YCHS Resources

• 🗓️ Friday, November 13, 2026
• 📍 Eastern Michigan University Student Center
  • 900 Oakwood, Ypsilanti, MI 48197

• 8:00 am - 9:00 am: Check-In & Breakfast
• 9:00 am - 12:30 pm: Breakout Sessions
  • Campus Tours throughout the morning
• 12:45 pm - 2:15 pm: Lunch & DTE Industry Experiences
• 2:30 pm: Conference Ends

Tentative Date: Friday, November 20, 2026
10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
(with a lunch break)

Rather than bringing everyone to one central location, we are planning a statewide conference connected through regional hubs across Michigan, including students in northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula. Students will gather in person with other EMC students in their region while participating in a shared statewide experience.

This Year's Focus: The Power of Your Story

We are thrilled to be planning the conference around a four-hour interactive workshop facilitated by Jamila Aisha Brown focused on the Story of Self, Us, and Now framework.

Students will explore how their personal and academic experiences can become powerful tools for connection, leadership, and advocacy.

Throughout the day, students will participate in individual activities, small-group work with students at their regional hubs, and virtual activities with students from other parts of Michigan.

During the conference, students will:

• Create and share a six-word story

• Explore how stories help us understand ourselves and one another

• Develop a Story of Self — What experiences have shaped me?

• Develop a Story of Us — Who is my community and what connects us?

• Develop a Story of Now — What do I care about, and what do I want others to understand or do?

• Practice sharing their stories with other students

• Consider the responsibilities involved in ethical storytelling

• Connect with EMC students whose experiences and communities may be very different from their own

A central idea behind the day is simple: “You’re more alike than you think you are.”

We hope students leave not only having met other EMC students, but also with a story that they created to talk about themselves, their EMC experience, and the communities they represent.

Regional Hub Model

We are currently identifying approximately 8–10 regional host sites across the state, including multiple locations in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula as well as sites in West Michigan, Mid-Michigan, Southeast Michigan, and other areas.

Each hub will function as its own mini student conference, with students physically together for the day while Jamila connects the hubs through statewide virtual facilitation. This model allows students to experience both local and statewide connection. Students can build relationships with other EMC students in their part of Michigan while also seeing themselves as part of a much larger statewide Early Middle College community.

We are working to finalize regional hosts and locations and will share more information about registration and scheduling soon. Please hold November 20 on your calendar and begin thinking about which students from your EMC you would like to involve.

We are excited about the possibilities for this new model and, most importantly, about creating an opportunity for more Michigan EMC students to have a voice, build connections, and recognize the power of their own stories.

Please reach out if you are interested in being a HOST HUB.

More information to come!