Last Last Saturday, February 22nd, was the day of the long-awaited TEDxWellesleyCollege conference!
The theme of this conference was “consilience”: the idea of skills and knowledge from different disciplines converging together to create something new.
I was able to attend Session Four of the talks entitled Re:defining boundaries. The three speakers were George Hart, Arlene Blum, and Story Musgrave. All three of the talks were inspirational and fascinating: Mr. Hart spoke about the ways in which he uses mathematics to create art, and the pure beauty behind mathematical thinking. Arlene Blum, a Chemistry professor at Wellesley College, took us on her life journey of extreme mountain climbing as well as her endeavors as an environmental health scientist.
Mr. Musgrave spoke about his experiences as a surgeon, astronaut, engineer and father.
His talk was especially inspiring not only because of his countless accomplishments in various fields, but his seemingly undying passion to discover what our purpose as humans is in the universe.
What struck me most was his go-get-em attitude. Throughout his talk, he would mention an amazing feat he accomplished such as becoming a surgeon by saying “…I found it fascinating, so then I did that.” To him, it was simple: if he wanted to accomplish or learn something he went at it wholeheartedly and willingly, full of curiosity. I found this inspiring, and thought I should try to apply this to my own life.
“my advice is easy to follow because it’s just step by step”
For me, one of those steps is coming to Wellesley. I chose to attend a small liberal arts college because I thought here, I’ll be able to take on studies of different fields without having to immediately commit to one. What I took out of this amazing experience of hearing stories of such accomplished people is that I need to try anything and everything that sparks my interest. And for now, that’s what I plan to do.
