John Green will be visiting Northern for a fireside chat and Q&A session with the audience. This event will be held in the Northern Center Ballrooms on Monday, January 22, at 7 p.m., with doors opening at 6 p.m. Green will be discussing mental health topics and creative outlets to help launch NMU WellBeing’s Be Well in Winter campaign.
John Green is a New York Times Best Selling author, with some well-known books being “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Paper Towns,” “Turtles All the Way Down,” and “Looking for Alaska.” Green is also well-known for being a cohost of Crash Course with his brother, Hank Green. Using his books, Green touches on various aspects of mental health, like obsessive compulsive disorder in “Turtles All the Way Down.”
This event is organized by Platform Personalities, in collaboration with NMU WellBeing. Platform Personalities is a university-funded student organization that brings motivational, inspirational, and educational speakers to NMU.
The format of this event will look slightly different than past speaking events hosted by Platform Personalities, with this event being a more informal, conversation-like event. Bailey Gomes, Platform Personality president, will be leading this fireside chat and asking Green questions. There will also be a Q&A session at the end for attendees to ask Green questions.
“I am going to talk a little bit about mental health and wellbeing in general, but also how books can be an escape and creative outlet for those things, and how we can pull from our real-life experiences to create art in this way,” Gomes said.
Gomes intends to discuss some other topics with Green, too.
“I also plan on asking about the writing process and his philanthropy, and what motivates him to do all these amazing things,” Gomes said.
Like many of the past speakers hosted by Platform Personalities, Green was chosen for a multitude of reasons.
“Based on his online persona, he is such a positive person and he has put so much good into the world,” Gomes said, “I think he is a great figure to look at for promoting mental health in the right ways and doing great things in the community.”
Having a bigger name like Green is also great publicity for both the university and Platform Personalities.
“Events like this are funded by the Student Activity Fee, so if students vote to increase this fee on the upcoming referendum, we will be able to keep doing bigger events like this because we will have more of a budget to work with,” Gomes said.
This is a sold-out event, with over 900 tickets being sold. Gomes emphasized the need for patience and understanding from the audience during this event, given the size and number of attendees.
Despite the amount of work it takes to bring in speakers, especially ones like Green, Platform Personalities has struggled with member participation in recent years, with the majority of participants being Seniors.
“Seeing how far this group has come, because when I started it at the beginning of this year, I was the only member. We now have about 13-14 active members who are consistently attending meetings,” Gomes said. “I am really proud of where we have come from. It makes me really proud of the work we have all put in, it makes me really proud of my team.”
To join Platform Personalities, visit their page on The Hub to learn more.
