Ten students took the stage at Boylan Heights last Tuesday night for TEDxUVA’s Student Speaker Competition. The TEDx program — an independent offshoot of the larger nonprofit organization TED — encourages communities to organize independent events featuring conversation and connection. The University’s TEDx event featured short talks on topics ranging from chronic insomnia to mental illness to origins of violent thought.
Fourth-year Commerce student Arthur Wu — a data scientist and graphic designer — won the night’s competition with his speech on “Seeking Truth in the Modern Age.” Wu began his speech by asking listeners if they could “remember three things [they] read on social media” that day, then discussed the difficult process of picking apart information online. Wu’s topic may have been the most appealing as a standalone speech, but ultimately was not as moving as others in the powerful lineup of darker, more personal talks.
However, Wu managed to garner the highest number of votes and will speak at the next round of the TEDx competition in February. Wu’s presentation benefited from interesting visual aids, but combining them with greater passion throughout will hopefully make the talk stand out in the next stage of the competition.
Despite Wu’s first-place finish, the most poignant pieces were delivered by first-year College student Claire Golladay, second-year College student Saul Sandoval Navarrete and fourth-year College student Claire Constance.
The highlight of the evening was Golladay’s “An Open Letter to my Dentist, to the Woman at the Bus Stop, Heteronormativity and Subconscious Exclusion.” Golladay’s carefully crafted piece was both a humorous and saddening transition into a discussion of societal norms surrounding sexual orientation — she encouraged listeners to ask questions that apply to all individuals, not only those who are straight. Throughout the speech, Golladay remained at the front corner of the stage, and commanded attention through her careful word choice and sarcasm, rather than movement.
Next up, Navarrete took the stage to speak about depression in “Am I Worth It?” The audience members filling Boylan’s top floor were especially quiet during this talk, which served as a testament to Navarrete’s perseverance in improving his own mental health and provided advice on how to better support others. At times, Navarrete resorted to higher volume speaking and large hand gestures typical of slam-poetry — another one of his interests. These techniques allowed Navarrete to make bold points, and forced the audience to accept his experience-based suggestions as fact.
The final talk of the night was delivered by Constance, who focused on modern mammography in “Rethink Pink.” Constance called for consistency of medical advice as doctors disagree on the ideal age for a woman’s first mammogram, and whether these exams actually do more good than harm. Constance discussed her family history of breast cancer, and used her own uncertainty about her first mammogram to prove that this is a relevant issue for women as young as twenty.
Audience members at Boylan Heights enjoyed the opportunity to hear their classmates share such personal, thought-provoking anecdotes. While speeches like Navarrete’s and Constance’s left the audience feeling more somber than inspired, the event overall reminded students that everyone has a unique story that should be encouraged to share.
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