Fifty TCU students attended the MSLC informational to volunteer for the conference next year.  

The Minority Student Leadership Conference is an annual event held in the fall semester for sophomores and juniors in high school. According to the organization's website, this two-day event is designed to develop leadership skills, promote college access, and provide a network for like-minded students.

The university held an informational for students Monday night. The goal of the meeting was to recruit volunteers to begin training for the actual conference in February. Once the volunteers are selected, they will begin meeting weekly to prepare.

Ava Rollins, a first-year sociology major, will volunteer for MSLC in the February because she knows it can be hard transitioning into a low ethnic population school.  Rollins said her high school has the same “racial spread” as TCU.

High school students from all over DFW come to the conference, Taylor Covington, a junior social work major, said.

The high school students who apply to attend MSLC are in the second and third quartile of their class. Covington said this refers to the students who are not necessarily at the top of their class, but aren’t failing either.

 Last year, 102 students attended the conference from 24 different high schools.  The university allows a minimum of five students per school. Covington said, this year the target is to get 150 students from 40 different high schools. This includes, but is not limited to the school districts of Fort Worth, Mansfield, Everman, Crowley, Grand Prairie, Birdville, Arlington and DeSoto.

According to the MSLC website, the high school students who attend this two-day event will participate in various workshops and activities, attend classes with their appointed TCU mentor, and spend the night on campus.

“This is not a recruiting program for TCU. Although we would love for [the high school students] to come to TCU, our purpose is to get them interested and excited about college,” Covington said.

Covington, the staffing director for MSLC, said she was in charge of inspiring TCU students to volunteer for MSLC.

The Minority Student Leadership Conference will be held Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. The university is still accepting applications from TCU students. The deadline to apply is Oct. 25, 2012.

If you are interested in filling out an application, click here.