Mission

The mission of the TEDxCSULB club is to bring together the community of CSULB in an effort to join in on a global conversation and create agents of change. The purpose of this club is to energize the spirit of discovery, intellectual curiosity, and discussion amongst a campus whose population is geared towards the pursuit of learning and growing. The establishment of TEDxCSULB will nourish the student body with “ideas worth spreading” and propagate a movement of passion for understanding the world on a deeper level. This organization will foster a group that not only discusses important ideas, but also is willing to go into the world and inspire real change.

History

TEDxCSULB began with one student, but was only made possible with hundreds of volunteers/ TED enthusiast. As a freshman, Matthew Argame knew that he wanted to bring TEDx to California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) because he saw CSULB as a vibrant community of brilliant people, all in their own right. During Matthew’s sophomore year, he met with late Provost, Dr. David Dowell, who was more than supportive to help make TEDxCSULB a reality. Matthew went to the TEDActive conference to obtain the TEDx license, hired an executive team of incredible people from the University Honors Program (Nicole Ilagan, Mathew Choi, Justine Gonzales, and Nia Illisa Salapare), and collaborated with dozens of departments, clubs, and businesses. By the time Matthew’s junior year came around, the executive team and hundreds of volunteers mobilized to bring the first ever TEDx conference to CSULB on April 9th, 2016. The goal of the executive team was to put CSULB on the map, which they did.