YEAR IN REVIEW: Who visited Ball State this year?

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Heather Abbott

Boston Marathon bombing survivor and amputee Heather Abbott visited Pruis Hall on Oct. 2. She described her experience the day of the Boston Marathon bombing, and now she spends her life helping other amputees. She is a certified peer counselor and created the Heather Abbott Foundation, which focuses on providing prosthetic limbs to people who have lost theirs in traumatic experiences.

Randi Zuckerberg

Randi Zuckerberg, co-founder of Facebook and founder of Zuckerberg Media, visited John R. Emens Auditorium on Oct. 26. She spoke about her top 10 cutting-edge media trends, which included thinking like a media company, teaching children about media at a young age, using media for motivation and taking breaks from technology. People are the ones who are driving media to improve and become more efficient and available, she told the audience.

David Letterman, Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller

David Letterman returned to his alma mater on Nov. 30 and surprised the audience by revealing his donation of awards and memorabilia from his career for a “David Letterman Experience,” which will be displayed in the Letterman Building on campus. He interviewed Spike Jonze and Bennett Miller about their experiences as film directors. They discussed their success and how to achieve it with  real-world experience.

Chris Young

Chris Young performed at Emens on Nov. 14, a day after the release of his newest album. He performed songs from his fifth album “I’m Coming Over.” He also promised to sign every single CD purchased during the show. This had never been done before in his 10 years as a signed artist.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis rocked Ball State with their performance on Feb. 13. They performed many of their hit songs. The Grammy-winning duo claimed that Ball State was the college that was the most “turnt up.”  Macklemore talked about his prior drug addiction and how it affected his ability to make music before performing the song “Otherside.”

RJ Mitte

Popular for his role as Walter White Jr. in AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” RJ Mitte spoke about how he turned his cerebral palsy from a disadvantage into an advantage at Pruis Hall on March 21. He shared his experience with bullies throughout his life and how he came to be an actor. Mitte is now a spokesperson for many different advocacy groups, such as PACER’s National Center for Bullying Prevention.

John Mellencamp

John Mellencamp performed a sold-out concert at Emens on April 13. He performed a mixture of songs from his upcoming album along with old fan favorites. The concert gave off an intimate atmosphere with Mellencamp recalling stories of past experiences.

Amy Webb

Author and futurist Amy Webb predicted where technology will take society in the year 2046 during a lecture on April 14. She believes news stories will become individualized to the reader and artificial intelligence will be able to detect personalities and mimic them. Webb believes the world will soon coexist with machines that have the ability to think.

Kevin Ray

Ball State alumnus Kevin Ray had a Q&A session on April 20. He discussed his success as a bass player for the band Walk the Moon, known for its hit song “Shut Up and Dance.” He graduated from the music media production program in 2009. He has been in the entertainment business for a little while and told students how he maintains a lifestyle of being on tour 24/7.

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