More than 200 De Anza students are expected to show up at schoolthis Saturday — not for class, but for an all-day conference onempowerment and leadership.

Tickets are free and still available, convention organizers toldLa Voz last week.

The three-year-old event originally centered around AsianAmerican history and issues, but this year will touch on creatingpartnerships among different minority groups in the community, saidorganizer Anthony Lin, 20.

The conference has been in the works for the last four monthsand is reportedly the largest of its kind organized by communitycollege students.

Stanford University and University of California at Berkeleyboth hold similar conferences each year.

Students will be given the choice of 14 workshops, spreadbetween three sessions throughout the morning and earlyafternoon.

Some of the more popular workshops will include Asian Americancultural assimilation, the import car racing culture, Asian historyand politics, immigrant deportation, stereotypes and portrayal inthe media, said Lin.

“We’re talking about building coalitions and solidarity amongstall ethnic groups, ” said Lin. “We should all work together as agroup of people. It’s not an Asian Pacific American issue, it’s aminority issue — it’s a people issue.”

Local political powerhouses Foothill-De Anza board of trusteemember Paul Fong and Cupertino mayor Michael Chang are expected toattend the workshops.

Former Silicon Valley Asian Pacific American Democratic Clubpresident and current Santa Clara County planning commissioner GapKim is slated to speak in the keynote address, said Lin.

Kim was also one of the first members of the Asian PacificAmerican Leadership Institute, founded by a De Anza instructor.

After the conference, student organizers will throw a benefitconcert with local hip-hop, alternative and spoken wordartists.

Interested?

When: May 22, 8 to 3 p.m.

Where: Conference Room A, Hinson Campus Center

What: Free conference on student empowerment with 14 differentworkshops.

Contact: [email protected] or Anthony Lin, at 408-864-8999, ext.3748.