Written by: Therese Joffre, Website Manager
Elizabeth (Lizzy) Bassett is our Lead Organizer on the executive team. She is a sophomore at Hope College and is majoring in communication and minoring in organizational leadership. She is from Glen Ellyn, Illinois. When not working on TEDxHopeCollege, Lizzy spends her time in Student Congress as a Sophomore Class Representative, working as a Dykstra Hall RA and helping with Nykerk Odd Year Oration.
Lizzy's role on the team is in threefold. First, she leads the team in our decision making as we work together to craft the TEDx event. Next, she connects our team with Hope College, the global TEDx organization and the greater Holland community. Finally, it is to sculpt a team culture, an organizational presence in our community, a foundation for permanence and an avenue for maximized impact and positive change for all who are involved.
As the founder of TEDxHopeCollege, Lizzy saw a need for a culture of listening that stood beyond the boundaries of religious or political affiliations. She wanted to give a platform for others to be heard. Lizzt says, "there's a power in that [of others being heard]; a power that can transform a community, dismantle global adversity, [and] make an individual realize that they, too, matter". She shares that her experience in Nykerk Oration brought her to realize how empowering being heard truly is. She wants every single person to be able to experience that feeling. With this mission at heart, Lizzy decided to apply to become the first licensed organizer of TEDxHopeCollege.
What Lizzy is most excited about for TEDxHopeCollege is passing the torch to future student leaders. She is eager to watch this organization sustain itself, and grow in new ways over the years. The theme Lizzy selected for this year, "Turning the Tables", packs many interpretations. For izzy, the theme means "flipping adverse circumstances into an opportunity for growth and change."
If Lizzy were to give a TEDx Talk, she would discuss pluralism and the need for different thinkers to build stronger communities. An obscure talent of hers is playing strategy games like Chess and Risk. Something that instantly makes her day better is coffee, and her biggest irrational fear is raccoons.
If you have any questions for Lizzy about her role on our executive team, contact her by email at elizabeth.bassett@hope.edu.
