Ashleigh Pollart has spent her whole life in the Harrisburg area, and she’s eager to see her community flourish. When the 25-year-old set out to organize the city’s first TEDx conference, the theme seemed obvious: “Thrive.”
TED (“Technology, Entertainment and Design”) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote “ideas worth spreading.” What began as a four-day conference in California three decades ago has grown into a worldwide phenomenon. The two annual TED Conferences feature “TED Talks” from scientists, philanthropists, politicians and other great thinkers on a vast variety of topics.
The TEDx program supports individuals and groups in planning and hosting local TED-style events, and Pollart worked with a team of organizers to craft Harrisburg’s first-ever TEDx Conference, which will be held next month.
“Living in Harrisburg over the past few years, I think we’ve noticed the need for something like this,” Pollart said. “The city is really going in a great direction. I think we’ve been climbing up and up, but we also realize that, if just a few key players stopped their community engagement, Harrisburg could easily fall back to where it was.”
Pollart feels that this event comes at a perfect time in the city’s development, so the theme of “Thrive” is both a celebration of Harrisburg’s progress and an investment in its future.
“I think right now is a really good time to hold an event like this to encourage learning and to highlight the great minds and efforts we have in our small community,” she said. “We hope to empower people to form relationships and keep Harrisburg moving forward along that trajectory.”
Different Perspectives
Months ago, Pollart and the organizing committee put out a call to the community, soliciting applications for speakers. She said she was overwhelmed by the positive response.
“Going into planning, we were unsure of how people would react, since this is our first time doing this,” she said. “We received maybe triple the applications we anticipated, which was a great problem to have.”
The conference’s 12 speakers run the gamut from the founder of a public art-based nonprofit to the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
“There’s one gentleman who runs a school in Harrisburg,” Pollart said. “His talk will focus on the need to teach students to love learning from a young age. Another speaker came here from Bhutan, and he’ll be speaking about the refugee experience. All the talks center around the theme of ‘Thrive,’ but they all have very different definitions and perspectives on thriving.”
Stephanie A. Jirard, a professor of criminal justice at Shippensburg University, will give a talk titled, “Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things.” The longtime attorney and former federal prosecutor and public defender will discuss the importance of pursuing social justice—and finding the courage to do so.
“Essentially, the subject of my talk is how people can find the intestinal fortitude to speak out about things they care about, specifically social and racial justice,” Jirard said. “How is it that, for some people, speaking out when they see something they consider wrong comes so naturally, while others are afraid to?”
Her talk will touch on major civil rights moments in history—women’s liberation, civil rights, LGBTQ equality—and the involvement of what she calls “ordinary people.”
“The success of these movements was dependent on ordinary people,” Jirard said. “Take the civil rights movement, for instance. Dr. King was the figurehead of course, but, really, it was everyday people who decided to sacrifice and to face all the societal ills to get us where we are today.”
Jirard said her talk’s central themes of courage and societal justice are well suited to Harrisburg’s inaugural TEDx conference.
“I find that, in Harrisburg, you have a phenomenally disenfranchised African-American community,” she said. “Throughout the state, there are all these resources, and then there’s Harrisburg, which seems like a community stuck in time. It’s like a throwback to a different era. What I would like is to bridge the gap between the communities I see, because the success of Harrisburg is the success of all of us.”
City resident Andy Enders will host the Oct. 10 event. The current HYP president, Enders said he feels a responsibility to begin conversations within the community—and keep them going.
“I think it’s a really beautiful opportunity for us as a community to figure out how others are leading this momentum forward,” Enders said. “I have to be an ambassador for that, to help portray this concept of ‘Thrive’ in a way that engages others. My singular goal is to drive conversation, before, during and after the event, to force the community to reflect on the things we’re talking about.”
Pollart said she hopes Harrisburg’s first TEDx conference won’t be its last. She’s anticipating a sold-out crowd, and ideally, she said, each attendee will leave inspired to help their community thrive.
“I honestly hope the audience leaves with more questions than answers,” she said. “I hope they get a sense of purpose to take action on the things they’ve learned throughout the course of the day. I hope we have a full audience, engaged in the day, and that we’re able to offer TEDx Harrisburg again in the future. One of the most beautiful things the TED brand brings is a sense that it can grow, and people will want to keep coming back.”
TEDx Harrisburg will be held Oct. 2 at Midtown Cinema, 250 Reily St., Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.tedxharrisburg.com.
Who, What
The following speakers and topics are planned for TEDx Harrisburg:
Al Chiardonna
“Life Work Integration”
Secretary Pedro A. Cortes
“From Carolina to the Capitol”
Josh Crain
“How to Talk to Anyone”
Tika Ram Dhungana
“Refugees Are Not the Garbage, They Are the Assets”
Brant Hansen
“Forgiveness in an Age of Anger”
Stephanie A. Jirard
“Ordinary People Do Extraordinary Things”
Bailey Richert
“Life Crisis? Start A Business”
Chuck Russell
“Innovate Harrisburg”
Lynn Shiner
“The ABCs of Dealing with Death”
Bryan Speece
“Virtue of Public Art”
Dr. Melissa Vayda
“What’s Your Story? Family, Addiction and the Brain”
Dr. Eric Waters
“Learning is Breathing”
Author: Kate Morgan
