The Milton S. Eisenhower (MSE) Symposium, an annual student-run speaker series, has announced their fall line-up.
The Symposium was established in 1967 and has hosted free events for students featuring renowned speakers from backgrounds including politics, science and the arts.
This year’s theme is “Generation Electric: Recharging the Promise of Tomorrow.”
“We always hear about how the job market is getting worse and how it is getting harder to find jobs and harder to do well in school,” Connor Kenehan, co-chair of programming, said. “Our hope was to create a symposium theme that cuts through that pessimism a little and reminds us that we’re here at Hopkins for a reason. We can do what is in front of us. We can do stronger stuff.”
Outdoorsman Aron Ralston will open the series on Sept. 17. His canyoneering accident in which he was forced to amputate his own arm to free himself from a boulder inspired Academy Award-nominated film 127 Hours, starring James Franco.
Gideon Gross, a sophomore on the MSE programming staff, is looking forward to Ralston’s lecture.
“He’s had this extreme story of how the outdoors really challenged him,” Gross said. “It’s a story that I can very much relate to because I’ve had a couple situations when hiking when I’ve gotten lost for 12 hours. He’s an individual who has had to face adversity and really went to extreme lengths to save himself.”
Annabel Barnicke, co-chair of programming, also said she was inspired by Ralston’s story.
“[He expressed] the idea that you want to lean on your peers around you, but also that you can survive anything,” Barnicke said.
Barnicke hopes that his speech will be not only inspiring, but also entertaining.
“Apparently Aron Ralston is also really funny. He’s a comedian,” she said.
Actor and cerebral palsy awareness advocate R.J. Mitte is to follow on Sept. 25. He is best known for his role as Walter “Flynn” White Junior on the AMC series Breaking Bad.
“We have heard that R.J. Mitte is a fantastic speaker outside of his highly acclaimed role in Breaking Bad, so we’re pretty excited about him,” Kenehan said.
Former National Security Advisor Tom Donilon and journalist Laura Ling are to speak in October.
Donilon served under President Obama from 2010 to 2013 and was the National Security Advisor during the 2011 mission that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. More recently, he has tried to address the issue of Chinese cyber hacking.
Journalist Laura Ling is best known for being one of two Americans detained in North Korea when charged with illegally trying to enter the country in 2009. Ling and fellow journalist Euna Lee were eventually released after an intervention by former President Bill Clinton.
“Laura Ling was a last minute lock-in. I was really excited to have her come,” Barnicke said.
Actor B.J. Novak is to close the series on Nov. 5. Novak played Ryan Howard on the NBC show The Office and has also acted in films including Inglorious Basterds and The Amazing Spiderman 2.
The Symposium’s staff has been working since May to plan this series.
“It starts with a brainstorm,” Kenehan said. “We sat down, and we spent a lot of time trying to figure out what kind of message we were trying to convey, what type of speakers best pick it. From there we tried to work through friends and family connections with Symposium staff, and we used these connections to get in touch with speaker agencies. We contacted the agency and said this is our message, and we think that this man or women who you represent does a good job of conveying it.”
The Symposium has consistently had high attendance, and the staff hopes that this trend continues.
“Our marketing chair Nash Jenkins has done a really great job of pushing beyond just campus and expanding into the Baltimore community to get the [general] public excited about these events,” Kenehan said.
Kenehan anticipates that this diverse line-up of speakers will energize and challenge attendees.
“I really, truly do believe in our message. It’s something that kids need to hear,” Kenehan said.
