Youth Day inspires with a live TEDx Youth event at WCH

Last week Wellington College Hangzhou successfully presented its very first TEDx Youth event, ‘Our Greatest Tool’ livestreamed from our Black Box theatre on campus. Over 6,000 people watched the online session. An exceptional display of public speaking showed an abundance of courage and inspired Wellington values from pupil speakers and members of our wider Wellington community. Supported by just one teacher in the organising committee, all tasks were completed independently by the pupils at Wellington College Hangzhou. We are immensely proud of them. 

Click the video below to see the highlights of the event. 

About TEDx

TED is an influential non-profit international platform for sharing ideas that began in 1984 as a conference where Technology, Entertainment and Design converged. Numerous outstanding figures in the areas of science, art, business etc., are invited to share their insights and explorations on technology, society and humanity. In the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading,” the TEDx program, where x stands for independently organised TED event, helps communities, organisations and individuals produce TED-style events at a local level. It aims to bring people together in the form of presentation videos and live speakers to provoke deeper discussions and stronger connections within the community. A TEDx youth event falls within the same TEDx event rules, except this event is oriented towards youth.  

Introducing our guest speakers: Find out more about each of them below.

Michael Bauman WCH current parent

Mr Bauman believes that every human being has the greatest tool: our mind. It is our mind that guarantees the survival of the human race, lays the foundation for the emergence of languages, and allows us to collaborate to solve global problems. At the end of his speech, Mr Bauman also gave several suggestions to improve our creativity and imagination, such as interacting more with people who think differently from us, observing and questioning the world around you, experimenting, and associating them together by using divergent and convergent thinking as well as meditation. 

“I was very privileged and honoured to be asked to present and I hope to inspire people tonight. Each and every one of us has an absolutely extraordinary thing in our mind. This event also made me think what an incredible privilege to be able to study at Wellington College Hangzhou. I have two children in the nursery right now and I have the utmost confidence in the quality of the education and the quality of the teachers.” 

Amandine WCH current pupil

Intrigued by an ICT lesson, a teacher talked about an experiment which at first appeared to show that tiny particles travelled faster than the speed of light -- a result that would seem to defy Einstein’s laws of nature. She wanted to learn more about it and developed an interest in this quantum of science. Schrödinger's cat, Wave–particle duality and interference pattern, nuclear fusion – Amandine included these fascinating scientific concepts in her speech and their wide application in our real life, saying that quantum mechanics is the greatest tool we have. Her detailed and interesting presentation left the audience in awe. 

“I like science, it interests me. I might go to the International Space University. I actually, really want to be an astronaut. As for this event experience, to present on stage made me feel a little nervous, but I was also excited. My suggestion for anyone who wants to improve public speaking skills is to not be afraid of nervousness, take it and use it well.” 

Dora WCH current pupil

Credit is an asset. How do we make better use of our "credit" in this rapidly changing world? With a deep interest in economics, Dora believes that credit is our greatest tool and we must use it wisely and rationally. She also included several tips for the audience, such as, don't spend credit if you don't think you can pay back and don't borrow to buy things you don't need. 

“I spent a long time working on my speech and hope it inspired the audience to learn more about the correct ways of using their credit. This is such an exciting event. I love that our school gives us so many opportunities to flourish.” 

Wang Yinyin

WCH founding parent

Ms Wang believes that language is our greatest tool. When we put aside an isolated view of right and wrong, learn to “do unto others as we would have them do unto us.”  We take the feelings of others and their need for love, acceptance, trust, equality and understanding into our communication with them, we can find peace with ourselves and create a broader world with others. 

"I was pleasantly surprised when I learned that this was an event fully organised and implemented by the pupils themselves, so I wanted to contribute as well. As a founding family, we are reassured to see that the school has been practicing its holistic education ethos over the years. It cares about the well-rounded psychological and physical development as well as academic excellence."

Karen WCH current pupil

How do we define "beauty" in this dynamic world? Chopstick legs, A4 waist – these are some of the morbid vocabularies that impact our view of beauty. Karen vividly and bravely talked about her struggle with an eating disorder and urged everyone to use the greatest tool, "confidence", to arm themselves with a healthy and happy self. 

“I went through three states while preparing my speech - from feeling ashamed about sharing my personal experience to acceptance and finally being able to share it. I want everybody to know that they can be confident and build a bright future because one’s value comes from themselves, not their weight.” 

Find out from our Sixth Form founder, Célia and co-organiser, Rebecca, about the hard work, dedication and teamwork involved in turning a thought into reality by hosting our inaugural pupil-led livestream TEDx Youth event. 

Célia, tell us what inspired you to launch this event? 

I have a passion for sharing. Since joining Wellington, I have been developing my own interests and this year, I wanted to discover other people’s ideas and share them with the school community.  TED is world-renowned for offering this platform, so I started investigating ways for the school to become a licensed host and the event was launched. 

What about overcoming challenges? 

Because it was our first time organising such an event as TEDx, we encountered some difficulties along the way with customising logos, meeting committee members and registering potential speakers. Fortunately, we worked as a team and were all able to cope with these obstacles by using problem solving, delegation and time management skills. 

Rebecca, how do you balance daily school work with organisation of such a big event? 

I usually used my spare time to organise the event, such as during lunchtime or after school. I set aside enough time to do this, but at the same time, I will also arrange my own learning plan well. Organising this event has greatly improved my time management ability. 

How do you both feel TEDx supports your academic aspirations? 

Planning and participating in such a prestigious event is undoubtedly very beneficial for our university applications because it allows us to highlight a unique experience of ourselves.  It demonstrates our leadership qualities and individual strengths.

Introducing our TEDx pupil organising committee 

Founder and Organiser

Célia

Co-organiser

Rebecca

Marketing

Amy, Christina 

Designers

Angie, Lydia, Zoe

Executive & event managers

John, Jerry, Bruce

Extra

Erik

Wellington College Hangzhou would like to congratulate Célia and her team for their dedication to becoming licenced TEDx Youth hosts. Their commitment to the event from the preparation process and organisation fully reflects the school values of respect, kindness, courage, integrity, and responsibility, as well as the school identity of being positive, intellectual, independent, individual, and inclusive, setting a positive example for the pupils on campus. We believe that with this experience, the next TEDx event at Wellington College Hangzhou will be even more exciting, diverse and inspiring, carrying forward the spirit of TED - ideas worth sharing. 

Please enjoy the recorded livestream of the event.