Yehee “Nicole” Son brought up the issue of sexuality in a disabled community and how able-bodied people need to “chill out” and not assume that the disabled can’t live a normal life. | Matt Flora/The Cougar
A group of nine talented UH speakers presented their unique talks at the Student Center Theater Thursday as part of the Student Program Board’s second COOG Talks event.
The event was modeled after TED conferences, where people from all backgrounds share their ideas about technology, science, philosophy and education. Each speaker had a message to either inform, persuade, reminisce or bring awareness to an event or topic.
A mixture of professors, undergraduate and graduate students all spoke on issues varying from “breaking up with Siri” to how being bilingual may provide cognitive advantages.
The first to speak was freshman and advertising major Davis Darusman. He spoke about relationships with nostalgia. Darusman talked about leaving home for college and used humor, videos, memes and pop culture references to make the audience laugh and reminisce.
Supply chain and logistics major Maham Qadri recited her break up letter to Siri, explaining how constantly looking down at her phone had taken away the pleasure of just looking up and enjoying reality all around her.
“A lot of the speakers that were here that gave speeches today had such interesting topics…,” Qadri said. “I feel that (the participants) really do want to say something. They have such powerful beliefs. That is something you should listen to.”
“I thought each speaker was amazing,” attendee and public relations major Sana Shahid said. “Hearing everyone on that stage was so inspiring.”
This was SPB’s second COOG Talks, and the board said they are still working to make the next event even better.
“It’s still a growing event, I’m excited about the number of people that came out,” Comedy and Speakers SPB Chair Myles Parnell said. “The quality of the talks that were given was extremely high. I’m pleased with the event, and I’m excited.”
