BY LEANNE WILSON
Copy Chief

Students, staff, and residents with “an idea worth sharing” once again will have a worldwide stage at Baldwin this year with the return of the TEDx Baldwin High School program.

Last year, 18 speakers including students, staff, and administration gave presentations on the topic of connectivity.

Event organizer Dr. Daniel Harrold said the theme this year will be “It Takes a Whole Village.”

This year, speakers can apply with any idea they wish to speak about within the theme, but Harrold and the TEDx Baldwin High School team will be searching for speakers on certain key subjects within this central topic.

“We want to work backwards when it comes to selecting speakers,” Harrold said.

People can be nominated to speak, or can nominate themselves.
“The goal is to get the best ideas out there in a non-political, non-financial stage,” Harrold said.

The idea is to get people throughout the community who represent the district as a whole to come and speak about “what it takes to educate a child over 13 years,” Harrold said.

Harrold hopes that more people outside of the high school will participate in this year’s event.

The date for the event this year is April 21. Nominations will be taken throughout the month of December.

TED stands for Technology, Education, and Design. TEDx is a speech under 18 minutes long to present an idea to an audience.

Last year, Harrold was interested in holding a TEDx event for his class, but it ended up including the entire school.

Junior Rabina Phuyel gave a speech last year detailing her time in a refugee camp. She recommends the program to anyone who wants to tell an inspiring story.

“It’s a life-changing experience. People get to find out who you are based on what you say. There’s a voice inside everyone. This program helps it to come out,” Phuyel said.

Another past participant, social studies teacher Adam Foote, encouraged first- time speakers to give speeches this year.

“In order to get new ideas on a forum like TEDx, you need new speakers to get points across. It’s a good experience coming up with what you want to say and delivering it to people. Once you deliver the first 30 seconds of anything, you settle in,” Foote said.

Foote’s speech took around an hour to create, and it was delivered in about 12 minutes.

The maximum amount of time for each speech is about 18 minutes in order to keep them brief.

“The hardest part was actually trying to take time out,” Foote said.

While only about 100 people can attend the TEDx session, the speeches are recorded and put on YouTube, giving others throughout the world a chance to hear from the Baldwin-Whitehall community.

Last year, YouTube views made the event more widespread, and Harrold hopes to have more coverage of the talks this year. Harrold wants to have English or Social Studies teachers livestream the event so the whole school can watch some of the speeches.

“We’re always looking for new ideas. If anyone feels they have an idea worth spreading, please reach out,” Harrold said.