For the first time, Dos Pueblos High School will spotlight student changemakers at a TEDx event on Oct. 23. Students will take the stage to share how they’re making change in their communities. The TED talks will take place in the Elings Performing Arts Center during seminar and second period.
The talks are meant to highlight youth positively impacting their communities and will feature eight speakers discussing a variety of topics: Andy Brennan (12), Elaine Hu (10), Gabrielle Terzian (11), Joy Xie (12), Kaitlyn Marden (11), Tyler McCutchen (10), Sabrina Avolio (9), and Alta Vista Middle College student Amelia Kelly (12).
Amelia Vander May (12) and Sienna Valentine (12) have worked together to spearhead the planning of this event. In the past, they have worked together to put together many other activism related projects in their community.
“We weren’t working on anything at the time towards the end of last school year, so we were talking about what we could get involved with in the community that could have some sort of an impact, and we landed on hosting a TEDx event,” Valentine said.
Vander May and Valentine explained that there have been logistical hurdles and problem-solving while organizing the event, such as recruiting the student speakers.
“At first, nobody was applying to speak, and I was kind of worried that we weren’t gonna have any speakers,” Vander May said. “But then, at midnight on the day of the deadline, we ended up getting eight applications, and so it kind of worked out in the end.”
After the initial recruitment challenges, the event began to take shape with student speakers volunteering to share their experiences.
“I’m really proud of the people who have put themselves out there to give a TED talk,” Valentine said. “I think it’s just really inspirational that these people have put their fears aside and stepped outside of their comfort zone to work on telling their stories to the students of DP and sharing how they’ve made an impact in their community, and I think that type of bravery is really special.”
To watch the event, teachers signed up to bring their seminar and/or their second period classes. All seats in the EPAC have been filled for second period, but teachers can still sign up for their seminar class to watch the first section of the event. For the students who cannot attend, there will be a livestream and recording of the event on the DPNews YouTube channel.
Vander May and Valentine have been making efforts to ensure that this event can continue once they graduate.
“We’ve been working with Mr. Woodard to try and figure out how this can become an annual thing, because it’s something that I think we’re all really excited about,” Vander May said. “When the event is over, we’re going to work with some of the speakers who are not seniors and see if any of them would like to take this on as a project for next year.”
Both Vander May and Valentine said they hope the talks will inspire students to make an impact in their community, in both small and large ways.
“The biggest thing that I hope students can take away from the event is their own ideas and inspiration for how they can make change in their community,” Valentine explained. “Our idea with having speakers talk about their personal lives, their projects, and how they’ve made an impact in their community, [is to] spark the people in the audience to use their own passions, their own interests, their own stories to also help the community in their own way.”
“I’m hoping that at least one of the talks will resonate with students and kind of inspire them to get involved in their community and kind of take what they learn through these TED talks and apply it in their own lives, even if it’s just a small thing,” Vander May said. “I think the small actions can make a big difference.”
