The idea that I would like to discuss in my TED Talk is the power of Change. Although it might seem like a very broad topic, I’m planning on breaking it down to the social aspect in teenagers. It closely relates with my paradigm shift essay, but is a little branched out in a sense. This presentation will be more closely attributed to the pathos rhetorical device more than any other, but both ethos and logos will be implemented throughout the presentation. By the end of my presentation I would hope the audience truly understands the power that Change can really have. Both on yourself and the community around you.

Yet again, Penn State Faculty have decided to make yet another corny event for people to come together. You would figure that after a good couple weeks of being at college, Freshman would get the hang of it. I guess they really underestimate us. Except, unlike the previous attempts at bringing people close together, to try and meet others… They changed it up a little. Their idea for Pumpkin Palooza, was not only to bring people together and have them interact, but they gave incentives to come this time. They increased their target audience in two different way. The first one being, they addressed the fact that it is halloween, so everyone will be dressed up in their costumes. So if you want to go check out how your costume is compared to plenty of others, its a great chance to check it out. Secondly, they have decided to give out plenty of awards throughout the event. They held a costume contest, as well as giving out other awards for: most creative, funniest, etc. They are giving people not only an incentive to come and try to compete for these awards, but, indirectly, they are almost in a sense motivating people who plan on showing up, to prepare the best costume they possible can. Hope it turns out to be a great turnout, with a bunch of great costumes.

Another charity event for THON. What a shocker? But, unlike most of the other charity events that THON usually hosts, this one has a little twist to it. This actually targets a whole new audience to donate. Like myself, I actually love running… weird right? But its true, i really do like it. Which is why i actually think i underestimate THON’s strategical abilities. Most of their events, (which only know i realize) are set up in a fashion to target as many different types of people, to raise the largest amounts of money. At the end it really is all about the money and it really is all about there motto “For The Kids”.  I believe the 5K run, is not only a great way to donate money, but it is a fun civic duty. It even has plenty of incentives for people who need them. It’s great exercise, it is fun, it goes to a good cause, you run with others who are there for the same reason, etc…. And if you are in an organization for THON, it really helps your foundation. It costs 18$ to enter the race, 15$ of which are written directly under you respective THON committee. The 5K run will be held this Saturday at around 10:00am. Hope to see you all running alongside me!

A topic for a paradigm shift that i have decided to dissect, is what are the reasons young celebs go rotten. The main reason I have decided to chose this topic is because it honestly does fascinate me as to why, HUGE pop stars, actors, and musicians, turn bad at certain age. Prime examples would be: Miley Cyrus, Justin Beiber, Amanda Bynes, etc. Each and everyone of these celebs were all “goody goodies” at one point in time. Miley cyrus even went on an interview and criticized other celebrities who did drugs and mentioned that she would never even get close, yet its clearly obvious she had a tough time keeping her promise. Some research question that I’ll use would be: “Is it the media’s fault?” “It is family problems” “Anger managment?” etc. Basically I’ll be researching possible topics to as why this dramatic change occurs.

This upcoming weekend, is one of many official canning weekends for Penn State. For those of you who don’t know what canning is, it is a designated weekend, where kids from Penn State travel all over to certain locations (decided by them and their organizations) and stand on the street with cans, asking for charitable donations. The overall goal, is for each organization to raise as much money  for their notable charity foundation towards THON. It’s kind of crazy to think how when i was younger i use to wonder what those kids on intersections from Penn State were doing, and this weekend I will be taking part of it. For many of those who aren’t in a foundation for THON can for the sole purpose of raises money for the charity. In a sense it almost seems like their civic duty to go out and to collect money and donations. When you go canning with your group members, it actually makes you closer to each other, it is most certainly a great bonding experience. There is no downside to going out and canning. Take time out of your weekend, and go raise money for a good cause! Good Luck Canning!

I’m not sure if people who have season tickets realized, but over the week, the people who work at Beaver Stadium made a mistake by giving out too many season tickets, and are now in a lack of room/seats for season ticket holders, or ticket holders in general. So in attempt to create more room, they have created three incentives for ticket holder to trade in. They sent a huge mass-webmail through the student email, which is actually pretty smart because it targets all the student ticket holders. They gave an option to get half off of next year’s season tickets, another incentive was a 200$ donation to THON under your respective name, and lastly they offered the option to get on-field access before the game of the next BIG home games. All three incentives are very appealing… But in my opinion, especially if you are a freshman, I recommend going to your first homecoming game, especially Michigan. It’s going to be a crazy good game. Have fun and lets go PSU!

Now just to be clear, no I am not talking about gossiping in the bathrooms… If you notice all over the walls, and in the stalls (at least for my floor bathroom) there are flyers everywhere named “Bathroom Stories”. The first couple weeks at school my initial thought was “this has got to be some stupid flyer the school puts up to try to persuade us to go out and do something corny”. But after I got past my ignorance, I finally decided to take two minutes out of my day and read one. It was nothing like what I expected. It ended up being just a bunch of little factoids and fun facts about Penn State. There was also a mini comedy section that was sometimes implemented. Then of course there is always one “corny” post about something random, but there is also a weekly schedule of all the events that will be taking place at our campus. I think this is a great way to get a message across, but in one of the most subtle ways. But what I believe the best part is, the only people who actually read it, are obviously the ones who are most likely to come participate at these events.

For my rhetorical analysis Essay I have decided to use the John F. Kennedy Inaugural Address. The reason I have decided to use this speech was for, aside from the obvious, it’s a really well-written address. The first time I read this speech I immediately fell in love with it. It is one of the, if not the, greatest inaugural address ever given. It is easily also one of the most recognized ones. It clearly uses all three Rhetorical Tools, ethos, pathos, and logos.  While listening, or reading, the speech makes you want to go out and do something. It really did make me want to be a better person and serve my community better. I also believe that there is a lot of depth of rhetorical analysis embedded in this speech. “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.” In the speech itself JFK is asking you to go out and be a better citizen to the country that you love.

If you don’t know where this saying is from, then you must have been living under a rock for the past 18 years of your life. Such a simple saying, yet so much power. Nike is the largest shoe supplier in the world, and they are growing in their sports apparel department. This simple three-worded phrase, is possibly one of, if not the, most famous slogan from any company (other than arguably McDonalds). They use ethos most out of any, to sway their audience/consumers they use their huge credibility to their advantage. Along side that, they use pathos. Although it might not really seem like it, when you actually hear the saying “Just do it“, what their message is really trying to say is that you should have no excuses, just go out and do whatever it is you need/want to do. Now for the even bigger “image”, the famous swoosh. There is probably not a single human being on this earth who wouldn’t recognize the nike swoosh (this is a huge generalization, don’t take me word for it).

As you can see in this commercial that Nike aired, they used clever saying to get inside your head to get you moving and do whatever it is you have to do such as “If you can run a mile, why not run a marathon”. But Nike is smart and they use huge stars and athletes to prove that they are so big and credible.

One of the nation’s biggest greek life communities is here at Penn State. This semester I am rushing and I can honestly say that it has been quite the experience so far. But, if you set aside the obvious reasons of why people might join a fraternity or a sorority, there are so many opportunities for rhetorical interaction. Not only that but in a way, joining a frat or a sorority can be considered civic. Your’e joining a group of people who share the same ideologies as you, and as a group you can do many civic engagements together. Overall I think joining Greek Life is a once in a lifetime opportunity and everyone should do it. Have fun Rushing!!!