Many different ideas bonded together in DKU’s latest effort to share unique international perspectives: DKU’s first TEDx conference. After over a year of non-stop work, nine DKU students revitalized pre-pandemic efforts, contacting the TED organization and running through a multitude of logistical steps to establish DKU as a permanent home to independent TED talks.
Located in the recently constructed CCTE Auditorium, the event hosted over 100 student watchers as the speakers took to the stage. These speakers were hand-selected by the TEDxDKU Management Team after many rounds of strenuous interview. The roster includes two DKU students and three professors, each of whom then underwent public speaking practices over many months. The end result was a diverse set of talented individuals, each with a message to share about the conference’s binding topic: Tomorrow United?
Ageism Re-Examined
First up: sophomore Dominika Wilczok sharing tips from her “Handbook to Healthy Longevity”. Based on her experiences at DKU, Dominika took the audience through her exploration of ageism and how to best maximize everyday lifestyles. Among her tips of eating healthy, the integration of technology, and, of course, sleep, she blends current ideals into a depiction of aging as a healthy process. Wilczok hopes for a future that eventually re-examines old age. Rather than paint a negative view of aging as decaying, Dominika suggests that it is just another stage of life to be wary of and to nurture.
United Tomorrow is United Today
Freshman Davit Kavkasyan, however, gave a speech focused more on the past, depicting how modern transformations should be applied to historic tragedies, especially the ones that still continue today. Sharing personal stories from high school in Armenia, a country plagued by war, Davit described how his blessings from international exploration have created a longing to apply his talents back to his hometown. Now exploring multiple avenues at DKU, Kavkasyan sees a future where individuals apply their talents back to their origins, reversing cycles of damage that often leave citizens struggling to escape.
Planting an Integrated Future
Finishing the first session of TEDxDKU, associate Professor Renee Richer switched things up, stepping up to stage with a tiny plant. Once a prospective biology student, Professor Richer described her struggles with succeeding as an animal researcher, and how a switch to botany gave an opportunity to build cultural appreciation through global expedition. From the fields of Armenia to the species of Zimbabwe, Professor Richer followed the story of plants and by doing so, found the story of humans. In discussing plant biology, she discovered how various
cultures across Earth’s geographic landscape take advantage of their nearby flora and realized that such trends also revealed a greater story in how human populations interact.
Interconnectivity through Innovation
Midway through, TED viewers were treated to appetizers and beverages in the CCTE community space before presentations began anew. Assistant Professor Luyao Zhang took to the stage in traditional Chinese clothes and dance. Her speech outlined how unity should be pioneered first through innovation. Drawing on her research into computational economics, crypto, and data, Professor Zhang imagines a future where industry isn’t the enemy of change, but the catalyst to growth. She mentions more recent developments such as artificial intelligence, which she suggests is not something to fear but is a tool to utilize for greater expansions in both culture and unity.
The Environment Within
The transformative experience, as Professor James Miller outlines, is a process that should be experienced by each individual themself. Going through multiple periods of history, Professor Miller illustrates how it has been widely recognized that there is a connection between the environment within our bodies and the environment facing climate dangers. Examples of such visuals included animals roaming the outline of a human, and a fetus whose body is made of a riverbend surrounded by forestry. In the effort to form a more united tomorrow, Professor Miller suggests that humanity should see ourselves as a fundamental part of sustainability, and that measures to protect the environment should equate to measures to protect humanity.
Opportunities, Opportunities, Opportunities
For the final two speakers, DKU became the platform for non-Kunshan perspectives. In his speech, “Opportunities Everywhere”, Rocco Li examines the prominence of opportunity and why it is important to jump at every one that pops by. His own experiences in blue-collar jobs left him in indecision on how to approach life. However, through a growth-based mindset, Mr. Li constantly pushed himself, traveling between the U.S, China, Singapore, and more, until he landed a spot at KPMG as a Senior Manager. Rocco urges that nothing would have landed for him had it not been for the “opportunities everywhere”.
Education Reinvisioned
Finishing off DKU’s first TED conference was Russell Cailey, a Managing Director of THINK Learning Studio in Dubai. Almost as a culmination of all other speeches, Mr. Cailey shared an approach of “inspired fusion” in education. This alternative system integrates real-world experiences and travel to create a more surreal, impactful educational experience, similar to the global citizen-based approach of DKU. Russell notes that many current educational systems lack real exposure to learning opportunities, but that it is never too late to revitalize approaches to exploration.
Altogether, the initiative of Noah Caplan, Colden Johnson, Abdullah Javed, Gavin Huang, Mateja Bokan, Michael Cornell, Kamila Mejia Ley, Annie Tong, and Sue Wang led to DKU’s first TEDx conference. Through many struggles in communication and planning, the team successfully paved the road for future TEDx collaborations and events. Most recently, the management team announced a second TEDx endeavor, with a new conference slated for November 23, 2024. As stated by DKU Student Affairs, “We may never remove the question mark in, ‘Tomorrow United?’, but sparks of creation and hope can move the world in a brighter direction.” While this next event remains in the horizon, DKU has now gained seven original “talks”, each sharing stories and spreading ideas. As suggested by the many speakers of TEDxDKU, perhaps tomorrow will be more united.
