TedxUSD returns

The TEDxUSD group on campus held their first event in 2015. Their most recent event was in 2018 and completely sold out.  

Junior political science and sustainability major Kacy Tubbs is the lead organizer for the TEDxUSD group on campus. Tubbs said she is excited to find notable alumni to speak at events because she wants a broad input of what people are looking to see and the topics they want to learn about. 

“In past years, we’ve had speakers from USD like a range of faculty and the Vermillion community as well as USD alumni,” Tubbs said. “The thing I’m most excited for is finding those people that can come speak to the students and the participants and open people’s eyes to new educational topics.” 

Derek Zomer is the advisor for the TEDx group and said he hopes students will take away something that will help them in the future. Zomer said this could be the time that students find their future career paths. 

“We live in this world where we see all of these TED Talks always pop up and we may watch them, we may not. For a lot of students when we went virtual…you are tasked to watch this TED Talk and reflect on it. I can say that with pure confidence because I have my students do that, too. I think there’s so much value and so much worth in these talks that some you may not be interested in, some you’re going to be completely just enthralled with because it connects to you,” Zomer said. 

Tubbs said the event will be cool for students because they will be able to learn more about certain professions and specializations as they relate to USD. 

“I think most people have probably watched TED Talks on YouTube. I think this is a really good chance to see how that works live. It also applies to us because the speakers will be people that are related to the USD community. It’ll be a really cool opportunity to just kind of go and learn about new educational topics that maybe they don’t know anything about,” Tubbs said. 

The executive team for TEDxUSD is still being formed and Tubbs said she wants people who are passionate about event planning and getting things done.  

“I hope that the people that are applying for this executive team are also really excited. Just a hard-working group with really diverse ideas and different skills that they can bring to the table, just so we can all work together to get this event done and reach the widest audience we can,” Tubbs said. 

Applications to be on the executive team are open until March 4. Students can contact Zomer or Tubbs for more information.