As sophomore Thomas Bryant reflected on attending New York Times columnist Tom Friedman’s May 21 event, he said he felt fascinated and enjoyed how smoothly it ran.

Bryant said he enjoyed listening to Friedman’s views on international interactions.

“I liked his commentary about how the world is in three rapid accelerations: technology, global warming and just the way the market’s going. That gives a very accurate representation of how the world today is going,” Bryant said.

One of the event coordinators, Joan Brinkman, said she felt extremely happy to see many faces at the event.

“The audience was very dynamic, I thought. Every single person there I think had invested interest in the community of St. Louis Park,” Brinkman said. “We wanted to make a special event. We wanted it to touch people. We wanted it to reach out to people and bring them back to the schools. And I think that’s what it did.”

Brinkman said the event intended to reconnect people to the community of St. Louis Park.

“The purpose was to bring people back to the school; to affirm what probably most people have in their heart. St. Louis Park has a history that has augmented their adult life,” Brinkman said.

Bryant said he thinks listening to a famous alumni from St. Louis Park causes people to feel proud of growing up in this suburb.

“It’s cool to see people from St. Louis Park going on and doing great things, and seeing that people from St. Louis Park can do great things despite the fact that we’re just this little suburb out of Minneapolis,” Bryant said. “We really do have some amazing people that came from here.”

Brinkman said Friedman’s experience gave people hope and reassured them of St. Louis Park’s success.

“I think it gives them hope. I mean we live in a world where there’s so many unique things coming together as he explained, and people that are in the eye of the storm, he kind of made sure we all knew there’s good hope for communities like ours,” Brinkman said.