Marshall Magazine Spring 2022

hall University By Carter Seaton Photos by Cameron Donohue

Wi th a shared vi s ion and some quick planning, the first TEDxMarshallU event took place 10 weeks later. While his official title is “organizer,” Kinghorn also holds the TEDx license, but he says the students do almost all the work. As such, Barclay and Petracca chose “Innovative Solutions to Complex Problems” as the theme for 2019. Because Huntington had just been named “America’s Best Community” in a nationwide contest for its creative plans to solve tough problems, the pair wanted to highlight some of those innovative ideas. Speakers included Marshall student Rawan Elhamdani, anAfrican-Middle Easternwoman liv ing inAppalachia who spoke about be ing a vehicle to help people overcome stereotypes, and Dr. Briana Nannen of Marshall’s School of Music, who shared her idea for using music as a tool in facilitating addiction recovery. Later, she developed her idea into a men’s choral program at Recovery Point in Huntington. In 2020, the theme was “Bridges” and presented ideas to bring people together. Ironically, coming together was the last thing 2020 allowed be cause of the COVID-19 pandemic. Plans to hold the event at the Jean Carlo Stephenson Auditorium in

Dr. Suzanne Strait (foreground), associate director of Science and Research at the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; Dr. Ashley Perkins, mental health advocate; Allen Meadows, representative of the Young Thundering Herd; and Lee Farabaugh, president and co-founder of Core10. Also featured was Jack Lengyel, former head football coach, not available.

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