[ot-caption title=”Seen here is the stage for “Zeitgeist” TEDxPIneCrestSchool” (Ana Selden/Freshman)”]

On March 23rd, 2017, Pine Crest hosted its 3rd annual TEDx Talk, an independently-run conference presented in the style of TED presentations. The goal of these conferences is to spread “ideas worth sharing” that will change the audience’s perspective of a topic and compel them to learn more. The theme of this year’s TEDxPIneCrestSchool was “The Zeitgeist,” or the spirit of a time period, which encompasses the art and culture of an era. The presentations from our PC students and guest speakers covered various different topics, and related each back to this general theme of “The Zeitgeist”. [spacer height=”20px”]

When asked why he chose “Zeitgeist” as the theme Mr. Gilego, the sponsor and creator of the event said, “We live in an interesting time and I wanted to get sort of a perspective, or various perspectives, on trying to define the moment in which we live, the feeling that’s pervasive, and I think people have different takes on it. and I think it was examined through the variety of topics that TEDx offered.”  [spacer height=”20px”]

Some of the many highlights at TEDxPIneCrestSchool included “Taking the ill out of illiteracy” presented by junior Shaina Pearl and “Information at someone else’s fingertips” by senior Peter Kos. Another notable presenter was senior Jordan Schulefand, who spoke about amateurism in sports, a  topic very personal to him. “I chose the topic because I have invested a lot of my life into sports and I enjoyed researching and writing,” Jordan commented. There were also many unusual topics covered including memes and emojis.  Much of this content came from students participating in TEDxPIneCrestSchool, but there were also many guest speakers and official TED videos played throughout the day. The diversity in subject matter during TEDxPIneCrestSchool was vast.  By attending just one period of speeches, audience members were exposed to eight to nine different subjects. The talks allowed each student to learn from the speaker and possibly change their own perspective on various topics.[spacer height=”20px”]

[ot-caption title=”Senior Ryan Mahatme gave a presentation on confirmation bias.” (Ana Selden, freshman)”]

Personally, I was proud to speak in this year’s TEDxPIneCrestSchool Talk alongside fellow junior Ava Goldstone. Our presentation was on the topic of “expanding the reach of museums.” We presented Ava’s original poem entitled “Museums for All,” which was written for a team project in AP Capstone. The objective of that assignment was not too different from that of the TED talk itself: to express a stance on an issue through an alternative, unconventional, or artistic method. I was excited to present the poem for this very reason, and through this poetry, we were able to educate the audience about the issue of diversity in museums while also conveying the emotions provoked by this sensitive topic. It was certainly an enlightening experience for me taking part in TEDxPIneCrestSchool and watching other people’s presentations this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what ideas students will be sharing next year.  [spacer height=”20px”]