On the evening of September 7th in the Discovery Studio, an eager audience awaited the lectures of ten speakers, all of whom were CA alumni, current students, and faculty. This event was the second TEDxCary Academy event ever held and was just as, if not more, successful than the first. The theme this year was “Curiosity.” While it may seem very broad, curiosity is essential to the beliefs of our school as CA strongly believes in “owning your learning,” as Ms. Clarkson says. A teacher can only do so much for a student as it is the student who must have the drive to want to learn.
When asked about the significance of curiosity, TEDx speaker and CA History teacher Dr. Coven said, “Curiosity is the key element–not even curiosity–the hunger for learning–if you don’t have that, you’re lost. People, not just kids, but people in general have a need to understand, and I think that’s the root of curiosity and creativity.”
Suki Bristol (’19), who helped formulate this year’s theme, agrees. “Ever since Cary Academy has taken on the role of being a question-based institution and sparking student innovation, we felt that hearing from students about how their curiosity has fueled them in such a supportive learning environment would really spread this Cary Academy vision of learning to others,” she said. “More people felt they could share their ideas, which was the goal of creating this platform on which people could speak out.”
Other speakers of this year included CA alumni Lindsay Wrege (’17) and Emma Ehrhardt (’16) and CA students, Anna Ibrahim (’19), Christian Sodano (’19), Emily Keady (’19), James Taylor (’19), Tommy Hugus (’19), Ethan Norfleet (’20), and Vibhav Nandagiri (’21). The organizers of this event were Dr. Ehrhardt and Suki Bristol.
As the idea of TED talks was founded upon “Ideas Worth Spreading,” each of these individuals was chosen to present their own ideas, resulting in a variety of different topics ranging from the application of curiosity to one’s religion to the world of robotics to promoting societal unity. All were chosen from a pool of applicants to share ideas that they believed were important enough to speak about. The youngest speaker of the conference, Vibhav Nandagiri, approached this event with eagerness to access such a unique sharing platform. He shared, “I had seen it in previous years in 2016 and didn’t really know that we had it but it looked like something I would enjoy because I had started jotting down a bunch of ideas for cool things to write about for future use and this was a great opportunity. I also enjoy public speaking and this was a chance to practice that skill and write about something that had interested me.”
Organizer and event originator Suki Bristol said, “I think there can never be enough platforms for people to share their stories, a place to unite communities, and a place for every student to gain confidence in themselves. Being in the room during the event feels like a transformative experience as you are hearing different perspectives and can feel the overflow of support from each individual to the others. I think continuously making efforts to spread Cary Academy values and ideas amongst our students to the larger community only shares the innovation and excitement that all CA students innately have. ”
All in all, this year’s TEDxCary Academy conference was another great success! It is more than encouraged that you submit and apply for a chance to participate in 2020 or plan to attend.