A former NFL player told UF students to be themselves at TEDxUF on Friday night.
Ten people spoke at the event, held in the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, during the four-hour conference that focused on identity, said Erin Meisenzahl-Peace, a 21-year-old UF journalism senior and the curator of TEDxUF. About 1,600 students listened as speakers talked about video games, sexual orientation, genetic engineering and meditation.
The event was free for students, and about 16 sponsors provided money for the conference, said Meisenzahl-Peace. None of the speakers were paid.
Veronica Hernandez, a UF digital arts and sciences senior, opened the conference by talking about video games and apathy. She told students to be their own superheroes.
“The world is under attack,” the 21-year-old said. “Apathy isn’t just a villain; it’s a supervillain.”
She used her own experience as a videogame user experience designer, in which she researches and improves players’ experiences, to show how students can enact change in their lives.
“You don’t need to lead the march to make a difference,” she said.
Hernandez was the only student to talk at the conference. She said she felt humbled and encouraged to be onstage with the other speakers.
“It’s hard to feel that way when you’re standing next to so many accomplished adults,” she said.
She said her speech was inspired by her friends’ and family’s doubts that global issues, such as war, can be fixed. But she said everyone can work to fight against apathy,
which is the root of the world’s problems.
“None of this would happen without everyday people,” she said.
Most of the speakers were from Gainesville or north Florida, said Meisenzahl-Peace. Wade Davis II, a former NFL player, also spoke.
Davis, while wearing a transgender rights T-shirt, talked about living as a closeted gay man. He said he was so afraid of coming out he bullied anyone perceived to be effeminate or gay.
“We raise young boys to wear a mask of toughness in order to be a man,” he said. “I was never taught how to be myself and how to love myself.”
Sophia Visent, a UF geomatics freshman, said she enjoyed the variety of speakers.
“The presenters within each talk gave something of themselves,” the 19-year-old said. “They brought in different perspectives, different ideas.
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Veronica Hernandez, a UF digital arts and sciences senior, speaks about video games and apathy during the 2016 TEDxUF. “The world is under attack,” the 21-year-old said. “Apathy isn’t just a villain, it’s a supervillain.”
