TED-Ed Clubs presents TED-Ed Weekend!

Three, two, one. Drop the beat. If I could describe the TED-Ed experience in one word - exhilarating. Innovating. Curiosity. Contagious. Oh my gosh, worthwhile. Inspiring. Eye-opening. Oh, that’s two words technically but one word if you put a hyphen, eye-opening. Hello. This is the very first time that we have done an event like this. Every speaker you’ll see today is a member of a TED-Ed Club, like many of you. It’s so cool coming here and meeting people from all around the world. It’s just a very fun work environment and everyone’s willing to talk to you and work with you, and just show you what they’ve been doing, so that’s educational experience, but at the same time a very fun experience. And I think that’s a really, really special thing to meet people who’ve had the same experience as me and we can talk it out and form this community, like a family. Think about what motivated you all to start clubs in your schools. It’s spectacular, it’s awesome, it’s all student-based, which makes us feel like we belong in society while still standing out. It’s great, I don’t want to miss a second of it. It’s so much fun, it’s so much fun. I’ve met people from like Jim, who’s so small, to people who are already in college, and we’re having such a good time, all of us together. Dream team, what a dream team! I’ve made friends already and I’ve been here for four hours, or something. I feel like I’ve really made life-long friends. Definitely an opportunity that I was glad that I took it. If you could improve anything about your school, what would it be? I think that this experience to me is helping me grow as a person because it’s exposing me to many different things that I didn’t know about before. My mind just went poof right when I saw it. I was like there’s something for me to start. Thank you. Honestly, it’s just so rewarding to see my idea come to life and see other people appreciate it and feel a connection to it. It means a lot. All languages are created and molded by the culture of their speakers. The languages we speak not only help us express our thoughts, but actually shape the very thoughts we wish to express. People have asked me, “So you do this TED Talk, now what do you do once you’re done with this?” And so I really want to go somewhere with this. I don’t want to just give the talk and be done. I want to make a difference. One of the best and most effective ways you can help special education departments is by creating or joining a peer helper program. It makes me feel fulfilled to see my fellow students get excited about their education and about their ideas that they want to share with the world. It’s wonderful because it gives hope to me and to my peers that we will be good leaders in the future. We actually will be able to handle stuff when we’re older and take care of the planet. It’s a beautiful thing. I’m very grateful for TED and for my club for making me a better person. I think it’s important that every student tries to experience this at least once. Just come, enjoy, and be a part of it. It is one experience that will probably get you to New York.