Home > About Us > Themes & Speakers

Our Past Themes & Speakers

 

August 2023

Literacy is such a baseline for everyday life that we hardly appreciate it. You might think of reading books, websites, ...

July 2023: Shift the Culture of Your Communities

Our communities are always shifting, not just their rules and policies, but in their social expectations and culture. We can ...

June 2023: Final Exit Network

This month, we're excited to have Jay Niver of the Final Exit Network, a national group that supports Medical Aid ...

May 2023: Mothers Day Conversation Group

Every May, we slow things down and get more conversational. We'll be reflecting on Mother's Day and also sharing some ...

April 2023: The Wonders of Worm Composting

This month, Tom Smith will be sharing the amazing powers of Red Wigglers to transform our waste and our communities ...

March 2023: Making and Unmaking The Third World

This month, we're honored to have Dr. Arturo Escobar, professor at UNC Chapel Hill, recent inductee to the American Academy ...

February 2023: Speak To the Heart: Communicating Across Divides

We're so excited to have Colin Ryan back with us again this month. Colin is a speaker and storyteller, and ...

January 2023: What economists *don’t* count when they talk about the economy

Free markets are, in mainstream economics, supposed to optimize supply and demand by the "invisible hand" of self-interested individuals, but ...

December 2022: Solstice Celebration and Potluck

Please join us for our Solstice celebration! This month will be a little different from most assemblies; we won't have ...

November 2022: Creating Communities of Care for Queer and Trans POC

Many of us are, or know, people who have been hit hard by the economic strain of the pandemic. But ...

October 2022: How does public policy affect mental health nationwide?

Our culture has gotten better at discussing mental health issues, but how does public policy and the market effect us ...

September 2022: Sunday Assembly with Ansel Dow (Resource Generation)

What role do people with wealth and class privilege have in the fight against systemic oppression? How does class & ...

August 2022: Sunday Assembly with Dr. Jay Dunbar

We're excited to invite longterm Tai Chi teacher Dr. Jay Dunbar to our assembly! He'll share his decades of experience ...

July 2022: Building and Leaning on our Communities

There's been a lot of difficult news this month, so we're going to find ways to reconnect with the strength ...

June 2022: NC Early Childhood Foundation

June is bringing summer's heat, and we at SACH are heating up too! We'll have the NC Early Childhood Foundation ...

May 2022: Reflecting and Sharing about the Mothers in our Lives

It's beautiful May, which also means it's time for our special Mother's Day Assembly! Join us for a morning of ...

February 2019: Author D.K. Evans on “The Emancipation of a Black Atheist”

Our speaker will be Dauv Evans, author of the book, Emancipation of a Black Atheist. He’ll be talking about his ...

January 2019: Games & Play (and our 4th birthday!)

Join us for a fun and informative 4th birthday assembly! Our speaker this month is Kate Hill, a librarian and ...

November 2018: 2 Min. Deep Conversations

This month we'll be doing something a little different. Sometimes the best way to get to know your fellow assembliers ...

October 2018: Death with Dignity with Fran Schindler

Our speaker this month is Fran Schindler from the Final Exit Network, a nonprofit "supporting the human right to a ...

September 2018: Supporting the People you Love through Hard Times

Our speaker this month will be our own Amy Blanchard. Here's what she has to say about her talk: After ...

August 2018: Design for All

This month's speaker is Sylvia Pellicore. Sylvia is a web developer and an accessibility expert, and will lead a lively ...

July 2018: Equity Through Systems Change

Our speaker this month is our own Rebecca Atkins, who will bring us an informative and empowering talk at a ...

June 2018: Patterns

Our speaker this month is Gretchen McNeely, a standup comic, event host, and corporate speaker. Our theme this month is ...

May 2018: Talent Show & Tell

This Assembly falls on Mother’s Day, which by Sunday Assembly Chapel Hill tradition is a celebration of families in general ...

April 2018: Allyship: How to Speak Up and When to Listen

Please join us for our monthly assembly! Our speaker is our very own Sam Anderson. He’ll talk about acting as ...

March 2018: Learning from Failure

Please join us for our monthly assembly! Our speaker is our very own Nicole Pynaker. She’ll be talking about reframing ...

February 2018: Lemur Love

Please join us for our monthly assembly! Our speaker will be Tara Clarke-Fontana, Visiting Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology at ...

January 2018: Effective Altruism

Please join us for our third birthday! One of our own members, Mark Hartman, will be speaking on Effective Altruism ...

December 2017: Winter Solstice Celebration

Please join us for our Solstice celebration! This month will be a little different from most assemblies; we won't have ...

November 2017: Writing is for Everyone!

It's National Novel Writing Month (https://nanowrimo.org/), and this month's speaker is a returning favorite: John Wells, an English teacher, published ...

October 2017: Strengthening Communities through Global Engagement

Our guest speaker this month is Nico Gourdet. Nico has worked with YMCA of the USA for the past 12 ...

September 2017: Laura Bradbury, MSW, LCSW — Supporting Others in Grief

Our speaker this month will be Laura Bradbury, MSW, LCSW. Laura is a grief counselor at Transitions Griefcare in Raleigh. She'll be ...

August 2017: Self-Care with Delta Youth

Our speakers this month are two representatives from Delta Youth. Delta Youth provides education, community, and empowerment for queer youth in ...

July 2017: Ashton Tippins – The Power of Service

Our speaker for July will be Ashton Tippins, Executive Director of TABLE, a non-profit that provides emergency food aid to ...

May 2017: Show and Tell

This Assembly falls on Mother’s Day, which by Sunday Assembly Chapel Hill tradition is a celebration of families in general ...

April 2017: Rob Wall – Implicit Bias

Our speaker for April will be Rob Wall, director of the North Carolina Commission of Racial and Ethnic Disparities in ...

June 2017: Heather Greer Klein – Our Global Sunday Assembly Community

Our speaker this month will be Heather Greer Klein. Heather is one of our organizing team members and she attended ...

March 2017: Renee and Burt Rauch – Acceptance

Our March Assembly is all about the theme of Acceptance. Our speakers will be Renee and Burt Rach from PFLAG Triangle ...

February 2017: Nicole Pynaker – Goal Setting

This month's speaker will be Nicole Pynaker, a corporate accountant, half-marathon runner, and nursing student. She'll be speaking about setting ...

January 2017: Cancelled Due to Weather!

January 2017 Assembly cancelled due to weather---see you next month! ...

December 2016: Winter Solstice Celebration

Please join us for our Solstice celebration! This month will be a little different from most assemblies; we won't have ...

October 2016: Jennifer Lohmann – Women’s Empowerment

Our speaker this month will be Jennifer Lohmann, a librarian and award-winning romance author. Jennifer writes and speaks extensively about ...

November 2016: Rebecca Atkins – Living Gratefully

Our speaker this month will be our very own Rebecca Atkins. Our theme will be "Living Gratefully" - we'll talk ...

August 2016: Zach Ward – Yes And…

Our speaker for August is Zach Ward, improvisational comedian, owner and Executive Director of DSI Comedy Theater in Chapel Hill, ...

September 2016: Jehanne Gheith – Mortality and Loss

Our speaker this month will be Jehanne Gheith, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and tenured professor at Duke. She'll be sharing ...

July 2016: John J. Wells – Poetry is for Everyone

This month's speaker is Professor John Wells, an English teacher, published author and poet. He'll be giving an interactive presentation ...

June 2016: Sylvia Pellicore – Girl Develop It

Please join us for our June assembly! This month, our speaker will be our own Sylvia Pellicore. Sylvia is a ...

May 2016: Mother’s Day

Please join us for a special Mother's Day assembly! Our May assembly will be an intimate celebration of family: the ...

April 2016: Kimberly Ellington – Get Outside & Camp Quest

Please join us in celebrating Spring! This month's theme is "Get Outside." Our speaker this month is Kimberly Ellington, who'll ...

March 2016: Greg DeKoenigsberg – Community

Our March Assembly is all about Community. Our speaker will be Greg DeKoenigsberg, Director of Open Source Community for Red ...

February 2016: Rebecca Atkins – Love Languages

February's assembly falls on Valentine's Day, so we've planned a special love-themed assembly. Our speaker will be our own Rebecca ...

January 2016: Tyler Allen – Biology of New Beginnings

Please join us for our 1st Birthday Assembly! This month's speaker will be Tyler Allen, a PhD student in Comparative Biomedical ...

December 2015: Solstice Celebration

Please join us for our Solstice celebration! This month will be a little different from most assemblies; we won't have ...

November 2015: Katie Stoudemire – Wonder Connection

Please join us in welcoming Katie Stoudemire, program manager of Wonder Connection. Previously known as "Hope and Healing through Science", Wonder Connection ...

August 2015: Mandy Matson – Walk on the Wild Side

We are excited and honored this month to welcome Mandy Matson, Director of Communications at the Conservators' Center in Burlington, ...

July 2015: Sue Kocher – Recovering from Religion

Join us for our seventh Assembly! This month we'll be focusing on community, the reason so many of us sought ...

June 2015: Delilah Hurst – Overcoming Your Fears

Our guest speaker at this month's Assembly will give her story of a significant fear she had in her life ...

April 2015: Christopher Krupenye – Wonder More about the Origins of Human Behavior

Our guest speaker at this month's Assembly will be Duke University PhD candidate, Christopher Krupenye. Chris has spent the last ...

February 2015: Carmen Zepp – Human Beans, Inc.

Human Beans Together is a Raleigh, NC-based collection of volunteers interested in alleviating hunger, homelessness, and hopelessness by sharing our ...

September 2015: James Miller – What is Pride?

Join us as we celebrate Pride! For our ninth assembly we'll come together to celebrate and affirm our support for the ...

October 2015: Zachary Ward – Improv(e) with Improv!

Join us  as we learn how to Improv(e) with Improv! For our 10th Assembly, we'll be learning about the positive impact ...