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Three Power 5 Conferences will be spending the weekend in Selma.

Student-athletes from the Big 10, ACC and Pac-12 conferences will participate in the Big Life Series, a program designed to provide real-life educational experiences for athletes. The purpose of the program is to explore race relations and social justice.

The Big Life Series opens Friday with “Selma to Montgomery.”

Sheyann Webb-Christburg, author and eyewitness of the original Bloody Sunday attack, will speak to the group on Friday in Montgomery.

Several events are scheduled on Saturday in Selma.

• The First Baptist Church, where hundreds of students coordinated by the Dallas County Voters League began their days’ long journey from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

• A march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, site of the March 7, 1965 Bloody Sunday attack that led to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

In a statement, Big Ten Conference Commissioner Kevin Warren said he wanted the student-athletes  to learn life lessons away from sports.

“We established the Big Life Series to help further prepare our student-athletes to impact the world beyond their athletic careers,” Warren said. “Our trip to Selma and Montgomery is a first in a series of trips that our student-athletes, administrators, and members of the Big Ten Equality Coalition will take to inspire a meaningful dialogue about racial, social, religious, and cultural injustices in our nation. Big Life Series: Selma to Montgomery will empower our Big Ten Conference family to use their voices to drive change in their respective communities.”