Former child actor and now-published author, Josh Peck will be speaking with NMU students during “A Conversation with Josh Peck.”

He starred in the Nickelodeon series, “Drake & Josh” from 2004-2007 and also released a book less than a year ago in March titled, “Happy People Are Annoying”.  

The event will be hosted in the Northern Center Grand Ballroom on Monday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased online from the NMU ticketing office and are free for students and $5 for the general public. 

Bailey Gomes, co-president of Platform Personalities, said the organization is excited to have this event and bring a good speaker to Northern.

“Our core mission has been to bring people who have a really good story to tell to campus so students can meet them,” Gomes said. “Students can learn from them and hear their life stories and be inspired by them or just learn something new.”

Peck was one of the top options for a Platform Personalities speaker last semester, but the group chose to bring author and former Nickelodeon actress, Jennette McCurdy to campus. McCurdy ultimately had to cancel her event, “An Evening with Jennette McCurdy.”

“We thought that Josh would be a good person, sort of in the same vein, the same recognizable type of person from the same T.V. network,” Gomes said. 

Platform Personalities selects its speakers by first holding a brainstorming event in which everyone writes down a couple of their top options for speakers for the semester. This list is decided by the members of the organization or in a poll sent out to students via Instagram.

From this list the group looks at the prices and compares them to their budget, to see what is within their price range. From there, the list is narrowed down to just a few options. Then, booking agents are contacted and all the details are worked out to see if the speaker is within budget and that the date works for both the speaker and NMU. Then a contract and venue are locked in, Gomes said.   

“When I was talking with the booking agent, they just had the most wonderful things to say about him as a speaker, that he’s just amazing at colleges and is a very funny person to see live,” Gomes said. “That was also definitely something that pushed us in the direction of going with him.”

Platform Personalities will have one more speaker coming to campus this semester. Students were asked to vote in an online poll posted to the student organization’s Instagram, @platformpersonalities, in January. The winner of the poll has been decided and is yet to be announced, but that information is expected soon, Gomes said. 

“We have a person selected and we are in the process of getting that contract finalized,” Gomes said. “Once that contract is finalized, we’ll be able to spread the news. I’m personally very excited.”

To decide on future speakers in coming semesters, students can attend Platform Personalities meetings at 2 p.m. on Thursdays. The meetings are hosted in the Center for Student Enrichment front room, located in the Northern Center.