Welcome back readers! As the spooky festivities of Halloween is coming to an end, a new form of fear is manifesting in the shape of the midterm elections. On November 6th, which is in less than a week, all of the United States of America will have their chance to cast their votes for the people who represent them on a bureaucratic domain. The voting process is an empowering ritual where people have the power to elect voices to represent their needs. Elections bring together people of differing backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, religious, and more who each vote for the same goal — to be part of a revolution that sparks change.
Voting is a revolution in its simplest meaning. If change is needed, people must stand up for that change. When you select a checkbox on your ballot, you are igniting the prospect of change; you are taking part in a ceremony that is greater than yourself. Throughout our democracy, the results of those checkboxes have changed policies and shaped the way our society is today. Disbeliefs are surrounding the effects voting has on current elections. We often hear rhetoric around the time of the election along the lines of “the system is rigged” or “why would my vote matter.” Unfortunately, this belief system is the part of the driving force that keeps prospective voters from voting. Throughout the 21st century, voter turnouts have been decreasing by each election, and our age group is the voter demographic that is least likely to participate in this midterm election. This haunting revelation of our voter turnout rates has to change. This November 6th midterm election has to be our generation’s starting point to changing our narrative of being “lazy voters.” The importance of voting is a theme that is echoed across the chambers of our culture. Eric Liu is the founder of Citizen University, a program dedicated to promoting the self to claim a hold on powerful citizenship. In 2016, at TEDNYC, Eric Liu conducted his TED talk titled “There’s no such thing as not voting.” The discusses the evolution of voting culture and the need to bring back an agency for powerful citizenship through voting. The focal point to Liu’s talk is to revive the vibrant and collective culture of voting. The vibrant culture stemmed from the urban political movements of the 19th century. The potent pressures of voting created a culture of voting that was personable and created a parade-like atmosphere. Liu thrives to revive such a personable and welcoming atmosphere to voting. In Liu’s organization — Citizen University, he started a program called “The Joy of Voting” that brings the reminiscent amusing aspect of voting to local communities. “The Joy of Voting” has impacted four cities: Miami, Wichita, Akron, and Philadelphia. In Akron Ohio, the program collaborated with the local Wandering Aesthetics theatre to create public spectacles that will have a call to action to vote. The theatre would take local submissions of poems, prose, and other pieces to create “pick up truck” style performances that can inspire local communities to vote. The program received a poem submission from an ESL class from a local district, their poem read: "I would like to vote for the first time because things are changing for Hispanics. I used to be afraid of ghosts. Now I am afraid of people. There's more violence and racism. Voting can change this. The border wall is nothing.It's just a wall. The wall of shame is something. It's very important to vote so we can break down this wall of shame. I have passion in my heart. Voting gives me a voice and power. I can stand up and do something." Voting is a self-fulfilling ritual that can give everyone a chance to allow their voices to be heard. Let’s not be the generation hidden behind the wall of shame; the age that doesn’t take a stance to have our voices heard. On November 6th, cast your votes to ensure that your voice is heard.
Here at TEDxOhioStateUniversity, we follow TED's mission of creating a platform for ideas worth spreading. We give megaphones to those who roar for their voices to be heard, and their roars echo the words of bitten tongues. Voting gives you a platform for your voice to be heard, therefore don’t bite your tongue on during this moment of voting. It doesn’t matter if you vote early, or vote on November 6th; make sure your voice is accounted for during the process that selects our leaders that will do a lot of the talking for us.

For more information on Eric Liu’s talk. Click the link below
https://www.ted.com/talks/ericliutheresnosuchthingasnot_voting?language=en

Although I am loyal to the Public Relations Committee, I still can attest that Design is one of the coolest committees in TEDxOhioStateUniversity. Design is TEDxOhioStateUniversity’s communication hub for branding and the building of the Tedx experience here at OSU. It’s an all encompassing committee that works alongside other committee to create the TedxOhioStateUniversity experience for the viewer.
Design handles everything from stage design, the designs for social media, the cool activities at the event, to the awesome motion graphics. The Design Committee is the most niche committee in TedxOhioStateUniversity, since one needs substantial “design” skills to be selected for the committee. Each member of design has their own talent and passion; some members are fluent in motion design, others in editorial design, and so on. All members encompass the various skills of Visual Communications Design. Each member hones in on their skills to create the textual, visual, and auditory components at each TedxOhioStateUniversity event. Design is definitely the most creative-intensive team in TEDxOhioStateUniversity. Which proposes the question of how do Design members cope with creators’-block while being held accountable to incremental deadlines? Well, I got the run-down of Design from the Director of Design herself, Tiffany Lau. Tiffany has been apart of the Design Committee for three years, and she’s seen how the committee has evolved firsthand. At a young, innocent, and impressionable age, Tiffany - then a pre-design major - heard about TEDxOhioStateUniversity through a friend who urged her to join the organization. Now, Tiffany is the Director of Design and a graduating senior. Tiffany tackles creative blocks through communication and creating a space specifically for creativity in her committee to thrive. Over the years, Tiffany has watched the committee grow. This has allowed her, through experience, to understand the intricate networking that must be established to allow the Design Committee to succeed. Communication is key in Visual Communication Design; Every artist of the committee has their own specialty, and through communication, Tiffany can utilize the available skills to create this conglomerate of niches. As Director, Tiffany sets the expectations of the committee from day one, but her expectations for Design are limitless. She establishes her committee as a chance for Design students to build their craft and portfolio. Everything the Design Committee makes is their own. They are designing for an organization with the mission ideas worth spreading, not just turning in work for a letter grade. Each member can delve into things they otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity to, had they not joined TEDxOhioStateUniversity. The committee allows for members to establish lifelong skills that sets them apart from others in the market. The Design committee evolves through the innovation of its members. As mentioned, Design is constantly evolving. For the first time this year, the design committee is pushing motion design; Nick, a new member, is passionate about creating motion design; Something that hadn’t been available in the past. Each year the bar is raised higher on what the Design Committee is capable of achieving. Design is the infrastructure that holds TEDxOhioStateUniversity together. They create the experience for live and at home viewers. Also, if you happen to come across a member of the Design Committee, make sure you tell them that they are awesome. All their creativity is pushed into TEDxOhioStateUniversity, and they create magic. So round of applause for Design.

The college experience is quite an intimidating process, getting through a day of classes is a feat in itself. The constant struggle of trying to build your resume, make time for classes, and hang out with your friends is a struggle we are all well aware of. Student organizations can be the perfect medium to build a resume and make friends simultaneously. As a third-year student, I thought it was too late for me to join an organization, and unfortunately, there are a lot of students across campus who feel that they either don’t have the time or feel as though their time to get involved has been wrung dry. I’m here to tell you that it’s never too late (unless you're graduating tomorrow then maybe it is). All you have to do is get that foot in the door, and you’ll find yourself venturing into an interesting and new experience. When I heard about TEDxOhioStateUniversity, I knew that this organization would be worth my time. It’s the most self-sufficient student-run organization on campus - the students run everything from event planning to executing a TEDxOhioStateUniversity event.
At first, hearing that the organization was entirely student-run, I was terrified. But my fears of joining an organization were diminished during the new-member retreat. At the retreat, I learned that everyone in TEDxOhioStateUniversity is genuine, caring students. They come from many different majors and departments, but they have come together to create a safe and creative space for optimal content creation. The organization isn’t a scary replication of the prison that is corporate life, but instead, it’s a platform for people to spread their truths. The essence of TEDxOhioStateUniversity is to provide lions, who have courageous voices, a platform to spread their realities, and to promote the outbreak of voices in a world where silence is a conditioned trait. When I stepped into the room where the retreat was held, all us newcomers didn’t know what to expect. That retreat changed the way I view people. We got to know each other on levels we weren’t planning to explore. At the end of the retreat, we all sat in a circle and bore our vulnerability to the group; complete strangers were unraveling each fear and insecurity we held deep within us: This is the beauty of TEDxOhioStateUniversity. The perfect medium for strangers to be vulnerable in front of each other, and for strangers to become friends in order to create beauty with one another.
Aside from the sappiness, as mentioned the organization is student-run (with little to no help from the big boys) which means that each member has to pull their own weight for the TEDxOhioStateUniversity events to be executed efficiently. The different committees can expose members to different realms of the working world. The committees include Outreach, Public Relations, Salon, Logistics, Content, Design, and Development. These committees are strategically structured, and each work with each other like a well-oiled machine. The fluid interactions between the creative-oriented committees and the business-oriented committees allow the members to gain real-life skills that are marketable on a resume AND the real world.
TEDxOhioStateUniversity is like a little school within this vast intimidating campus. The skills one learns here, and the friends one gains here, aren’t semester-limited. The impact of this organization is long-term. We all remember the time we were in awe after watching a TED talk - our minds were blown. Being a member in TEDxOhioStateUniversity is like a perpetual version of that in-awe-feeling after watching a TED talk, and I have yet to stop being in awe of the people around me who are bringing TEDxOhioStateUniversity events to life.

It has been a month since our annual TEDxOhioStateUniversity event: Hide or Seek! To celebrate our first monthiversary, we would love to share with you some backstage stories of our team on the day of the event. Be aware, this is exclusive information!

When did we start preparing for the event?

We started work on our 2018 TEDxOhioStateUniversity event immediately after Precipice wrapped up in 2017. Every April or May, the team gets together to brainstorm inspirational themes for the next event. It is not uncommon for some of the team members to continue working during summer to ensure that all of the ducks are in a row when the team comes back to campus in the fall. The beginning of the Fall semester, after the event theme is released, every committee is busy with event preparation. Speaker nomination, selection and coaching, marketing, stage and program design, as well as planning of other programming activities take place during fall and early spring. 
Then it comes to the day before the event. For a successful TEDx event, this day is very important to get everything in place for the upcoming big day. This year, our team occupied Mershon Auditorium from 8 am to 8 pm to set up the stage, store audience gifts, install engagement games, hand-fold programs (yes, this is our traditional team bonding activity!) and hold speaker rehearsal. By the end of the day, everybody was exhausted, but excited, and ready to host TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2018!

The Big Day

For our team, the day of February 24th started at 9 am. Since most set-up had been done the day before, we were there to help catering and get ready to welcome audience. Another TEDxOhioStateUniversity tradition is to take the team photo before everyone was running around for their assigned tasks, that is, early in the morning at 9:05 am this year! 

When the event started, many of our team members had their time to enjoy the amazing speakers from OSU community, but a lot of work was also being done behind the scenes to make sure that the event ran smoothly. Tasks ranged from leading a small group to pick up food, assisting late attendees, and cleaning and resetting-up the lobby. Of course, taking a rest in our Green Room was a luxury some managed throughout the day. Next to the team room was the speakers’ Green Room. The close relationship between speakers and our team is critical to the quality of the talk and smooth planning of the event.

As soon as our audience, entered the Auditorium, they were immediately immersed in a sea of people with sparkling ideas, accompanied by specially selected food, arts and game installations, and the most unexpected encounters. At this year’s event, we wanted to create an open space for our audience to really engage with one another and the speakers. Thus, the interactive game stations, such as Jenga and Connect 4, became a hotspot for audience interactions.

Post-event Audience Feedback

The day of February 24th was full of great memories for our team, although most of us were running around hectically trying to make the event a best experience for our audience. But how did our audience think of this event? Let us read some reviews from them:

“The event was a great, holistic experience! I appreciated the reminder emails and the discounted ticket price to purchase ahead of time. The addition of t-shirts and food was great this year. Speakers were awesome, as always, and fit well into the overall theme of the event.”

“I absolutely LOVED my experience at TEDxOhioStateUniversity; the speakers, activities, and provided food was amazing!”

If you want to relive your TEDxOhioStateUniversity experience, you can! Just check out our Facebook page to see all of the photos from this year's event!

But as the TEDxOhioStateUniversity team wraps up our journey with Hide or Seek, we are ready to take on next year’s event planning. We will definitely draw on the lessons learnt from this year to make TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2019 exceptional experience for our audience when our EIGHTH annual event rolls around! See you next year!

Ever heard of Zero Waste Event? Facilities Operations and Development initiated the Zero Waste Event tradition to achieve campus sustainability goals. The initiative was originally created to address waste diversion from Buckeye football games held at the Shoe as early as 2010. The Zero Waste initiative “refers to diverting 90% or more of materials from the landfill by recycling, repurposing, and composting.” The stadium has ranked number one in diversion rate within the Big Ten conference for the past four years, with an average of 95.40% of waste diverted.

In recent years, as an educational effort, The Zero Waste Team partners with the local community to assist fans at the Zero Waste stations on game days. To extend this sustainability idea across campus, organizers are encouraged to host Zero Waste Events at other facilities, with little or no additional cost. Proper cycling of event wastes is mainly facilitated through on-site Zero Waste containers, categorizing wastes into compost, recycle and trash from the very beginning of waste deposits. The main goal here is to divert trash from the landfill, to achieve economic and environmental sustainability of the overall OSU community.

As an organization dedicated to innovative and game changing ideas, TEDxOhioStateUniversity decided to host an Zero Waste Event this year at our 2018 annual conference: Hide or Seek. Luckily for us, Mershon Auditorium is already a qualified Zero Waste Event space. Our logistic committee has spent the last several months guaranteeing that our event precisely follows the Zero Waste Checklist by Facilities Operations and Development. Apart from using Zero Waste bins and signs, our team is committed to utilizing reusable, durable, compostable, and recyclable only products throughout the event. Minimal packaging and appropriate catering are also at the center of our efforts for the synergy among economic development, ecological diversity, and social prosperity.

So when you come to our event this Saturday, February 24th, consider yourself as a member of an even larger sustainability effort! When disposing of something, please pay attention to signs above bins and around room to determine if item belongs in the compost, recycle, or trash. We hope you’ll take this message with you, start thinking about personal impact on the environment!

After Where’s Waldo… here comes the TEDxOhioStateUniversity Scavenger Hunt!

As college students, we may be too old to play hide-and-seek like when we were kiddos, but there is another game we can play that resonates perfectly with TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2018: Hide or Seek—the scavenger hunt!

Evolved from ancient folk games, scavenger hunts gained its followers in the U.S. ever since Hollywood gossip columnist and hostess Elsa Maxwell introduced it from Paris in the 1930’s. Being the “hunter games”, this searching game had once been adapted to include elements of “dare or truth”, challenging people to interact with the surroundings in the process of looking for pre-defined items. Yet in its earlier period, this game bear more elitist characteristics, being their party favorites. Such “scavenger-hunt craze” had even been satirized in the 1936 film My Man Godfrey, where players are challenged to hunt for a “Forgotten Man”, aka a homeless person.

Being a popular party game, nowadays scavenger hunts are held regularly in American universities and communities, involving tons of participants. The basic concept embedded in the hunting process intrigues human beings to satisfy their curiosities and to compete with each other, through a lot of social activities such as gossips and collaborations. In addition, as one variation of the scavenger hunt makes items are not specifically listed but hinted, the searching would become a fun game involving intellectual and manual efforts.

The TEDxOhioStateUniversity Scavenger Hunt is such a game where our fellow buckeyes are challenged (and can land you free tickets to our event)! As a special event to celebrate our 2018 ticket release, everybody is invited to participate in our scavenger hunt to win two free tickets to TEDxOhioStateUniversity 2018: Hide or Seek on February 24th! Now read carefully the following game instructions to start your hunt:

• Four riddles will be hidden around campus, each of them resulting in a one-word answer;

• You will get hints from our social media, regarding where these riddles might be hidden;

• Once you have found and solved all the riddles, you should unscramble the four words into a phrase;

• Get your answer back to us through direct message on our social media or by emailing our gmail account, and you win two tickets to our February event for free!

If you missed our first “hide-or-seek” game of Where’s Waldo last semester, you should seize this chance to not only get your free pass to our event, but also hangout with friends on campus to boost the beginning of your semester!

TEDxOhioStateUniversity is an organization completely run by Ohio State students to bring you the best TEDx event possible… but that can’t happen without a nice chunk of change to get the ball rolling. If you ever wonder what funds our 46-member organization operates on, it is time to introduce our Development Committee! Let’s see how committee director Adam Benway speaks on his committee:

“The Development Committee is responsible for raising funds to finance the organization and make connections with individuals or groups that could help support our mission. Some funds come from grants that are available because we’re a student organization, but others are donations from departments within the University. We spend our time looking for contacts that want to help us put on the best events possible! The bulk of our monetary funds come from within OSU, but we get a lot of donations externally as well.

Outside companies can help us by donating mostly through items and discounts, rather than cash. In the past, we’ve gotten discounts on shirts, food, audience gifts, and other extra items. We have also been lucky to receive items such as rental couches, notebooks, snacks, and carpet for free! Since our event changes each year, we never know what we’ll need for the next year, but we try to maintain good relations with companies so that we can work with them the next year if need-be.

We generally thank our donors with a few free tickets to the event and the option of including their logo on our marketing supplies. A lot of the companies are happy to help just because they’re supporting a group that works hard for students and has similar principles.

Development works with the other committees in TEDxOhioStateU a lot, mostly by making sure they have the funds they need to host marketing events, print fliers, design the stage, or hold satellite events. Even though the Development Committee is small, we keep track of the rest of the organization and focus on helping other members fulfill their tasks. In the future, we aim to stay well-funded to provide the best events we can!”

My name is Gabby, and I am the Director of Community Engagement for TEDxOhioStateUniversity. When I was asked to write this blog post, I was told to write about my experience of holding an executive position as a sophomore. I had to think about what to say for a while, because this position fell into my lap almost organically. So in this, I will detail my journey thus far in the organization, and, more importantly, I will highlight some of the work my committee is currently doing.

I found out about TEDxOhioStateUniversity when I was still in high school, from one of my best friend’s older brothers who was already in the organization. The moment I heard about TEDx, I knew that I had to be a part of it. When I arrived at OSU in the fall of 2016, I was determined to find TEDx at the involvement fair, and I subsequently applied to be a member of the team. I was ecstatic when I was offered a position on the marketing committee.

On the marketing committee, I was in charge of running the TEDxOhioStateU Twitter account, a small job that was surprisingly stressful! I also helped out at marketing booths throughout the year, and I live-tweeted satellite events. However, my favorite part of last year was when I got to live-tweet the main event. Because I was given this job, I was able to sit in the back of the room and carefully watch every talk. A lot of people do not know this, but as a team member, the majority of us do not get to watch any of the talks on event day. I was extremely thankful for the experience I was given on that day.

After Precipice was over, I was encouraged to apply for an executive position by both my committee director and the curator. I thought they were crazy, and I assumed I was wildly unqualified for an executive position. Yet, I interviewed for it, even though at that point I did not specify the committee I wanted to run. I was appointed to be director of community engagement, and though I was scared, I jumped right in, learning as much as I could before the spring semester ended.

I would love to say that I feel completely comfortable with my position, but that would be a lie. I still have a lot to learn about my leadership style and about the logistics of my committee, but I know I am starting to become the leader that I want to be. Community engagement does great work, and I am proud to be in charge of the committee that embodies the TED motto of ideas worth spreading. This year we are working with organizations including Refuge, Ohio Reformatory for Women, Marion Correctional, and East High School’s TED-Ed program. Though I personally may feel overwhelmed from time to time, because of my community engagement team, I am constantly reminded that the work we do is important, and we are impacting people’s lives on a daily basis.

Within the past few weeks, you may have received an email from us saying that you have been nominated by one of your buckeye admirers—someone who values YOUR idea as one worth spreading. After a second of thought, you decided to give it a try. What comes next? What should you include in the application? Are you really qualified to be a speaker on the stage of TEDxOhioStateUniversity? How do you even articulate your idea into a ten minute talk?!

Relax, you’re not alone.

Many potential applicants, like you, have a number of questions when it comes to our speaker application and coaching process. Some of you may have come to our speaker information session last Friday to learn more. No worries if you didn’t make it, this article will reveal some of the secrets that will guide you through the journey of becoming a speaker for TEDxOhioStateUniversity!

Keep in mind that we care about your ideas more than anything else. Don’t worry if your idea is not fully developed yet, that’s where the TEDxOhioStateUniversity content committee will come in. If you are selected, you will be assigned a personal coach to work with who will work with you to give a well-presented talk. Your idea might be very closely related to our theme “Hide or Seek,” or it might only touch on how that theme manifests itself within you. Remember that a direct translation of this theme may undermine the creative nature of your ideas, so be cautious about it! Make sure you clearly state your idea in the application—it can be either new in nature or offering fresh perspectives. Try to challenge the audience with your ideas and experiences, initiating discussions or leading to actions. If your idea is genuine, innovative, and engaging, you are well on your way to being selected as one of our speakers!

So you were selected as a speaker… what’s next? After being notified of your acceptance, you will be exposed to new and different perspectives from your fellow speakers and our undergraduate coaches. Our training curriculum is developed specifically for coaching TEDxOhioStateUniversity speakers, an “organic process” according to content committee co-director Jessie Mongilio. This process evolves from speaker-coach relationships. By the time February rolls around, you will be well prepared through individual and joint coaching sessions to give a mind-blowing talk in front of the audience! Wondering what this speaker-coach relationships look like? Here is what our coaches have to say about some of their past experiences:

“My big coaching moment was when I met Dr. Rustin Moore's two dogs, Travis Lincoln and Teddy Luther. I had spent so much time talking about the positive influences that a pet can have while developing Dr. Moore's talk and seeing his inspiration was really exciting!” – Sarah Beadle

“When I coached Paul Sutter, he took me to a dance studio to watch the Seven Dance Company practice their pieces for the performance, Song of the Stars that Paul narrated. I was able to see firsthand the dances he spoke of in his TEDx talk. It enhanced my understanding of his idea and opened my eyes as to how people can learn about science through many different mediums.” – Sierra Nave

If you would like to learn more about the process, we will be hosting a final speaker and performer information session on October 10th in Mendenhall Lab, Room 115 from 5:30-6:30pm. We hope to see you there!

If you’re ready to apply, even better! Be sure to shoot us your application by October 27th and share your idea worth spreading with our TEDxOhioStateUniversity community!

-Yifan Xu

It’s safe to say that most of us played, and enjoyed, the popular childhood game “hide and seek.” The heightened suspense of searching for your friends, the increasing excitement of looking for a good hiding spot, and the moment of surprise when being found has always been magically fascinating to kids. The hider and seeker, however, take different routes to reach their game time thrill, with the former taking a bumpy road to discovery and the latter finding an enclave for temporary disguise. Outside of this child’s game, we may also encounter situations where we have to choose to be an active seeker or the opposite. Can you recall those moments of choices? What did you usually choose to be?

Some would say this is just a matter of personality, with introverts choosing to be self-contained and extroverts chasing the spotlight. Yet, humans are complicated beings. Sometimes the quietest artists are doing the most avant-garde experimentations in their work, and the most outward going people can indulge into their own world playing computer games all day long. In addition, the entitlement of seekers and hiders carry distinct connotations to different individuals. Take myself as an example. I could have chosen to stay in my hometown near my parents, working in an average job after college, but I chose to take a big step forward in 2012, when I traveled alone to the U.S. pursuing a graduate degree. Although my friends may think going back home is a more reasonable choice, I regard that as an action of hiding from the rest of the world. And I want to be constantly searching for new experiences and knowledge… I want to be a seeker. Imagine you are at a splitting road, wondering which direction to go, would you be brave enough to take the road less traveled?

Of course, there are millions of ways to define being a hider or a seeker, some of which were brilliantly generated by team members of TEDxOhioStateUniversity. As we are a group of positive and innovative thinkers, either hide or seek, to us, carry more uplifting meaning. One response stood out, stating that “’hide’ represents overcoming adversity, ‘seek’ represents the search for new ideas and opportunities.” To some, hide and seek were in the same concept of understanding— “seeking ‘hidden’ ideas, cultures, things and sharing them with people.” Although hide can connote shyness, secret or being scared, it is also seen as things are simply neglected or meant to put away. While “seek” implies creativities, growth, exploration, transformation and in search of something new, it is as well related to joy, childhood, unexpected discoveries or the meaning of life.

With TEDxOhioStateUniversity’s 2018 Theme “Hide or Seek” just being revealed, I want to encourage you to reconsider these two simple, yet multi-faced, terms. What do they mean to you in different situations? What are you seeking out in life? What hidden treasures have you discovered?

We want to hear what this theme means to you, and we would love for you to apply to be a speaker at this year’s event. Check out our social media pages for more information on how to get involved!

-Yifan Xu

Growing up in a family with doctors, I have always been vaccinated properly, and luckily enough, I had never experienced serious epidemics in China… until the last summer of my middle school in 2002. Schools were off for over a month because of the nationwide outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). People were checked morning and night to ensure that they were not infected, and those who showed even a little symptom of infection were immediately separated for further treatment. Even in my hometown, where there were only few cases of infections, horrors still spread quickly as reports of death caused by SARS increased across the country. Recalling this intimidating period, I cannot ignore how the government helped to control the long-term influence of SARS, including advising citizens to stay inside, wash hands thoroughly and report any suspicious cases, and even setting up the separation area to provide infected patients appropriate care and treatment.

Just like me, seldom would people in current days think of public health issues unless facing an epidemic, especially in U.S., a nation seems to be immune from major epidemics outbreaks in recent centuries . It is indisputable that plague, yellow fever and small pox, which have killed hundreds of thousands of people earlier in human history, have almost disappeared on earth. Yet, new viruses have continued to add to the global history of epidemics, killing people in less developed countries with insufficient public health interventions. Taking Ebola as an example—it has already taken away thousands of lives in Africa.

These cases may seem too far away from people’s daily life, and we as average citizens cannot address these significant problems that are subject to multi-national efforts. We can, however, take a look at the public health situation inside the U.S. Although not threatened by deadly disease, America bears a high rate of obesity among its total population. Air quality used to be a great concern in LA, and Flint, MI, was hit by the polluted water crisis in the past year. None of these incidents are just incidental and irrelevant to our lives. According to ENCompass, an OSU student organization that thrives to “to empower individuals by connecting them with resources that address social determinants of health ”, people may suffer from insufficient health care due to their limited access to social resources, such as housing, foods and supplemental medical care. The “public” in public health clearly implies the non-discriminative nature of this discipline, thus health interventions that are taken to accommodate the public’s interests. It also tends to address social disparities, by defaulting everyone as a beneficiary of its intervention. To this point, public health efforts are largely distributed amongst finding cures for common disease like cancer, providing people services and access to resources as well as controlling water and air qualities, etc.

As an interdisciplinary field, OSU College of Public Health aims to create new knowledge to improve overall wellbeing of the people in Ohio and around the world. With the diligent work of faculty and students, the department of public health often conducts significant projects that are closely related to our daily life, quite contrary to our negligence of it. You would learn more about the amazing things public health professionals do to benefit the community in TEDxOhioStateUniversity’s first satellite event coming up on September 21st, featuring speaker Mindy Hoang, is a junior studying public health in the Environmental Public Health specialization at Ohio State. We’re so exciTED to see you tomorrow!

-Yifan Xu

If you don’t know anything about me, that’s fine; just know this one thing: my favorite season of the year is Award Show season. I love movies, I love seeing the things I love get recognition, so naturally, I love award shows. So much so that every year I make predictions of who will win, and I get intense. This is my version of sports – there is a lot of time, energy, money, tears and emotion invested in this. But instead of making brackets, I make ballots.

The Academy Awards (more commonly known as The Oscars) is the biggest, most-viewed, most prestigious award show of the year. The best of the best films will be competing for awards in 24 categories. This year, the 89th Oscars will be taking place on February 26th this year, starting at 8:30pm EST on ABC (red carpet coverage starting at 7:00pm EST). Here is my predictions ballot (winners are in bold, possible contenders are italicized):

"La La Land" leads the nominations with a record-tying 14.

Best Picture

• Arrival
• Fences
• Hacksaw Ridge
• Hell or High Water
• Hidden Figure
• La La Land
• Lion
• Manchester by the Sea
• Moonlight

Best Director

• Damien Chazelle ("La La Land")
• Mel Gibson ("Hacksaw Ridge")
• Barry Jenkins ("Moonlight")
• Kenneth Lonergan ("Manchester by the Sea")
• Denis Villeneuve ("Arrival")

"Moonlight"

Best Actor

• Casey Affleck ("Manchester by the Sea")
• Andrew Garfield ("Hacksaw Ridge")
• Ryan Gosling ("La La Land")
• Viggo Mortensen ("Captain Fantastic")
• Denzel Washington ("Fences")

Best Actress

• Isabelle Huppert ("Elle")
• Ruth Negga ("Loving")
• Natalie Portman ("Jackie")
• Emma Stone ("La La Land")
• Meryl Streep ("Florence Foster Jenkins")

"Manchester by the Sea"

Best Supporting Actor

• Mahershela Ali ("Moonlight")
• Jeff Bridges ("Hell of High Water")
• Lucas Hedges ("Manchester by the Sea")
• Dev Patel ("Lion")
• Michael Shannon ("Nocturnal Animals")

Best Supporting Actress

• Viola Davis ("Fences")
• Naomie Harris ("Moonlight")
• Nicole Kidman ("Lion")
• Octavia Spencer ("Hidden Figures")
• Michelle Williams ("Manchester by the Sea")

"Fences"

Best Original Screenplay

• "Hell or High Water"
• "La La Land"
• "The Lobster"
• "Manchester by the Sea"
• "20th Century Women"

Best Adapted Screenplay

• "Arrival"
• "Fences"
• "Hidden Figures"
• "Lion"
• "Moonlight"

"Arrival"

Best Foreign Language Film

• "Land of Mine" (Denmark)
• "A Man Called Ove" (Sweden)
• "The Salesman" (Iran)
• "Tanna" (Australia)
• "Toni Erdmann" (Germany)

Best Documentary - Feature

• "Fire at Sea"
• "I Am Not Your Negro"
• "Life, Animated"
• "O.J.: Made in America"
• "13th"

Best Documentary - Short Subject

• "Extremis"
• "4.1 Miles"
• "Joe's Violin"
• "Watani: My Homeland"
• "The White Helmets"

"Lion"

Best Animated Feature Film

• "Kubo and the Two Strings"
• "Moana"
• "My Life as a Courgette"
• "The Red Turtle"
• "Zootopia"

Best Animated Short Film

• "Blind Vaysha"
• "Borrowed Time"
• "Pear Cider and Cigarettes"
• "Pearl"
• "Piper"

Best Live Action Short Film

• "Ennemis intérieurs"
• "La Femme et le TGV"
• "Silent Nights"
• "Sing"
• "Timecode"

"Hacksaw Ridge"

Best Original Score

• "Jackie"
• "La La Land"
• "Lion"
• "Moonlight"
• "Passengers"

Best Original Song

• 'Audition (The Fools Who Dream)' from "La La Land"
• 'Can't Stop the Feelings!' from "Trolls"
• 'City of Stars' from "La La Land"
• 'The Empty Chair' from "Jim: The James Foley Story"
• 'How Far I'll Go' from "Moana"

Best Sound Editing

• "Arrival"
• "Deepwater Horizon"
• "Hacksaw Ridge"
• "La La Land"
• "Sully"

Best Sound Mixing

• "Arrival"
• "Hacksaw Ridge"
• "La La Land"
• "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"
• "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi"

"Hidden Figures"

Best Cinematography

• "Arrival"
• "La La Land"
• "Lion"
• "Moonlight"
• "Silence"

Best Visual Effects

• "Deepwater Horizon"
• "Doctor Strange"
• "The Jungle Book"
• "Kubo and the Two Strings"
• "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"

Best Film Editing

• "Arrival"
• "Hacksaw Ridge"
• "Hell or High Water"
• "La La Land"
• "Moonlight"

"Hell or High Water"

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• "A Man Called Ove"
• "Star Trek Beyond"
• "Suicide Squad"

Best Costume Design

• "Allied"
• "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"
• "Florence Foster Jenkins"
• "Jackie"
• "La La Land"

Best Production Design

• "Arrival"
• "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them"
• "Hail, Caesar!"
• "La La Land"
• "Passengers"