University College Day is fast approaching, and keynote speakers Brad Faye and Kelsey Dickerson of superherofaces.com are excited for the opportunity to present.

The presentation, which is in Martin Hall at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, is intended to encourage students to reach their goals through research and presentation and set their minds on the future.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students to meet role models who exemplify the wise aphorism that ‘with great power must also come great responsibility,’” wrote Dr. Cary Adkinson, UCD chairman, in an email. “They are young people who haven’t traveled much further down the path than most of our undergraduates, yet they have taken the initiative to promote optimism and hope through their professional work. They didn’t sit around waiting for an opportunity to come to them while talking about all the great things they were going to accomplish; they stood up for what they believed in and made the opportunity happen on their own.”

Superhero Faces was founded in 2015 and is “an interactive site where members share photos, stories and videos to discuss their venture through The Hero’s Journey … By sharing and following the progress of others, participants are encouraged to learn how they can assimilate their favorite legends during the trials and tribulations of their own lives,” according to superhreofaces.com.

Faye wrote in an e-mail that he found out about Texas Wesleyan University through Adkinson’s work in incorporating comic books into his criminal justice classes.  Adkinson was interviewed for Faye’s website, superherofaces.com, and the two have stayed in touch ever since.

“I always think it’s great to listen to and have discussions about topics you’re passionate about,” Faye wrote, “so hopefully students are as excited about the presentation as I am to meet and interact with them. I’m constantly learning more and more about geek culture, and that’s only possible when exposing myself to new things and meeting new people. Even if we’re all geeks, we all have different experiences and gravitate towards different things. That means we have different things to share with one another. So maybe we can help one another look at a specific character from a different perspective or introduce one another to an entire fictional world we didn’t know anything about beforehand.”

Dickerson wrote in an e-mail that she hopes the presentation will encourage students to follow their dreams and aspirations to be their own superheroes through doing what they are passionate about.

“Even if one person at the presentation is inspired by the journey of the Superhero Faces team, we would consider that an immense success,” Dickerson wrote, “At the very least I hope there are some great stories that resonate with those in attendance and that our story speaks to them, whether you are into geek culture or not. On the flip side, I know I am very excited to meet with all of the bright young leaders of tomorrow at Texas Wesleyan University and hope to see their work influence the world for the better one day.”

Faye will also be on campus Thursday, shooting footage for his documentary, and he is hoping to present some previous footage to students during the keynote.

“As far back as I can remember, I’ve been interested in storytelling in some form or another,” Faye wrote.  “When I was a kid, I used everything I could to tell stories from a typewriter to my action figures. At one point, I even hooked up two VCRs to one another to edit my own videos.  Before long, I was even taking video classes I didn’t need from a collegiate perspective anymore. I was just stacking unnecessary credits on top of unnecessary credits and baffling my guidance counselor in the process.

“I still write often and consider myself more of a writer than anything else, but am extremely thankful to have learned a totally new means of telling stories. If nothing else, digital editing certainly opens a lot more doors, and is a whole lot easier than the whole ‘two VCR’ technique I was previously working with.”

University College Day is Wednesday, with presentations hosted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The day will feature Ram Jam, which will include a free lunch in front of Dora’s from noon to 2 p.m. UCD will also feature a doctoral education wine and cheese reception from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Lou’s Place. For more information, go to txwes.edu.