Sinclair Talks centralizes cultural, social and personal issues into daily sessions that focus on helping students become more successful.
What started as a weekly event, has now turned into a daily session of what is modeled after Ted Talks.
Sinclair Talks came into existence three years ago when Peter Bolmida, coordinator of transfer services, wanted to provide students with a consistent schedule of presentations from faculty and staff. His main point was aimed toward answering his question: “what can we do to help students be more successful?”
The first year of Sinclair Talks hosted 30 sessions of presentations.
“We had just under 1000 students the first year, with 10 sessions a quarter,” Bolmida said.
His main goal was to enhance the studies of students by giving them
an opportunity to supplement their classroom work. Because of the interest of Sinclair Talks, Bolmida said they now provide talks daily.
Not only does Sinclair Talks use the knowledge of faculty and staff on campus, but they also bring in outside speakers to provide students with the best information.
The first few presentations are about computers and technology.
“It touches on a wide range of learning about computers,” Bolmida said.
He also added a series of talks that help students academically.
“It helps students with the study habits and academic skills,” Bolmida said.
Sinclair Talks also has an international series that focuses on cultural dynamics.
“We highlight a different country once a month,” Bolmida said.
Another goal is finding out what social issues are important to students.
“Human trafficking is one. Given our geographic information, we have a lot of trafficking issues around this area, and Columbus,” Bolmida said.
“That’s a pretty popular issue with students.”
Sinclair Talks aren’t just about academic advice, these sessions also provide way to ease stress.
Sinclair Talks hosts the puppies on campus event. Bolmida said it’s always a good turn out.
“We always do this event during finals week, but now we are also bringing them in during the start of the semester,” Bolmida said.
The sessions aren’t just for main campus students; the talks are also provided at all the learning centers, as well. Sinclair Talks has grown and evolved in the last three years. It has been estimated that there has been a total of 4000 students that have attended the sessions.
“It [Sinclair Talks] has grown four times in the last three years,” Bolmida said.
Bolmida is also on the committee of TedX Dayton, which is Dayton’s version of Ted Talks. He gets the opportunity to choose speakers and guests.
“I want to make sure that Ted X has speakers from Sinclair,” Bolmida said. “The other thing I am really interested in, is bringing [TedX Dayton] speakers here to Sinclair Talks.”
This gives a wide range of speakers to present at Sinclair Talks.
“It’s faculty, and some students that have led sessions too, and staff, along with external speakers,” Bolmida said.
Each session has a focus and is aimed toward certain majors, but all students are welcome.
“We want a diverse audience,” Bolmida said.
He said the most important goal is to provide students with knowledge and socialization.
“It gives students an opportunity to socialize and connect with
others outside of the classroom,” Bolmida said. “Connection is really important.”