Author: Sarah Corsa
Oxypreneurship presented the first “Ideas in Action: A Forum for Empowered Students” event last Wednesday, Oct. 23. Six students shared insight from their academic and professional journeys thus far with their peers in an attempt to open up student-to-student dialogue about their passions, goals and sources of inspiration.
“Not only was it just organized by the students for the students, presented by the students…but everything that they presented on was very, very appropriate and geared towards Occidental students our age,” Oxypreneurship student leader and the evening’s host psychology major Clif Cody (sophomore) said.
Ideas in Action also included an element of competition and speakers contended for the audience’s vote to win either two tickets to the Yeezus tour with Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar or two tickets to a Los Angeles Lakers game. Theater major and Weekly staff columnist Will Westwater (sophomore) came in first, choosing the Lakers tickets, while politics major Trace Larabee (junior) came in second and received the Yeezus tickets.
Westwater described his path thus far toward becoming a video game journalist, including how he is breaking into the field and pursuing it as a tangible career.
“I’m humbled to get up in front of all these people talking about stem cell research, building a heart… solving problems,” Westwater said. “But at the same time, I like what I do, and at a very micro level that’s what I wanted to spread.”
Politics major Trace Larabee (junior) explained his personal I.N.S.A.N.E. philosophy that he developed and how everyone can apply it to their lives and become successful. Each letter in the acronym included a motivational tip that could be applied to any field.
Diplomacy & World Affairs (DWA) major Ian Mariani (senior) described his experience Skyping to a classroom of students at 4 a.m. in Azerbaijan as part of the virtual student foreign service for the U.S. Department of State. He described how “virtual diplomacy” is increasingly becoming the future for international relations — and one that college students can tap into.
Politics major Brandilyn Tebo (junior) connected and analyzed two dominant ideologies: that eating animals is natural and that images of beauty in the media are attainable and desirable. She encouraged everyone to question the ideas many people unwittingly believe and understand as fact. In doing so, according to Tebo’s presentation, everyone can ensure that their actions are intentional rather than a product of embedded yet false information.
Physics and mathematics major Lily Hochman (sophomore) recounted the story of how she went from football player to wannabe surgeon before finally deciding on bioethical engineer as her current aspiration. She continued toward this goal by helping build a fully functional heart over summer.
The last presenter, Critical Theory and Social Justice major Rachel West (junior), shared how she is pursuing her dream of becoming a singer/songwriter.
While some of the speakers had already chosen their long-term goals in high school, others have only realized their passions and started pursuing them within the last year. Cody and the rest of the action team of Oxypreneurship chose the speakers from a pool of applicants and, according to Cody, each speaker’s concrete set of goals set them apart from the rest of the applicants.
“Everyone was doing really interesting things. We could tell every single applicant was passionate. What it really came down to was, who has the long-term goal of what they’re doing? Who has the vision?” Cody said. “Everyone is doing something great right now, but who is using that as a puzzle piece, as a stepping stone, to get where they want to be?”
Ideas in Action focused on student-to-student interaction and inspiration but also served to frame the TEDx conference that will take place March 29. The TED platform, whose slogan is “ideas worth spreading,” encompasses many of Oxypreneurship’s goals of incorporating its ideals of innovation and ideation into the campus community. The day’s talks and activities will revolve around the theme “Reinventing the American Dream.” The all-day event will consist of student, faculty and outside speakers, as well as more interactive sessions throughout the day.
“Ideas in Action was in its own way a precursor to the TED conference to create this atmosphere of ideas, just a flurry of ideas,” Oxypreneurship co-advisor and DWA professor Sherry Simpson Dean said. “It was a precursor but also its own standing event to elicit students’ ideas and what they have to say, to give students a voice and a forum.”
This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.
