By Remi Evans T’16, Tuck Bridge '10
Remi Evans T’16 grew up in Colorado, loves endurance sports, and can often be found exploring the outdoors. She graduated from Trinity College in 2011 as a neuroscience major, spent the past few years as an investment banker in NYC with Citigroup, Inc., and is now immensely happy to be a member of the Tuck community.
During my Tuck orientation, I found myself sitting outside in the midst of a group dinner composed of fellow new students. This was my first interaction with the majority of my group, so I was curious what would be discussed. As time passed, the conversation grew comfortable, and suddenly, I found myself listening to a classmate speak of his struggles in coming from South America to Tuck. It was a very personal, deep, and heart wrenching story, and I was both incredibly happy that he had shared it with me, and sad that others would likely never hear his unique story.
As a global community, we have a diversity of stories and perspectives, and yet somehow we have all arrived at the same place: Tuck. Unfortunately, in an environment where everyone is incredibly busy, the depth to which we know the people around us can vary drastically. Yet, so much of what is important to our two years at Tuck, and those that follow, are the individuals around us and the depth of experiences and knowledge they possess.
Luckily, two incredible classmates in the class above me, John Wheelock T’15 and Pasy Govindarajan T’15, had spent their first year at Tuck also thinking about the value of shared experiences and ways in which these stories could be heard. Together, we created Tuck Talks, an evening for sharing stories and a powerful opportunity for the Tuck community to meet and take the time to learn about each other. Each session of Tuck Talks features a small group of students and professors who each speak for ten minutes about something they are passionate about, thereby sharing to a greater degree who they are. By providing “Talkers” with the freedom to speak about their passions, but asking that their stories ultimately have a “take away,” audience members are able to learn from the Talkers’ genuine, honest stories and walk away from the evening with lifelong lessons and new perspectives.
In one evening, audience members may hear about the lessons learned from sitting down for a meal together at the kitchen table, or the power of living fully in the moment as taught through the lens of fatherhood, or how taking the time to tell others that they are doing a great job can transform a rock band from playing to an empty bar room to playing for the masses. When the night ends, we hope to have generated new connections, sparked conversation, and fostered a stronger sense of community.
Talkers in the winter term included Charles Christianson T’15, Professor Vijay Govindarajan, Jacob Johnson T’15, Michael Mirandi T’15, Lyusha Goldberger T’15, Ian Bomberg T’15, and myself.
Tuck Talks … what stories will you hear and share?
(Photo above, from left: Professor Vijay Govindarajan, Dean Stocken, Michael Mirandi T’15, Charles Christianson T’15, Lyusha Goldberger T’15, Jacob Johnson T’15, Remi Evans T’16, Ian Bomberg T’15, Pasy Govindarajan T’15, John Wheelock T’15, Jay Boren T’16)