Motivational speaker Sean Baumstark kicks off Diversity Dialogues Week

For some, the thought of being diagnosed with an untreatable and incurable disease means being closer to life's end. But for motivational speaker Sean Baumstark, such a diagnosis was not an end. It was a new start to life.

Monday night, Baumstark opened Diversity Dialogues Week with a talk in Shiley Hall.

"It was a good way to kick off Diversity Dialogues Week because his main thing is to motivate people," sophomore Student Diversity Coordinator Jordan Mattson said. "We wanted him to motivate students to talk about diversity and get involved in diversity."

Diagnosed at 25 with Friedreich's Ataxia (FA), which progressively attacks the muscles and the heart, Baumstark drew on his personal experiences to share with students how the choices he made allowed him to overcome his own diversity.

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