On the third weekend in February, Hillsborough Community College hosted its ninth annual Black, Brown, and College Bound summit at Tampa’s Marriot Waterside Hotel. Guests included teachers, students, administrators, and other school faculty from across the country, as leaders from various educational organizations came together to find ways to build continued success for current students and those aspiring to make the leap to secondary education.

  On Friday the 20^th, the largest day of turn out for the event saw a plethora of speakers present to groups throughout the hotel’s immense facility. These presenters touched on topics such as how to handle student complaints and the best practices for students to be successful while balancing life in and out of school.

  The highlight of the day was a luncheon attended by over 1,000 of the summit’s invitees, where guest speaker and Emmy Award winning talk show personality Steve Harvey shared his story of success to a captivated crowd. He shared his story of a man that was humbled many times in his life, only to dust himself off to rise to the top once again. He encouraged the crowd to not pursue your passion, but to follow one’s gift. Your gift, as Harvey defined, is the one thing you can do with the least amount of thought or effort and be successful.

  “I love to play golf. Love it. I have a passion for the game. But it doesn’t mean I’m a scratch golfer, and could make a living of it,” said Harvey of following one’s gift. “My gift is a hard work ethic, and the ability to speak and communicate, so that’s what I do. I reach the people, share my story so that I can inspire.”

  Aside from the luncheon, attendees were encouraged to take part in interactive sessions taking place throughout the conference. Guests could participate in roundtable discussions, student panels, and a reception for students to network and gain educational contacts. The peer-to-peer interacting allowed students to find new opportunities to progress through school, obtain an education and secure a degree, the overall mission of the yearly summit.

  The success of this years’ event, much like how it has been after a decade of the event, is hard to gauge immediately afterward. Only those students who decided to empower themselves and attend this year’s summit can truly know the effect and reach BBCB has on them in staying on course to not only graduate college, but pursue their gift, and be successful.