By Allison Reagan, Staff Reporter

TEDxStoga packed room 268 for the second time this school year, fulfilling a highly anticipated day of students sharing their passions and exposing others to unconventional topics of study.

Senior club presidents Melissa Lopez and Rohan Gandhi organized the event and worked with club members in the weeks leading up to the talks to help them prepare for the big day. Lopez and Gandhi have given talks in the past and were excited to inspire other students to do the same.

“I think we’re both just really passionate about what the concept of TED as an organization means, especially at a place like Conestoga where there are so many kids who have ideas outside of the classroom, not just being active participants in the classroom,” Lopez said. “It’s a great way to spread those ideas.”

TEDx promotes the idea that any student can talk about any subject that interests them.

“One of the main goals we’ve tried to have is to push on [students] the idea that you can talk about anything and you can really dive into your passions, run with any idea you have,” Gandhi said.

This Friday’s topics ranged from bottled water to space to plant-based diets. Brother and sister Wade and Kelsey Bennett even did a joint presentation on the asymmetry of siblings.

Senior Casey Allen was a first-time participant in the event and was inspired to introduce students to her own passion after learning about other students’ interests after the last talks.

“I think it’s really cool to see what other people are passionate about because you end up learning a lot of things you would never have known before,” Allen said.

Allen chose to do her TEDx talk on the streamlining of the pop industry. She focused on the history of the industry and how the music has lost some of the creativity that used to make it great. She took the opportunity to ask students to explore music genres that are unfamiliar to them.

“I wanted people to branch out and open their minds to other kinds of music,” Allen said.

The next TEDx talks will be held on April 22, and Gandhi encourages all students interested to consider participating in the event.

“It’s a lot easier than it would seem. It’s really not bad when you get up there because you are the expert and your goal is to spread your passion.”

Videos

 [unitegallery TED2]

Videos courtesy TEDxStoga.

Allison Reagan can be reached at [email protected].