Mythbusters co-host Adam Savage was one of three speakers that shared ideas to the audience at the Millennium Center on Tuesday as ETSU College of Business and Technology and Eastman kicked off their two day IDEAcademy.
At the start of the event, President Noland talked about how the Millennium Center helps faculty and students engage in conversation.
“If you were to go in those classrooms, what would you see?” Noland said. “Students and faculty engaged in conversations about ideas, engaged in conversations about the future, engaged in conversations that push one another, that expand horizons and ultimately create innovation. That’s what I hope will happen here today.”
One of the first speakers was Andy Rogers, a physician assistant and creator of the play “Andy and the Beats.” Within his talk, Rogers spoke of how he created a play about a young boy named Andy with Type 1 Diabetes, and had dreams of getting the play on Broadway. Rogers said that no matter what he tried, the play was not picked up, and that taught him an important lesson he shared with the audience.
“If you’re a college student sitting in this audience right now, the main thing I can tell you to do that’s going to make your life easier is to forge your future with patience,” Rogers said.
One of the next speakers was David Nelson, co-founder of BrewFund. Nelson dispelled some of the myths involved with entrepreneurship. Some of the myths he dispelled included that you’d have to quit your job to start an entrepreneurship and that ideas can’t be made in an area like the Tri-Cities.
“ETSU and our medical space is a testament to the innovation that’s here,” Nelson said. “The whole Appalachian region was built on innovation and survival.”
The highlight speaker of the idea academic was Adam Savage, a writer, actor and former co-host of the TV show “Mythbusters.” During his talk, Savage spoke of the success he had had throughout his career. Savage discussed the knight costume he made as a teenager, the time he tried to replicate the gun from the movie “Blade Runner” and one of the experiments he did on “Mythbusters.” Savage then told the audience that when it comes to talking about failure, people sometimes mean a different word.
“We talk about teaching kids how to fail,” Savage said. “It’s a good word to use because it catches your attention, but I think it’s time to move on from that because we don’t really mean failure. … If you’ve ever seen talks by famous people or authors, they often tell stories of things they encounter that were difficult, but these aren’t stories of failure these are stories of iteration. … What we really mean in all the talk we do about failure is iteration.”
ETSU Junior Charles Preston said that he thought the show was very well produced, and that he took away a lesson in personal growth.
“I’ve always been the one that’s like, ‘I need to find something to do with my life,'” Preston said. “I want to get more involved with things, I’ve just never really known how to do it. These speakers have given me more of a push to try and find something. Perhaps I won’t find it within the next month, perhaps I won’t find it within the next year, but something’s out there, and I’ve just got to find it.”
