College of Education undergraduate student Briana Lucas’ poster was recently selected for presentation at the 20th anniversary of the Dennis H. May Conference on Diversity Issues and the Role of Counseling Centers, held September 19 at the Illini Union. Lucas is a senior in early childhood education.

The title of Lucas’ poster is "What I Didn't Know...”

Lucas said her poster encompasses history of African Americans she is now familiar with, thanks to her education at the University of Illinois—history she was not familiar with upon leaving high school. She said the information included on her poster was from books, articles, and movies. Lucas’ goal was to provide some of the lesser-known facts about African American history.

Her poster also included one of the goals she would like to accomplish in her future classrooms, which is “to teach history including all voices, perspectives, and cultures.”

Lucas said she felt honored that her poster was selected. “It was awesome sharing my passion of African American history with people and to hear their stories about similar experiences,” Lucas said. “I was also given great books to read from several African American authors, and I really enjoyed that part!”

Lucas is a Billie Marsh Scholarship recipient and a Golden Apple scholar from O’Fallon, Illinois.

PHOTO: College of Education student Briana Lucas with her winning poster, which was presented at a campus diversity conference in September.