To keep the party going, we are excited to introduce Catharine Vader and Jasmine Wilhelm!
Catharine Vader
Catharine Vader is a lifelong learner. Her work at Western Washington University for over 20 years has provided a variety of learning opportunities, from triage nursing at the Student Health Center to teaching health education classes with Prevention and Wellness Services. She is passionate about teaching and mentoring students. She also enjoys dancing with her husband, Peter, cooking, gardening, hiking, and connecting with family and friends. A highlight in her life is her daughter Amelia and son-in-love Kyle. She is a registered nurse, board certified in College Health Nursing and is the coordinator of the University’s Wellness Outreach Center.
Jasmine likes thunder and stories, along with laughter, adventure and listening, too. Jasmine is currently finishing her Junior year as a double major in Studio Art and Recreation at Western Washington University. She wants to take people outside, show them how nature can ground you and inspire you. She also wants to create safe spaces to be vulnerable, to learn, to grow: to create art. Jasmine feels that being an RA for two years and being part of the communities through that job, have defined her Western experience in the most extraordinary and positive ways.
In the now immortal words of Kid President: “The world needs you to stop being boring. Ya, you!”
And I kinda have to admit, I agree with him.
I am not saying you have a poor personality, or are lacking in any sort of character trait. What I am trying to say is that we, as a generation, are bored and lacking motivation.
My theory? I think that we are bored because we are waiting.
It seems to me that everyone in college is waiting for the next Big Moment. The next moment that will thrust them out into the world, into the space that they feel they will actually be able to accomplish things in. First, we start off waiting to turn 18, the age we feel we will actually have control over things (what a joke!). Then we are waiting till we get into a good college, then waiting for the right internship, for graduation, a dream job, marriage... the list is never ending. I have found that there is no concrete list in life of what the Big Moment could be, it just seems like there is always an event people are waiting for, one that is over the horizon out of their reach.
I see a lot of problems with the allure of the Big Moment.
Don't get me wrong, I think looking forward to the future is wonderful. At this time in life, it is something that we should be doing. It is both constructive and proactive. However, the concern with this fixation on the Big Moment is that it is consuming time, energy and emotion. With that consumption, what is left for today?
I believe getting lost in the idea of waiting for the Big Moment takes away from the beauty of seeing that today is, in fact, a Big Moment. Every person you meet, every opportunity you take, everything you do has the power to be a glorious, wonderful, spontaneous Big Moment. While they may seem small and insignificant now, when you look back , you will realize it was not the defined “Big Moments” in your life that shape who you are, or got you to where you wanted to be. It was all the daily Big Moments added together that define where your life is headed.
So, in the true spirit of Kid President, here is my pep talk to you, Western Washington University: You are in college for four years. That is 1,460 days to go and live those Big Moments. My dream is for you to realize the power and transformation that comes with putting a pause on waiting for the future, and going out to seize the moments you are given each day. Put those 1,460 days to good use and make them become 1,460 Big Moments that will shape your life in the greatest way possible.
So stop waiting, get out there and live more Big Moments. I promise that they will show you more creativity, inspiration and happiness. And that is something that the world can use more of.
Best Wishes,
Kayla Swallow
TEDxWWU Intern and WWU Student
"This is life people, you got air coming through your nose, you got a heartbeat. That means it’s time to do something."- Kid President
If you have not already seen Kid President's Pep Talk, prepare yourself for some awesomeness.
Is anyone else keeping a count-down till TEDxWWU? We are! Only 26 days to go. Now we would like to introduce you to two speakers who are currently attending Western!
Danica Kilander
Danica will graduate this spring 2013 from Fairhaven College at Western Washington University. She created a self-designed, interdisciplinary degree called “Social Entrepreneurship”. Her studies focus on how identities and communities are built, and how inspired learning and leadership are facilitated. After graduation, Danica and the LivLife team will launch an educational non-profit called LivLife Today, offering the empowerment program “I AM: Inspiring A Movement”. After years of pushing boundaries and exploring around the globe, Danica has one firm belief, best stated by her 7 year-old friend Olivia, “Love is the most and it’s all we need.”
Cambria Prentice-Wattson is currently a 19-year-old student of history at Western Washington University with an interest in museum curatorship. In June, 2012 she graduated simultaneously from Skyview High School and Clark Community College through the Running Start program earning her High School Diploma and Associate’s Degree with honors. In high school, Ms. Prentice-Wattson was active in her community participated in the National Honors Society, the French National Honors Society, and the American Red Cross. At Western, she has helped established a U.S. History Club where she sits as Vice President. In her free time she enjoys participating in soccer, and tennis. She is scheduled to graduate with her degree in history in 2014.
The past few weeks we have been posting introductions to our speakers for this years event. In doing so, we have received a few questions from people asking how we made our speaker selections and inquiries into what really stood out in an application.
While there were many factors that had to be looked at and analyzed when determining who would be speaking at our event, there were three main areas that we focused on when reviewing an application:
1: How well their topic fit into our theme
This first point is really one that is two sided. To start off, while it is important to remember that you do not want your speakers to all be talking directly to you theme, you really do want them to be talking around the theme. Mostly, we did not want the speakers to be repeating our theme directly in their talk, but rather talk about things that related to the theme. The second side to this was making sure that applicant’s theme and idea were suited for our audience. When reviewing speaker applications, there were many talks and ideas that were wonderful, but did not fit into the type of experience we were looking into giving our audience.
2: Stage Presence
While this one may seem like a no brainer, it really is important to select applicants based off of how poised and comfortable they are either onstage, or in their filmed application video. If they are able to be very comfortable during the application process, the idea is that the day of the event they will be able to remain that way. If they are already nervous or fidgety in the applicant video, that will be amplified the day of your event.
3: Organization of Idea
This may have been the biggest factor in our decisions. We really wanted to get a general feeling of just what the essence of a person’s message was during the application process. If we were unable to keep track of where thoughts and ideas were going, it is unlikely that a live audience would have been able to do so either. We strongly recommend that people hone in and condense their ideas to make them stronger and more efficient messages.
Welcome to the final month till TEDxWWU! With just 31 days till the event, we are gearing up and ready to rock with two more of our amazing speakers!
Benjie Howard
Benjie Howard was raised in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains, where he lived in a remodeled barn, and went to a one room country school. He is the co-founder and director of New Wilderness Project, a collective of artists and educators working with school districts, universities, and organizations across the country offering performance, community engagement, and social justice leadership programs. He is a river guide and wilderness educator on the Colorado River in Grand Canyon. Benjie is the founder of Cascadia Exploration Company. He finished his second full length album, “Secrets Like Bones” in 2012. He is currently in the middle of a nation wide album release tour. Benjie lives in Bellingham with his wife and his two children. If you would like to learn more about Benjie and New Wilderness Project, visit their website Here.
Daniel Espinoza-Gonzalez Daniel Espinoza-Gonzalez is a double major in English Literature with an interdisciplinary concentration titled "Writing to Explore; Performance to Empower." Currently the Program Support Coordinator of the Associated Students' Ethnic Student Center at Western Washington University, he has co-presented with Dr. Carmen Werder and other students about the role of student voices in enhancing education at multiple forums including the 2009 International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) conference and the 2012 AAC&U Annual Meeting. His reflective piece titled "Finding Value in My Voice" was published in the Winter 2013 issue of Diversity & Democracy (AAC&U). On the side, he performs spoken word poetry.
College is a time of transitions. Often, students are not just moving to an institution of higher education, they are often moving from home, from family and from the familiar. One thing that we have noticed happen during this transition, is that college students, particularly freshman, will lose their sense of voice. With all the commotion that comes with this huge move, students feel as if they have no right or authority to make grand, world changing actions. Moving to a large place and being thrust into the "adult" world, they often feel small and too childish to make a difference. Here within the SOS office, we feel that this is the opposite of what should be happening. At this age and level, students should be taking the opportunity to be making bold, optimistic and change inducing actions. Why? Because they are just as capable, if not more so, than anyone else. College students have the great ability to see road blocks, and yet still remain optimistic that they can over come them. College students are wonderful in the way that they keep their sense of creativity overflowing and unending.
We urge our students to not wait till they get a degree or become an "adult" before they start aspiring to their dreams. We believe that time is now.
To get the real essence of what we feel about this, today's TED is from Adora Svitak. This video speaks to the power of bold ideas and intense creativity that come from thinking "childishly".
With just over a month left to go till TEDxWWU, we are excited and pleased to announce the innovative speakers for the first TEDx event at Western. This week, we would like to introduce two more of our speakers, Gina Bacon and Dannie Soloff.
Gina Bacon graduated from Western Washington University in 2008 and received her Master’s Degree in Communication from the University of Utah in 2011. Gina is a Korean adoptee and has shared her story of racial identity at several events, including two international adoption conferences. Gina has a publication in press about familial and racial identity, and was featured in the newsletter of the Autonomous University of Barcelona’s (UAB) AFIN Research Group. She currently lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and works in the Dean’s Office of the University of Utah School of Medicine.
Dannie Soloff was raised in the Pacific Northwest and grew up fascinated by the history of humans and the sciences of the earth and cosmos. In the effort to positively serve society, Dannie is exploring the true capacity of Social Development Programs in opening individuals and groups to greater integrity. After exploring general studies at Western Washington University, Dannie transferred to Fairhaven College to design an interdisciplinary concentration involving leadership, eco-mimicry, and social health. His self-designed major is titled "Social Stewardship". Daniel also enjoys gardening, ecological projects yoga, dance and cooking; his meditative activities. "May everyone everywhere be well."
