St. Edward’s University will be hosting its first independent TED event, TEDxStEdwardsU.

The event, the first of its kind to be brought to St. Edward’s, is independently organized by students and officially licensed by TEDx, according to Executive Producer of the project Lauren Ayoub. The event will be held onOct. 24 in Carter Auditorium.

“I’ve always wanted to bring TEDx to campus; I just didn’t know where to start. Since the team is entirely student-led, we have created multiple opportunities for students to get involved: this includes chances to speak, volunteer and attend,” Ayoub said.

The theme this year is called “The Lines We Create.”

TEDxStedwardsU’s Event Manager Anna Davies explains that the planning team was motivated to put this idea into action because they thought it would “be a fun event to host and a great learning process for our group.”

The vagueness of the theme leaves room for speakers to interpret on their own, Davies explains.

“TEDxStEdwardsU: The Lines We Create focuses on ideas regarding the lines we draw in our society. These lines can be political (like the borders of a country), mental (like the differences between cultures) or the literal (like a line on a painting). Whether or not these talks are about erasing or expanding, overcoming or reinforcing, cutting or queuing, they will feature ground-breaking ideas which will broaden any listener’s world view,” according to the event’s Facebook page.

To attend this event, students must purchase a $10 ticket through Collegiate Link.

These tickets will be available around early October, and Topper Tender will be accepted. The best way to stay updated with the progress of the event is through the event’s Facebook page, “TEDxStedwardsU”, where you can receive alerts up until its premier.

Meili West, a student on the Communications Team for TEDxStEdwardsU, reported at the time that, “TED talks speaker applications are coming up,” and therefore “We have not selected any speakers quite yet.”

Davies further explains that students who were interested in being speakers attended a “student pitch day” on Sept. 15, where applicants pitched their speech ideas.

Sophomore Mayu Uno plans on attending the event, and looks forward to its arrival this fall.

“I was interested in being an audience of TED because I love learning ideas from different perspectives. TED has been helping me to expand my perspective and touch things that I would have never known since high school,” Uno said. “I am looking forward to knowing ideas that students around my age have, as well as people who have been on the same campus.”

“We have been working throughout the summer on this event, and we really hope everyone enjoys it! Our goal is for the event to be successful enough to make it an annual event,” Davies said.

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