The Student Center Ballroom was filled with students listening to the last Star Lecture of the semester, “The Conflicts We Face With our Identities While Pursuing a Well-Lived Life” Tuesday night. The lecture was led by John Feldkamp, associate director of The Honors College.
“John knows mostly everybody’s name at The Honors College,” said Sara Dudzik, junior apparel and textile merchandising major.
On bringing prospective students to Eastern Michigan University, Feldkamp said “it’s my job to hold the lenses.”
His lecture started with his birth and worked through his whole life up to the person he is today.
Feldkamp said the message was, “We are complex individuals and within us are multiple identities. And, it is the tension and the decisions we make within those identities that make us a person as a whole.”
He emphasized students being comfortable with themselves throughout the lecture. He said it’s okay to not know what will happen next, but they should know that what they’re doing is causing improvement today, which will ultimately help them no matter where they go.
Throughout the lecture, he went over multiple lessons: professional, lifestyle and guardian. For “professional,” Feldkamp said to visualize where you are going and have a plan. But to be okay with knowing it may not go as planned.
He said to embrace your inner self and mentioned times in his life when his path unexpectedly changed, but being content with it. When discussing the “lifestyle” portion, Feldkamp said to always evaluate your needs versus your wants, and to practice patience. He talked about his choice to follow a vegan diet and his thought process when he thinks about deviating from his diet.
Lastly, Feldkamp talked about being a guardian. He doesn't have children of his own, but a beloved cat. On the subject of his cat, he talked about the “push and pull between parenthood and ownership.”
Abbey Vermeulen, a freshman international affairs and literature double major said the topic of the lecture was “important, especially for undergraduate students trying to figure out who they are.”
