OUR VIEW: Speakers provide firsthand learning experience

While many students were moving in Saturday morning, a unique speaker gave a presentation the vast majority of the student body missed.

Big deal, right? Speakers come to USU all the time and talk about all sorts of exciting things – fish, environmental conservation, exciting new research in plant breeding – what a shame to miss out on it. That’s where you’d be wrong.

Saturday morning, Ishmael Beah spoke to an audience largely dominated by freshmen Connections students. While the name may not ring a bell, his story should sound as a clarion call for students to snap out of their Logan-centric bubble and see the world around them as it is.

The 27-year-old Beah was once a child soldier fighting in the Sierra Leone civil war in the 1990s. His experiences took him to a world where his childhood was abruptly shattered as the war gradually dehumanized the children that committed horrible atrocities for organizations they knew little to nothing about.

Today, Beah is an award-winning author of “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier,” who lives in the United States. On a tight schedule, Beah took time aside to come to Logan to speak to students about his experiences. His insights provided a glimpse into a world most students know nothing about.

Beah isn’t the only speaker to bring a distant world view to USU. Two years ago, Paul Rusesabagina, the brave hotel manager who risked his life to help others during the brutal Rwanda massacres, spoke to a small audience in the TSC Ballroom.

Beah and Rusesabagina aren’t the only speakers doing that come to USU. Throughout the school year, numerous speakers are brought to campus to provide additional learning opportunities for students. It’s one thing to talk about a subject in an academic way, it’s quite another thing to hear it from a person who experienced something firsthand.

Sadly, fewer students seem to be attending these events each semester. These events are generally short and extremely interesting, and some teachers even offer extra credit for attending.

As students, you owe it to yourself to get the most out of your educational experience. You’re paying good money to get an education, so why not take advantage of these speakers. If nothing else, you will have exposed yourself to the bigger world around you, making you that much more knowledgeable and well-rounded.