The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

The Independent Student Newspaper of St. John's University

The Torch

Carpe diem: MTV Show Cast Encourages Students to Seek Dreams

When four friends from British Columbia, Canada got tired of living a routine life, they decided that it was time to live life to the fullest. The group created a list of 200 things that they wanted to do before they died and set out to accomplish them.

Those friends created The Buried Life project, traveling around Canada seeking to accomplish things on their list. Their adventures were picked up by MTV and made into a reality TV show that aired for two seasons and now are on a cross-country tour stopping at college campuses. The four came to St. John’s Feb. 15.

The University won a contest last semester held by Verizon Wireless to bring the speaking engagement on campus for free, open to both students and the public.

Freshman Thomas Lodwig said that he admired the ambition of the cast to go after what they wanted to do before they died. “They’re following their dreams and I don’t think that’s something everybody does,” he said. “It’s cool that they’ve made that their life mission.”

Eric Mantilla said that although he hadn’t seen the show before coming to the speech he was interested in what the cast had to say. “I think every college student should have a bucket list, or at least have an idea of what they want to do,” he said. “So I want to see what advice they have to give to us.”

The show got off to a late start due to technical difficulties. The cast came on stage told the story of how the four came together to start the project.

The four came together and all said they wanted to do something different with their lives. Their individual reasons were given during the speech. Duncan Penn said for him, it was when his friend died during a camping trip. “Coming back home with that on my mind,” he said. “It just changed my whole perspective on life.”

Jonnie Penn said that when he only had a dollar to get dinner with, he wanted to change his life. “I didn’t want to be doing this for the rest of my life,” he said. Lingwood said he wanted to change his life, after he gained 45 pounds in his freshman year of college. Nemtin said that his friends inspired him to make the most of his life.

The four friends then bought an RV and started travelling around Canada. The four took turns telling the stories of accomplishing such bucket lists items as riding a bull, singing the national anthem before an NBA game and being the CEO of eBay for one day.

The four then told stories of how they helped out random people. The four have helped father and son re-unite and take patients at a children’s hospital to Toys R Us.

The four ended their speech by giving students advice on how to accomplish their bucket list. “Be responsible for whatever you want to do,” was their first bit of advice. They told the audience that no matter if their goal is big or small, that they had to work for it.

They then told the audience to make a list, because it would help them better in trying to get each thing off their list. Lastly, they told the audience to help others.

The group then asked 10 students to come up and say what they wanted to do before they died. One student, Yasmin Alabed told the cast that she can only see out of one eye and one day wanted to see out of both her eyes.

Nemtin later said the cast has helped out students already during their campus tour. “We wish we could help everybody,” he said. “We usually pick one person a show and try to help them with something on their bucket list.”

The first 200 students in line for the event also got to take pictures with the cast after the show.
Carmen Cervantes that after hearing the speech she had more motivation to complete her personal bucket list. “One of the things my roommate and I want to do is make a sorority girl cookbook,” she said. “That’s one of the things we’re excited to talk to them about.”

Grace Nesheiwat was one of the people who went up to tell the cast what they wanted to do before she died. Nesheiwat said that she wanted to participate in a singles race in the Royal Canadian Henley, an annual contest for rowers. “I’ve been rowing for a really long time,” she said. “It’s not going to take me a week, or a month, or a year to do this. It’s going to take me a couple of years to get this done.”

Nesheiwat said that the cast’s support of her goal was comforting to her. “I thought it was really nice how they gave me support for something that was important in my life and not necessarily something that’s going to change the world.”

Nemtin said that he was glad that many college students were eager to get their bucket list done. “I think it’s important to remember that you’re going to die one day,” he said. “And it’s most important to live your life while you’re still young.”

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Anthony O'Reilly, News Editor
Anthony has been one of the most, if not the most, loyal person at this paper. His passion and his dedication to reporting and production is unparalleled. In the last few weeks, he has demonstrated the qualities of a leader and a coach that are required for this position. I have nothing but confidence that Anthony will do a great job. He will serve you, the reader, by providing the most honest, objective news possible. —Terence Cullen News Editor, Emeritus

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