The Academic Culture Assembly held USC’s fourth annual TED^xTrousdale event, “TED^xTrousdale 2016: Make Your Mark,” this Saturday at Cammilleri Hall.  The lineup for the event included six student speakers and a student performer. Chris Lam, a junior video producer for Buzzfeed, gave a guest keynote speech.

TED^x events are licensed TED events that are planned independently by various communities and organizations. The purpose of the event is to expand the interests of USC students and showcase the insights and accomplishments of USC students.

The theme of the event, “Make Your Mark,” was the subject of every speaker’s presentation. The first student speaker, Demontae Thompson, a master’s student studying postsecondary administration and student affairs, kicked off the event with a powerful message about “bending towards success,” exemplified in his spoken word poem, “Almost There.”

Aura Gilham, a first-year student at the Gould School of Law, followed with a lesson on the importance of making deliberate choices instead of merely going with the flow. Next were Katie Kreitzer, a junior studying design communication and NGOs and social change, and Xavier Hernandez, a senior studying industrial and systems engineering, who shared their stories of perseverance and ultimate triumph.

To start the second half of the event, Leo Xia, a singer-songwriter and junior majoring in industrial and systems engineering, performed an original song named “Shaky Arms,” which addressed the difficulty of being an Asian American in today’s race conversations.

The speeches then resumed with Alexa Trujillo, a senior majoring in business administration, who inspired the audience with a personal story about inadequacy and self-confidence.

The final student speaker, Kurt Clements, a senior majoring in communication and a sports writer for the Daily Trojan, closed the student portion of the event with a flashback to his freshman year.  In his keynote address, Lam discussed the importance of self-education and social awareness when dealing with prominent social issues like race and gender.

The planning committee worked for six months to put the event together and the speakers rehearsed for weeks beforehand.

“We started planning this in November,” said Allison Bowen, the executive director of TED^xTrousdale 2016. “We received a record number of applicants this year for both the event’s selection committee and the speakers, so it took a lot of time to put this team together. It all turned out really well, though, and I’m glad I got to lead the planning of an event that creates an environment for other people to grow.”

This sentiment was echoed by other members of the Academic Culture Assembly and the selection committee. Gilham believed that voicing his beliefs were important.

“Applying was a shot in the dark for me,” Gilham said. “This entire TED experience, however, really helped me voice the thoughts that had been floating inside my head for a while now. Though it can be scary that choices carry a lot of responsibility, choices define a person, right or wrong, so it’s important to make sure you’re living deliberately.”

The audience members also felt they benefited from the TED^x experience.

“The speakers were really incredible,” said Maya Bouchet, a sophomore majoring in policy, planning and development. “It was so nice to hear students talk honestly about both their successes and their struggles. There was also a nice balance between the importance of striving for success and not being too hard on yourself.”

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