TEDx Youth Event: Will It Change How You Perceive the World?

Redefining My Princeton Experience.

“When prospective families learn that I graduated from Princeton, they’re impressed. What they don’t know, though, is that those four years carried a weight—unbearable at times—of anxiety and depression, grief and guilt, pain and unspeakable sadness. Fortunately, it was not a weight that I needed to bear on my own. When some didn’t believe in me—or worse, I didn’t believe in myself—an army of family, friends, doctors, mentors, professors, and therapists reminded me of the power to be found in living each day as if it were my first, embracing the wonder of opportunities at Princeton and finding strength in a loving support system that wanted nothing more than for me to succeed.” 

Redefining Failure.

Just as the old saying goes, ‘Failure is the mother of success,’ it is important to uncover from failure any value that facilitates innovation and progress. By redefining failure, we learn more from our mistakes and hone the foundation for future success. Delphine encouraged us to face failure and cherish our immaturity, imperfection, creative ideas and thoughts, and learn to coexist with failure through humour. 

"After laughing, remember to respect 'failure'." 

Redefining Value.

What is value? Here is an answer from a website: 

From a philosophical perspective, value refers to the beneficial relationship between an object and the needs it satisfies for a subject. It is a philosophical category that represents the utility, benefit or effect of an object's attributes and functions in relation to the needs of a subject. 

This is an answer derived over generations by the wise of each era. In simpler terms, value is the usefulness of an object to a subject on a material or psychological level, and the simplest way for people to determine whether or not to do something is by assessing its value. 

Redefining Fear.

Fear seems to be omnipresent in our lives; every individual risks being eroded by fear at any given moment, a reason why the former French President Charles de Gaulle once said, "Fear is the source of all evil." However, it won’t be a source of evil but of strength once we can see our fear and become aware of its existence. 

"Fear is a force that drives growth, the conquest of self and the protection of what we love." 

Redefining Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a condition that has been misunderstood by the public for years. People with this condition are not deficient in attention; in fact, it is quite the opposite—they have an excess of attention. ADHD individuals find endless possibilities in what others consider as limitations and difficulties. They are creative, imaginative and sometimes whimsical. 

"Knowing who you are makes it easier to like who you are." 

One topic, six speakers, a 100-minute duration, interspersed with rounds of applause from the audience. Everything was organised professionally and orderly, and nearly a hundred online and offline attendees were immersed in the wonderful speeches and enjoyed a feast of knowledge. 

It may take only one person to come up with a good idea, but it takes the support of the entire community to accomplish the task. It was hard to believe that such a professional event was organised by a team of just a few pupils behind the scenes. 

They faced many unexpected challenges from the start. Should the speeches be bilingual? Should simultaneous interpretation be provided? How to control the costs? Who should they invite to speak: celebrities, entrepreneurs or those who have truly redefined something? What else should they offer besides the speeches? 

Rebecca, the event organiser, played a critical role, overseeing the entire event with her co-organiser Renesmee. She was fully aware of how challenging it was to prepare for the event over several months, as she mentioned several times in this interview: 

"Unlike the previous event, there was no financial support this time." 

"Lacking experience in finding sponsors, I sought help from people around me." 

"We conducted mini-rehearsals for the speakers every day, from Mondays to Wednesdays." 

"My schedule is pretty tight because I have to rush to attend other classes after the rehearsals." 

It was a learning process of taking the road less travelled for our pupil organisers of this TEDx Youth event, as they took the brave step out of their comfort zones, tried new things and embraced new challenges and responsibilities. 

This year marks the second year for Wellington College Hangzhou to host a TEDx Youth event. Although the event had come to a successful close, the viewpoints expressed by the speakers and the ideas spread would continue to inspire every audience. We look forward to seeing more speakers share their insights with the world. 

It is precisely because of TEDxYouth@WellingtonHZ, a platform that provides pupils with the opportunity to think and express their ideas, that the ideas born here will also allow society to re-evaluate the emerging strength of the Z generation.