Students Organize TEDx Event at Crossroads

Fascinated by TED Talks’ ability to educate and inspire people through the exchange of ideas, senior Derrick Tong worked to establish a TED club at Crossroads last school year.

 

Derrick and his fellow Upper School club members brought about a dozen speakers to campus for the inaugural TEDxCrossroadsSchool event, a symposium focusing on the theme, “Redefining the Future.”

 

The TEDx event, which was held Sunday, Nov. 4, enabled attendees to experience firsthand the power of fresh perspectives in a setting that fostered interaction and conceptual synthesis.

 

“The main goal of hosting TEDxCrossroadsSchool was to spark exciting and meaningful conversation that will create positive change within the Crossroads community,” Derrick says. “Planning any TEDx event is no easy task, and the fact that a group of Crossroads students took on such an endeavor showcases how capable and driven Crossroads students are.”

 

Among the speakers were entrepreneurs, activists and members of the School community, including Upper School English teachers Alan Barstow and Rika Drea and senior Lola Ellenberg, president of the campus Students for Environmental Action club. Derric J. Johnson, founding director of the Crossroads School Equity & Justice Institute, interviewed renowned activist Susan Burton.

 

“I believe that life is all about accumulating knowledge and learning about new ideas, which is exactly what TED was founded upon,” Derrick says. “With today’s technology, exchanging information is so vital to our progress in this world, and TEDx enables communities like Crossroads to help unearth local ideas that deserve to be shared.”