TEDxBard: Students Build Bridges Across the Bard Community

Lauren Rodgers ’27 reports on the second annual TEDxBard conference, “Building Bridges,” held on February 8 at Bard College. “We wanted our conference to be forward-looking. We wanted to seek innovation and experience. We realized that ‘Building Bridges’ has that forward-looking output and gives an edge to the conference that it didn’t have before,” said Thanasis Kostikas ’26, a founding member of the TEDxBard initiative. Led collaboratively by Kostikas, Emily O’Rourke ’25, Jay Siegal ’26, and Masoma Shoayb ’25, TEDxBard is a student-run organization that provides a platform for the Bard community to share their ideas on a broader scale. With the goal of amplifying student voices, TEDxBard creates a reciprocal space where students can share their own ideas, listen to the thoughts of their peers, and critically engage with one another’s perspectives. “TEDx gave me a platform to express my non-academic drive and build skills that apply to my academic life. For example, leadership skills, time management, discipline, confidence, and public speaking. In any job or career I end up doing, learning how to talk to people and navigate situations diplomatically is essential. These skills are all very much interconnected, like building bridges,” Kostikas said regarding his experience as a student organizer.

Post Date: 03-04-2025