Real talk with Woodbridge TEDx

Bella An, Staff Writer|May 13, 2016

TEDx event was held at the theater on Thurs. April 21 from 6-8 p.m. and a series of Warrior Talks throughout April, organized by senior Irene Koo and a committee of students. A variety of students, teachers and guest speakers gave a talk or video about the theme, “Path.”

TEDx and Warrior Talks are series of short, five-minute talks that inspire other students. These student-organized events were supported by several departments, including theater crew and art team, giving ideas and advice to the TEDx crew. Warrior Talks were a preparatory step to the TEDx event.

“As I reflected back on my four years of high school, I realized that I never really got to hear the stories of the different communities throughout the school,” Koo said. “In addition, I did not have a genuine connection with many of my peers simply because I never had the opportunity to listen to their stories. Hence, I wanted to organize TEDxWoodbridge and Warrior Talks because it would allow us to open up and hear the stories of others.”

Senior Natasha Takahashi, alumni Michael Lin and Ellie Feinerman, elementary school teacher Patricia Goheen, philanthropist Adonica Shaw, assistant principal Scott Sodorff and Dr. Donald Hamman from American Heart Association were the speakers of the TEDx event.

“I think it was inspiring,” Shaw said. “It doesn’t really matter if you’re spurring them to adults or if you’re spurring them to students. Ultimately, the goal is to spread whatever that’s inside of yourself, your expertise and your experience, making it available for other people so they might be able to try it.”

Each speaker gave unique speeches about the “path” in their lives or an inspirational guide to find people’s goals.

“I think anybody who has possibly anything to say should sign up for a TED talk next year. Even if you don’t think that your story’s unique, I mean, there’s so many things that you could talk about, and become an expert two to three minutes on. I think everybody should try to do that,” Takahashi said.