged them to come up with a solution.

“They decided to examine the issues related to the condition of their dilapidated school and then initiated a mission of remedy and repair to get a new school for the community,” Schultz said.

The students wrote letters to their local government officials regarding the condition of their school and attracted local media attention.

Bilingual and multicultural education department graduate students said they have read Schultz’s book and found it “inspiring.” Although the project wasn’t successful, they said they want to apply Schultz’s work with his students to their own teaching strategies.

Duarte said students should be taught not just theories and principles, but should also be involved in applying those to their own community.

Bilingual and multicultural education graduate students are divided in groups and each group will give presentations on bilingual education, impact of education reform policies on English learners and teaching for social justice in the sciences, math, arts, social sciences, language arts and foreign language.

“With the budget cuts and minority programs being cut, we decided to show people the importance of BMED and who we serve,” said bilingual and multicultural education graduate student Melissa de Leon.

De Leon’s group plans to have a multicultural art gallery and a speech by bilingual and multicultural education graduate student Sade Comparini.

Comparini said she will talk about the importance of bilingual and multicultural education and her experiences as a non-native English speaker who grew up in South America and came to Sac State to become a teacher.

Being blonde and blue eyed, Comparini is not a typical non-native English speaker. When she came to America, she said people expected her to “act” like an American because of how she looked. She said she will deliver her speech in Spanish.

“Sac State is a multicultural campus and I think it’s really important for us to highlight that,” de Leon said. “We’re not just teachers sitting in a classroom. Our goal is not just to teach students, but also to empower them.”

For 15 years, the multicultural education conference has promoted diversity in education at Sac State.

“I am attracted to the long, proud history of the multicultural education conference,” Schultz said. “Our philosophical ideas are aligned in that respect, and I really applaud Sac State for having such a fantastic resource that goes beyond the typical empty rhetoric of universities.”

Kristine Guerra can be reached [email protected].