State Rep. Chapin Rose will visit Eastern on Thursday to talk to students about legislation that pertains to them.Audrey Sawyer | Audrey Sawyer | The Daily Eastern News  Daily Eastern News He will be talking about careers in politics and will teach an EIU Foundations class about how Illinois government works.

The event is sponsored by Eastern’s chapter of the National Association for Advancement of Colored People, TRiO Student Support Services and the Eastern Student Student-Parent Association .

The event will take place at 3 p.m. Thursday in the Charleston-Mattoon Room of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union and is open strictly to students, with emphasis on students in the sponsoring groups and members of the Student Senate.

Rose said the reason the talk is limited to the particular groups is because it is not a town hall meeting and has no political affiliation.

“I was happy to do it, but we wanted to stress that it is only open to these specific groups so we don’t get too many people,” Rose said. “TRiO sponsored it, and I want to make sure I can answer all the questions the group’s members have.”

Maggie Burkhead, the director of TRiO, is an adviser for Eastern’s Chapter of NAACP and the Eastern Student Student-Parent Association.

She also teaches an EIU Foundations class.

Burkhead said prior to the student discussion, Rose will address her class.

She said she originally invited him to her class because she feels many of her students do not know a lot about state government, but the event got much larger as the day got closer.

“It kind of blew up and got a lot bigger than what we started with,” Burkhead said. “We decided to have the second discussion so that his time there is more than just 50

minutes of talking to one class.”

Rachael Sapp, a junior history major, is a peer leader who assists Burkhead in teaching the EIU Foundations class.

Sapp said she is looking forward to hear Chapin speak.

While she was in high school, Sapp said she heard him speak a number of times.

“I went to Tuscola High School and heard him speak at a number of Rotary events,” Sapp said.

Rose said the focus of his talk will be on issues in state government that directly affect students, particularly the Monetary Award Program grant as well as what kind of political jobs exist and how to get involved.

“I am one of those people who got their start in politics in college,” he said.

Although this is not a campaign event for Rose, it will be his last visit to Eastern as the community’s state representative, because the district boundaries will change Jan. 1, 2013.

He said he sees the talks as way to give back to the school that has given him so much. Rose grew up in Charleston, and his mother attended Eastern.

“I’ve given these talks almost every year for about the past 10 years, and hopefully they will continue to invite me back even after the redistricting,” Rose said.

Amy Wywialowski can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].