By Bethany Peterson/reporter
Love will be in the air, at least the words in the air, at the second annual Love Conference: At the Heart of the Matter April 1 on NW Campus.
The student-organized event will present workshops 8 a.m.-12:20 p.m., a special speaker at 12:30 p.m. and free lunch afterward.
The conference will have workshops on topics like love languages, excessive baggage and love letters.
Because of limited space and an expected large turnout, students must register.
They can do so either on WebAdvisor under continuing education or 8 a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 31 at the tables in front of the Bookstore, said Carol Hunsberger, NW Campus speech instructor and conference coordinator.
Hunsberger said the conference was aimed at a generation that has always been told they are wonderful but really don’t know or love themselves.
“We need to learn to work on ourselves and see who we are,” she said.
She said she is excited to have student committees organizing the event because it is aimed at their peers, at the journey of self-discovery that they are on.
“Students are on this journey,” Hunsberger said. “They need to be a part of it,”
And the students are excited as well.
Christine Shurbet, a member of the advertising committee, said her group’s part is to get out posters, put messages on the digital sign and create the conference slogan and logo.
She thinks the starting point of the conference, self-love, is important.
Shurbet compared a lack of self-love to the rationalizing process of paying $5 for a cup of coffee, but refusing to pay that much for a pencil. People rationalize that one is worth $5 and the other is not.
In the same way, she said, people rationalize protecting themselves as not worth the effort.
“We know we would protect our children or our loved one at all costs, but not ourselves,” Shurbet said. “We find ourselves in a relationship or situation where people punch us emotionally, and we let them.”
Another student, Ryan Watts, is working on the technology committee responsible for creating and updating the online resources.
The group updated the www.theloveconference.com page and created a Facebook account and a Twitter page for the conference.
“Movies give a funny idea of love,” Watts said. “I think it is time to combine the real-life examples of love to get a universal idea of love that is more like what is really out there.”
He said he is especially interested in the workshops that will focus on loving and serving in the community, and he wants students to be inspired to find ways to help in the community and then branch out from there.
