Beaufort County Community College will mark Women’s History Month with a symposium Thursday that will feature local businesswomen and include discussions on women in education and in the work force.

The free symposium, open to the public, starts at 11 a.m. in the student lounge in Building 9 with a panel featuring local business women and invited leaders of BCCC campus organizations discussing leadership. It concludes at 2 p.m. following a presentation on serving students with disabilities in the media center of Building 5.

Other topics include a discussion of the Women’s National History Project at noon in the student lounge in Building 9 and a 1 p.m. discussion by panel members and BCCC students on achieving success. That event takes place in the media-center conference room.

The event is primarily sponsored by Students Striving to Success in Leadership Club and several other campus organizations and programs, including the Student Government Association, Student Support Services and the college’s human-services technology and sociology programs.

Several women from across the state have been invited to be a part of the discussions, including Natalie Castro, senior employment specialist at Beaufort County JobLink; Kisia Kimmons, technical-services engineer with Roanoke Cement; Catherine Glover, executive director of the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce; and Regina Willis, assistant director of disability support services at Wake Technical Community College.

Natalie Castro is the senior lead employment specialist and case manager for the Beaufort County JobLink in Region Q. Castro attended high school in Colombia before moving to North Carolina in 2001. Castro earned her undergraduate degree in business administration and management from Mount Olive College. She is pursuing a master’s degree in political science from Park University.

Castro has worked to connect the Hispanic community throughout Region Q to JobLink’s workforce development programs. Her initiatives, including a reading comprehension program for youth, language proficiency for adults, and outreach to Hispanic businesses, received the National Alliance of Developing Organizations’ award for innovative program design in 2007. Also in 2007, Castro was selected to receive the Wayne Daves Award, which recognizes the outstanding professional in workforce development in North Carolina.

Kisia Kimmons is a graduate of Alabama A&M University with a B.S. degree in civil engineering. Following graduation, Kimmons worked for the Georgia Department of Transportation for more than 14 years in the materials and research division. Her experience covers materials testing and design of asphalt and concrete, as well as testing and sampling of soils, aggregates, bituminous materials and various materials used for roadway construction.

Catherine Glover is a native of Beaufort County. Her parents owned Lewis’, a small retail shop in downtown Washington and the Washington Square Mall. This inspired Glover to pursue a degree in business marketing from East Carolina University. Upon graduation, Glover worked for an international laser company in the Raleigh area.

Glover returned to Beaufort County in 2003 and accepted a position as a grant writer and coordinator of development for the Beaufort County Developmental Center, the largest nonprofit agency in Beaufort County. In 2007, Glover became the first woman and the youngest executive director of the Washington-Beaufort County Chamber of Commerce.

Regina Willis has been a disability-service provider for more than 25 years. Willis, originally from New Jersey, attended Trenton State College and received her bachelor-of-arts degree in speech and performing arts. A few years later, she earned a master-of-science degree in counseling from Western Maryland College. She began her career as a disability service provider at Howard Community College.