And the Chinese road closures strike again.
On the morning of September 30th, 2016, the Chinese government announced that most of the roads would be closed in central areas of Shanghai as they prepared for National Day celebrations, which meant all after school activities that day would be canceled, including the TEDx event.
A group of high school students came together to host an SAS version of the globally known event: TEDx. This event’s theme follows the overarching idea of “Wildest Dreams,” allowing speakers to bring to the stage passionate speeches that will range from topics about music to air pollution control. Originally scheduled to take place on September 30th, 6-8 p.m., the event has been postponed to October 28th in the Performing Arts Center. The TEDx group has spent months and months planning to make the event perfect for everybody.
The TEDx event has already been independently hosted in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. This time, it’s going to take place at SAS! Many junior and senior high school students, as well as adult guest speakers, will take the stage knowing that this event is one of the top opportunities for them to share their formalized ideas.
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson’s, “Do Schools Kill Creativity” is currently #1 on TED’s “The Most Famous Popular Talks of All Time” and has reached 41,203,557 views. Challenging the way schools are currently educating children, Mr. Robinson introduces a radical way to rethink our school systems on how to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence (TED). Having been established for 32 years already, Mr. Robinson’s speech is only one of the 2,200 and counting speeches that have been delivered on the TED stage.
Started in 1984, the TED Conference has become an annual event in Monterey, California, “attracting a growing and influential audience from many different disciplines united by their curiosity and open-mindedness – and also by their shared discovery of an exciting secret” (TED). To bring the technology, entertainment, and design of the TED format to local, independently organized events, TED began a branch known as TEDx.
TEDx is an international community that celebrates the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” Communities, organizations or individuals produce their own TED-style events at a community-by-community basis. Under a free license from TED, each event curates speakers on their own, but based on TED's format and rules. Unlike TED being an annual event, TEDx events are becoming more common at the moment. Because the TEDx event has a free license from TED, anybody can host this event anytime, making it extremely popular.
This year, SAS Puxi has decided to host its very own TEDx event, and junior speaker Tina Yin explained how she “always struggled with apathy” and notes that “this is [her] chance to give an organized rant about [her] story and realizations.” She also jokingly notes, “It’s a pretty cool thing, to say I once did a TEDx talk.”
The TEDx program, a combination of videos and live presenters, strives to ignite a conversation and bring passionate stories to the table, as well as introduce innovative or game-changing ideas that will very likely be circulating around the school chatter the next Monday.
Starting off the TEDx event will be senior Michelle Mao. She explains, "I think in today's day and age, we aren't talking enough about what really matters, and TEDx can be a part of a solution to that problem. It's a great platform to reach out, make an impact, and personally, it's my attempt to give back to my community."
Following Mao, Michelle Sun, an SAS junior, will bring to the stage an emotional talk about how one small part of her life completely transformed her perspective of the world around her. She describes, “I want to use my own experience to let others see that everything will be okay at the end of the day.”
Along with the other student speakers, junior Angela Loh will be giving a speech about what it took her to receive second place for in a piano competition she attended over the summer. She will be performing her winning piece: Grieg’s E Minor Sonata Op. 7. Angela says, “I’m really looking forward to this event because I know everybody associated with SAS Puxi’s TEDx has worked so tremendously hard. I think TEDx event will definitely be one of the most outstanding events during this school year.”
In addition to student speakers, this event will also include adult guest speakers Ms. Tai, Ms. Wanamaker, Mr. Blumenthal, and Mr. Lynch, all phenomenal individuals that definitely bring lively energy to the stage. Ms. Tai will focus her speech about how she unexpectedly landed a very sick baby girl on a summer trip to China. Because of this unpredicted occurrence, Evelin and her husband created Baobei Foundation, a non-profit organization which provides lifesaving surgeries and aftercare for orphans throughout China.
Having traveled and taught in a numerous amount of places all across the globe, such as the USA, England, Russia, Czech Republic, and now China, Ms. Wanamaker’s wish is to inspire others to find the extraordinary in ordinary moments. Mr. Blumenthal, current senior director of SMIC, one of the top 50 sales and marketing companies in Shanghai, will be illustrating many new technologies related to the semiconductor business, as well as highlighting the importance of advanced and original innovations to solve many problems our current world faces. Mr. Lynch will speak about his tough past and how he lived in unsanitary, cockroach-infested environments in Hong Kong alone. Despite all of this, the living conditions of many of these Air BnB’s has taught him to appreciate and privilege what life has to offer.
This event would never have taken place without the student TEDx team, which includes lead and co-director Bernice Zhao and Cindy Zhou, co-producers Benson Chang and Evan Shen, event manager Kelly Shin, director of communications Megan Zhao, cinematographers Sharon Qi and Nicole Wong, lead designer Miranda Mo, and photographers Samantha Tsai, Victoria Liang, Tung Tung Lin, and Amy Kwan. These students play and essential work to bring this event to reality. Bernice Zhao, lead director of this event, expresses, “I feel ever so thankful to have such a wonderful team and talented speakers to work with. I can’t wait for them to join us on the TEDx stage!”
The TEDx team and speakers have all come a long way, just waiting to reveal all the efforts and commitment they put into TEDx. As the first TEDx event brought to Shanghai American School Puxi, it hopes to facilitate further conversation within the audience and create an environment of positivity.
On the morning of September 30th, 2016, the Chinese government announced that most of the roads would be closed in central areas of Shanghai as they prepared for National Day celebrations, which meant all after school activities that day would be canceled, including the TEDx event.
A group of high school students came together to host an SAS version of the globally known event: TEDx. This event’s theme follows the overarching idea of “Wildest Dreams,” allowing speakers to bring to the stage passionate speeches that will range from topics about music to air pollution control. Originally scheduled to take place on September 30th, 6-8 p.m., the event has been postponed to October 28th in the Performing Arts Center. The TEDx group has spent months and months planning to make the event perfect for everybody.
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| Some of the TEDx student speakers |
Creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson’s, “Do Schools Kill Creativity” is currently #1 on TED’s “The Most Famous Popular Talks of All Time” and has reached 41,203,557 views. Challenging the way schools are currently educating children, Mr. Robinson introduces a radical way to rethink our school systems on how to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence (TED). Having been established for 32 years already, Mr. Robinson’s speech is only one of the 2,200 and counting speeches that have been delivered on the TED stage.
Started in 1984, the TED Conference has become an annual event in Monterey, California, “attracting a growing and influential audience from many different disciplines united by their curiosity and open-mindedness – and also by their shared discovery of an exciting secret” (TED). To bring the technology, entertainment, and design of the TED format to local, independently organized events, TED began a branch known as TEDx.
TEDx is an international community that celebrates the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.” Communities, organizations or individuals produce their own TED-style events at a community-by-community basis. Under a free license from TED, each event curates speakers on their own, but based on TED's format and rules. Unlike TED being an annual event, TEDx events are becoming more common at the moment. Because the TEDx event has a free license from TED, anybody can host this event anytime, making it extremely popular.
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| Map of global TEDx events, courtesy of TED |
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| Tina Yin Photos by Samantha Tsai, edited by Miranda Mo |
Starting off the TEDx event will be senior Michelle Mao. She explains, "I think in today's day and age, we aren't talking enough about what really matters, and TEDx can be a part of a solution to that problem. It's a great platform to reach out, make an impact, and personally, it's my attempt to give back to my community."
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| Michelle Mao |
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| Michelle Sun |
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| Angela Loh |
Having traveled and taught in a numerous amount of places all across the globe, such as the USA, England, Russia, Czech Republic, and now China, Ms. Wanamaker’s wish is to inspire others to find the extraordinary in ordinary moments. Mr. Blumenthal, current senior director of SMIC, one of the top 50 sales and marketing companies in Shanghai, will be illustrating many new technologies related to the semiconductor business, as well as highlighting the importance of advanced and original innovations to solve many problems our current world faces. Mr. Lynch will speak about his tough past and how he lived in unsanitary, cockroach-infested environments in Hong Kong alone. Despite all of this, the living conditions of many of these Air BnB’s has taught him to appreciate and privilege what life has to offer.
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| Kevin Lynch |
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| Christy Wanamaker |
This event would never have taken place without the student TEDx team, which includes lead and co-director Bernice Zhao and Cindy Zhou, co-producers Benson Chang and Evan Shen, event manager Kelly Shin, director of communications Megan Zhao, cinematographers Sharon Qi and Nicole Wong, lead designer Miranda Mo, and photographers Samantha Tsai, Victoria Liang, Tung Tung Lin, and Amy Kwan. These students play and essential work to bring this event to reality. Bernice Zhao, lead director of this event, expresses, “I feel ever so thankful to have such a wonderful team and talented speakers to work with. I can’t wait for them to join us on the TEDx stage!”
The TEDx team and speakers have all come a long way, just waiting to reveal all the efforts and commitment they put into TEDx. As the first TEDx event brought to Shanghai American School Puxi, it hopes to facilitate further conversation within the audience and create an environment of positivity.
Angela Loh
