TEDxYouth@SanDiego: Making Change Now
The seed of TEDxYouth@SanDiego sprouted in early 2011 when Canyon Crest Academy teacher Christopher Black came up with an ambitious but attainable goal: to host a TEDxYouthDay event in Canyon Crest’s very own high school theater. Over the course of the year, students and teachers gathered for weekly meetings about how to turn this conceptual dream into a reality. Eventually, a core organizing group formed, comprising Canyon Crest students, teachers, and local San Diego mentors, with one goal in common: to make positive change in the world.
On November 20, 2011, this dream materialized into what can only be described as a perfect day of inspiration, enthusiasm, and drive for the future. TEDxYouth@SanDiego unfolded in synchrony with TEDxYouthDay events in cities all over the world, with the common goal of uniting, motivating, and empowering youth.
The quad in front of Canyon Crest Academy’s theater filled with students from both public and private schools all over San Diego, eagerly awaiting a day filled with adventure. Canyon Crest’s very own Samba Band acted as the “Pied Piper” for the group of 200 students, kicking off the day with a conga line leading into the Proscenium Theater where the inspiration took place. With roughly 20 speakers, the day was split into three parts, appropriately named Adventures 1, 2, and 3. During Adventure 1, students were inspired by speakers like Tracy Lee Stum, who spoke about pursuing her passion in chalk art and the importance of doing what you love. Between adventures, there were a variety of demos allowing attendees to get a more hands-on experience with speakers.
Tracy Lee Stum created an interactive chalk art piece for attendees to be a part of — quite literally.
Peter Gilson, an educator from the San Diego Zoo, ran a biology mimicry demo (complete with its very own alligator) where he demonstrated the ways that technology continues to learn from patterns found in the environment. Large blackboards were decorated with the aspirations of attendees and parents, using many sticks of chalk.
Throughout the day, the theme of “The World in Our Grasp” resonated in every talk. Each speaker that stepped onto the stage reminded us that, even as students, we have the power to make change now — that the entire world is a resource for making a difference. While experiencing the beautiful final product of TEDxYouth@SanDiego, which was made possible after months of planning by students even more than by teachers and mentors, it was clear that we would all walk away feeling that the world really is in our grasp.
By Emily Lubomirsky, an official TEDxYouth@SanDiego reporter.
From Burnt Out to Fired Up at TEDxYouth@Toronto
As students, most of us are used to learning in an enclosed environment — in a school where a seemingly infinite amount of assignments, tests, and exams drive you crazy to the point of burnout, leading you to want to spend all of your time relaxing.
But on Saturday, November 20 — TEDxYouthDay — approximately 120 young people came together at the Ontario Science Centre for a life-changing event that made us thirsty for knowledge: TEDxYouth@Toronto. The youth who attended this event truly wanted to learn and be motivated. They wanted to hear about innovations and start taking action around their own creative ideas. I am proud to say that I was one of these young people who got to experience such a powerful movement: a day filled with encouragement, inspiration, and hope.
This year’s theme was “The Power of One,” and featured talks and performances by many amazing people who are working to make a difference in the world.
The day began with an introduction from emcee Corey Atkinson. He suggested that we make note of ideas that came up throughout the day, and we did just that. I now have a notebook filled with hopes, dreams, and quotes that I experienced during the event. The inspiring speakers, from Ziya Tong to Marshal Zhang, were available during the breaks and we got to speak with them personally, which was fantastic. They were all very open and friendly, which made the event all the more enjoyable.
Before the event, I imagined the day as one filled with only listening, which was perfectly fine with me. However, the day stretched far beyond my expectations. Throughout TEDxYouth@Toronto, we talked in mixed groups of different people and took part in group activities. I had the chance to meet other young people who I would have never met if it weren’t for this event.
I still remember the feeling I got when I entered the auditorium where the speakers and performers gave their presentations. I was excited, but I was also nervous. I didn’t know anyone in the room, but I intended to have met many people by the time I left the event. I began speaking to the people around me and realized that youth from all over Ontario traveled from various distances for this event! It made me realize how determined we all were to be inspired and to come together around “The Power of One.”
The talk that stuck with me the most was from Haroon Mirza. He told us a story that he had once heard in which a mother was teaching a lesson to her child. First, she boiled three pots of water. In the first pot, the mother added a carrot. In the second, an egg, and in the third, coffee beans. Haroon ended the story by saying, “All faced the same adversity, but look at the outcome: the carrots went from being strong to weak, the egg with the soft heart hardened, and the coffee beans changed the water.”
After hearing this, I truly felt that I was meant to be at TEDxYouth@Toronto 2011 to help change the water of this earth — to make this world a better place. As a twelfth-grade student, it saddens me that this was both my first and last chance to experience such a powerful event. But maybe it’s not! Maybe one day I’ll be giving a TEDxTalk!
Written by Suzanne Joanes, an official TEDxYouth@Toronto reporter.
TEDxYouth@Tokyo: Organized by Kids!
Getting involved in TEDxYouth@Tokyo was a snap decision that I made after a classmate, who had heard about the event and was excited to take part in it, told me that the first TEDxYouth@Tokyo design team meeting would be held after school that day. So we got on the train straight after school and, with the guidance of a map I pulled up on my cellphone, went to the meeting. My impulse to get involved stemmed out of my love for TEDTalks and their inspiring ideas, but no amount of previous respect and admiration for TED could have prepared me for what I learned and how I grew from the experience of helping organize and report at this fully youth-organized TEDxYouthDay event.
When I got to the meeting venue, I was nervous and did not know what to expect. I had many questions running through my head, such as “How many people will be there?” and “How will the meetings be conducted?” Sitting around the room were approximately 20 students, who were more or less my age, from different schools. And then there were two adults who explained that we, the kids, would be putting this event together. They told us the basics of what we would need to consider, such as advertising, attracting speakers and performers, setting up the venue, ensuring that everything from the sound system to spotlights worked the way we wanted them to, livestreaming, and reporting the event online. The event was scheduled to happen in just over a month. To me, it seemed that pulling all of this off was challenging at best.
The weeks between that first meeting and the day that TEDxYouth@Tokyo finally occurred were filled with tremendous and very positive learning experiences. I worked with the design team at those weekly meetings, and as I learned more about the young people behind the initially unfamiliar faces, I found that we had a lot in common beyond our mutual interest in TED.
When we began to designate specific roles to the members of our team, I decided that being an official TEDxYouth@Tokyo reporter appealed to me most, along with a group of other students who also wanted to be reporters. Once we took on these roles, we became active on social media platforms to attract as many people interested in attending or speaking at our event as possible. We spread the word, tweeting and Facebook-updating enthusiastically. Before we knew it, the spaces for speakers and performers had filled up!
And what a range of speakers we had! The topics of talks touched on many important ideas on the indigenous, including the state of the Japanese Ainu people, self-esteem, bullying, morality, team building, why change is good, NGOs helping children in need, a rap and talk from a Burmese refugee in Tokyo, talks about nuclear energy, sustainability, learning English through fun and games, train crossings, a performance dedicated to suicide prevention and a finale of Celtic music. All of the presenters did a fantastic job relating to TEDxYouth@Tokyo’s overall theme of “Play, Learn, Build & Share.”
On the day of the event, my fellow official TEDxYouth@Tokyo reporters and I sat alertly in front of the stage with laptops and smartphones, constantly tweeting and updating our Facebook pages from our personal accounts as well as the TEDxYouth@Tokyo accounts. We took many photos of the speakers and performers and posted online throughout the event. When I wasn’t live reporting, I occasionally played the role of the MC on stage for some of the talks and performances. During the breaks, we got to interview many of our speakers and performers to learn more about them.
TEDxYouth@Tokyo left me feeling empowered. I got to see young people — some of whom are my classmates at school — share their passions, talents and perspectives on sophisticated and relevant current issues with great maturity and poise. I am so glad I got involved in TEDxYouthDay this past year, and I am looking forward to participating in an even bigger and better TEDxYouth@Tokyo next year!
Written by Monica Brova, an official TEDxYouth@Tokyo reporter.
TEDxYouth@EISJ: We Are One
Martin Luther King once said, “We have learned to fly the air like birds and swim the sea like fish, but we have not learned the simple art of living together as brothers.” As we continue to evolve and as our population continues to expand, I believe that this quote remains as true as ever.
In a world with seven billion people who speak more than 6,000 languages, the concept of unity has been hard to grasp.
Our teacher thought of the theme “We Are One” for TEDxYouth@EISJ, our TEDxYouthDay event. Our teacher felt that we needed to embrace our togetherness. But I’ll admit that while I was eager to participate in an event that allowed my opinions to be voiced, the idea of unity never occurred to me as anything of serious importance.
However, as the weeks progressed, our group of students began to work closely with one another. We divided ourselves into various action groups, such as promotion, public relations, stage curation, and so on. Each group assigned a group leader. Over the following weeks, we worked hours on end to make the event the success that it was, with all of us suggesting ideas about how to raise funds, what issues needed to be addressed, and which methods we would use to publicize the event.
Throughout our organizing process, none of us fully acknowledged why we were working with the topic “We Are One.” Before the event, many of us even spoke about the importance of unity and harmony in a society, but I don’t think we actually felt the impact of that concept until the moment the curtains parted and we saw the beaming looks on the faces of our audience and heard the sound of applause. It was then, at the start of our event on November 20th, 2011, that we understood the degree to which we had truly become one in the organization of this event.
Although the event is now over, it is something that I feel blessed to have been a part of. My experiences with TEDxYouth@EISJ are playing a huge role in the person that I want to become. The event allowed me to realize that I want to be a voice for future generations, and that I want to make change in the society that we live in. This does not mean that I’m going to change the world overnight, but the lessons learned through the event allowed me to see that I need to start with small steps in order to one day take a giant leap.
TEDxYouth@EISJ was an incredible journey — something so much bigger than us.
Written by Wafa Junaid, an official TEDxYouth@EISJ reporter.
