Amanda Marin, Special to The Denisonian—
On Saturday, Feb. 3 in Sharon Martin Hall of the Eisner Center, TEDx Denison 2024 EMERGE was held with six speakers of diverse backgrounds to a wide audience. Three students, two professors, and one alumnus spoke on various connecting topics all advocating for the understanding of and change in how we think about certain issues. This year’s theme was EMERGE, which was chosen as a call to action for new ideas, following the mission of TEDx to give voices to the innovations of the world.
The presentation was led by the host Lewis Nguyen ‘26, one of the four student organizers who led the conversation and transitions between speeches. As the speakers stood on the iconic TEDx red dot, the whole event was filmed and spoke of a future where possibly more conversation and new ideas could be explored.
This presentation started with thoughtful inquiries regarding who we are, what TEDx means, and what would be presented throughout the duration of the event.
All presentations were connected with the idea of “choice”, which started with Kendrah Mpare ‘26’s presentation of personal cultural choice, and touched on the impact shame and personal cultural inadequacy can have on one’s life. She spoke in a personal light as she hopes that people learn from her personal experience and grow to learn and accept their own cultures and identities in a more profound way.
Dr. Lew Ludwig continued the conversation and moved it to education as he advocated for continued studies on AI and integration into mathematics. While seemingly unrelated, the theme was present through all conversations as the speakers interacted with the audience. Each advocated reflections about identity and the way we interact with the world and its language.
Dr. Chris Crews made the audience laugh as he continued his conversation about choice and the way the word “woke” has changed over the years to our current system. Genevieve Pfister ‘24 pushed the message of looking for the often forgotten woman in literature with her database “Missing Pages.” Maddie Luebkert ‘27 explored the idea of fake news and what it means to look beyond what is presented. Asesha Dayal of University Communications talked about how to connect technology to culture and the internet.
A common theme between the presentation outside of choice and connection is the relationship with technology with half of the presentations being about our relationship with the current technological world. While each presenter brought their own tastes and topics, they all resonated with the concept of bringing new ideas together.
