Students from different backgrounds, towns and school districts got together at Wegmans Conference Center in Gates on Friday to gain a better understanding about each other.

The Roc2Change Summit, hosted by the Churchville Chili Central School District, featured more than 500 students from 35 different schools. Organizers seated the high school students with others they didn't know in the hopes of sparking candid conversations about race.

"In order for us to have the world we want, we have to be able to see one another again, and part of that seeing is getting over our implicit biases," said Melanie Funchess from the Mental Health Association.

Among the issues discussed was the concept of "implicit bias", or an unconscious prejudice that one might have to someone of a different race or ethnicity. Many of the students said the exercise was eye-opening.

"I go to a predominantly white school,” said Dominic Duncan, a senior at McQuaid Jesuit High School, “when I go back home to people of my same skin color, people tell me that I dress and act white. That implicit bias goes off in their head, because we come from different places now. I'll go to school and be that black guy, and I'll go home, and be labeled a white guy. It was just a story that I had to share."

The event featured workshops and round-table discussions about inherent bias. Officials said the hope is that efforts like this will help bring change and understanding to schools and local communities.