speakers at TedxYouth share their self-empowerment moments, and encourage listeners to pursue dreams of ‘making a difference in the world’

Submitted by Denis Kelly

Eleven speakers, including 10 students and a teacher, presented personal testimonials about moments in their lives that inspired and empowered them to pursue dreams of “making a difference in the world,” at “TEDxYouth@WHRHS,” held on Monday, May 21, 2018 at Watchung Hills Regional High School (WHRHS).

The event, which reflected the school-wide strategy to encourage, recognize and grow from interdisciplinary approaches to problem-solving and learning, was organized by a collaboration of the student Computer Science Cub, the Accounting Club and the Culinary Club.

Faculty Advisors for the event included Math and Business Supervisor Dan Twisler, Business Teacher Dianne Krutz, and Culinary Club Advisors Susan Jaslove, Patricia Buzby and Stephanie Ormaeche, as well as volunteer and Watchung Public Schools retired teacher Elaine Chesebro. She had taught at Grades K-8 Watchung Public Schools for 18 years.

The event program explained that TEDxYouth conferences are geared for high school and middle school students who aspire to be dreamers, thinkers, makers and doers looking to make a difference in the world.

The TEDxYouth@WHRHS is an independently organized event designed to bring a TedxYouth-like experience to Watchung Hills, according to the event’s program. TEDxYouth events are designed to be student-organized events, where the living learning experience includes not just the subject matters of the conferences, but also the problem solving involved in all the aspects of organizing, promoting and assembling promotional materials. The students also actually run the conferences, according to the students who organized the event, as well as solicit, tabulate and report feedback from the event’s audience.

According to Faculty Advisor Twisler, TEDxYouth events have taken on a positive reputation among today’s students and academics as “forward-thinking, cutting edge” living learning experiences. Student organizers, speakers and participants have taken to listing participation in such events on their resumes as signs that they are availing themselves of this kind of insider’s latest advancement in education.

Offering TEDxYouth events at WHRHS grew out of the community outreach and organizing committee discussions that included student participation as far back as 2015. Those discussions led to the adoption of the empowerment-inspired goals and objectives in the WHRHS “2015-2020 Strategic Plan, A Warrior Vision.”

Speakers Empowerment Experiences

Jordyn Arnel spoke about how she has developed a “passion for health and wellness.” She shared her thoughts and experiences about “the importance of self-discovery and its ability to empower young people.”

Abby Kotar, who is a veteran member of the WHRHS Dance Ensemble and the WHRHS Concert Band, where she plays flute, spoke about adding to her repertoire of performance experiences by successfully speaking at this conference. It was her way of “stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something new.”

Nicole Bell shared how she learned “how to embrace positivity despite the conflicting messages teenage girls receive from their families, magazines and the media.” She said next year, she plans on attending Boston University, where she said she will continue to spread positivity and self-love.

Lindsey Shi said that though she experiences the stress typical of a high performing high school student, she wanted “to give a talk about being happy.” She said she believes, “Taking care of oneself is most important,” and encourages everyone to do the same.

Kevin “K.C.” Whittmaack explained how his love of the Super Heroes that started as a seven-year-old “all-in fan” of “Spiderman” has turned into a possible career path. His passion for the Super Hero in society, inspired him to create his own Super Hero stories, leading him to find, develop, and self-teach his own skills in the art forms of drawing, coloring, writing, and story-telling in the “Comic Book” and “Graphic Novel” genre of literature. Along the way, he also discovered and developed other forms of expression, including film making, playing piano and guitar, as well as soccer. Now, he hopes to continue his self-exploration and self-expression next year in the Honors Program at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

WHRHS English teacher Michael Porter, a graduate of Rutgers University and George Washington University Law School, is well known around WHRHS as the guitarist who is occasionally asked to add acoustic guitar accents as accompaniment to student singing performances. At TEDx, he shared how his other unquenchable passion for long distance running has fueled his goal to qualify for official entry in the legendary Boston Marathon. That’s an achievement he finally reached in his 40s, and his decades of persistent training has led him to discover something else he loves: “ultra-marathoning.”Now he also runs races that make the marathon’s celebrated 26.2 distance seem short, for instance which asks runners: How far can you run in 12 hours?

Jordan Ginsburg , who said she enjoys debate and political discourse, and aspires to be a lawyer and elected official, spoke about “recognizing bias, both in others and oneself, and using that knowledge to become more open-minded in today’s politically divisive society.”

Matthew Canary, who plans to explore paths in humanitarian services, international relations and/or civil/environmental engineering next year at Northeastern University in Boston, spoke about his “long-term interest in how we all understand one another,” and his hope that his talk would “spark similar reflections about empathy in his audience.”

Niharika “Nina” Iyer spoke about the importance of youth protest in society today and reviewed various current issues that are now drawing the interest, the examination, the opinion and the input of young people. She shared how it has made a difference in the past and can make a difference now.

Spencer Acciarito, who is an aspiring comedian, shared his perspective that comedy is an often-overlooked tool that can be used to combat depression, help to overcome grief and the sense of loss. He said comedy should receive more attention as a valuable and powerful tool to empower people.

Ashil Jhaveri, who is currently President of the All-School Council (ASC), and who helped organize WHRHS participation in this year’s “National School Walkout,” discussed instances in the past when youth and young adults have made differences in fights against hate and violence. Young people, including school children, high school students , and college students, can be found in the history of the Civil Rights Movement on the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s in this country, for instance, as well as various other injustices here and throughout the world more recently. He urged the audience to pick an issue, protest injustice and be an advocate, “and don’t stop until you get a result.”

The last speaker about “making a difference” and empowerment, Jhaveri finished his talk and the conference by sharing the quote attributed Mahatma Gandhi, the legendary leader of India and one of the most iconic preachers of civic change and improvement through non-violent protests. Gandhi’s quiet yet effective “strength of the will” was likewise exemplified in Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he said. Channeling the words of Gandhi and King, Jhaveri urged his fellow TEDxYouth speakers and conferees: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Photos by Watchung Hills Regional High School.

(above, l-r) Eleven speakers, including 10 students and a teacher, presented personal testimonials about moments in their lives that inspired and empowered them to pursue dreams of making a “difference in the world”. The speakers were: Front row: WHRHS English Teacher Michael Porter, and students Nicole Bell, Lindsey Shi, Jordyn Arnel, Niharika Iyer, Jordan Ginsburg, and Abby Kotar; Back row: Ashil Jhaveri, Matthew Canary, Kevin Wittmaack, and Spencer Acciarito

(above, l-r) Seated: Ella Walsh, and right, Marilyn Du; Standing: Matt McCracken, Davin Lui, Nicole Salk, and Megan Krutz.

(above, l-r) Volunteer and Watchung Public Schools retired teacher Elaine Chesebro, center, who had taught at Grades K-8 Watchung Public Schools for 18 years, had the inspiration of seeing eight of her former students attend TEDxYouth @WHRHS. They were Freshman Hans Parikh, Valley View School 8th Grader Shiv Goel, WHRHS Freshman Rahil Navani, Senior Kevin Huang, and WHRHS Freshmen Jacob Weber, Marshall White and Charlie Margulies.