Uhuru Magazine will sponsor the event What Matters to Me and Why at 8 p.m. April 23 in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union, featuring 10 “captivating” speakers that embody various aspects of campus.

Briana Haguewood, senior in journalism and mass communication and managing editor of Uhuru Magazine, is planning this event for the second time.

“It’s important to know what matters to you; it’s simple but not often enough do people stop and think about it,” said Haguewood.

Haguewood said that the mission of What Matters to Me and Why lined up so perfectly with the mission of Uhuru that she decided to bring the two together.

The event this year will consist of 10 speakers sharing their personal experiences and how they have influenced their values and beliefs.

The speakers will include ISU basketball player Daniel Edozie, former Government of the Student Body President Spencer Hughes and Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill.

“It was important to me that we create a broad representation of people on campus,” Haguewood said. “Everyone who is speaking was chosen for a specific purpose.”

When the event What Matters to Me and Why first took place in 2012, it was hosted by the awareness division of Student Union Board, which Haguewood directed.

“There was never a question whether or not this event was a good idea,” Haguewood said. “I wanted to put on the event at a larger scale this year.”

Haguewood said she hopes hearing the speakers’ stories will make people walk away with a greater desire to establish values and hopefully better align them with decisions and actions.

“The event is going to provide that platform for students, faculty and community members to really stop and reflect on their values and beliefs,” Haguewood said.

The first speaker at the event will be Onalie Ariyabandhu, senior in economics and president of International Student Council.

Ariyabandhu spoke at the event in 2012 mainly about her realization of the value of family after they survived a tsunami in Sri Lanka. This year, she says she will speaking about the most shocking memories of the tsunami for the first time in public.

“I am very curious to see how people will respond to my experiences,” Ariyabandhu said.

Ariyabandhu said she will draw the connection between being in such a traumatic event and how she tried to derive something positive out of it.

“I want to share this with people because I think a lot college students forget about the value of life,” Ariyabandhu said.

Ariyabandhu said she wants to project the value of life and make people understand that we all have a purpose of living.

“I clearly understood my purpose [in] life and living after the tsunami,” Ariyabandhu said. “People don’t always realize how valuable their lives are and they actually tend to take risks that are not even assessed.” 

Ariyabandhu said even though each of the speakers will be speaking about completely different things that are related to them personally, there is still something to be learned from each presentation.

“I have learned a lot about how to accept and tolerate differences and to perceive differences as an asset rather than a problem,” Ariyabandhu said.

Ariyabandhu said she hopes that people will be able to relate to and see the similarities in the speakers, even if they have not gone through the exact same experience.