Don’t Get Left in the Dark: TEDxKeystone Academy BJ Shines Light on Brilliant Ideas
Ideas are essential to humanity. They make us think deeper, discover new inventions, and take meaningful actions to help the world around us. However, to truly take flight, ideas must first be shared with others. Spreading ideas is the main motivation behind world-renowned TED Talks, the brief presentations that are now ubiquitous on video streaming platforms all over the globe. Sharing more brilliant ideas was also the motivation for Keystone students, who successfully hosted TEDxKeystone Academy BJ at Keystone Academy Sunday, June 2.
This year, a student team made up of Bella Zhao, Terry Yin, Amy Huo, Muyi Dong, Sam Wang, Jamie Ren, Zuni Wang, and Ethan Liu, along with teacher supervisor Ms. Christina Myrisi, successfully applied to host TEDxKeystone Academy BJ. After initial deliberation, the group came up with an initial theme that all the speeches at the event would center around: Left in the Dark. In contrast to last year’s topic of The Art Of, the students wanted this year’s theme to be a bit more mysterious. After selecting a theme, they accepted applications from the Keystone community. Successful applicants then had a second round interview, with the organizing group finally selecting 10 speakers for the event.
In addition to being an official TEDx event, the student-led TEDxKeystone Academy BJ was also unique in that all the speakers came from the Keystone community. However, the event almost didn’t happen. In order to book an official event, organizers must first apply for a one-time license from TED. Although last year’s talk had been approved, the initial application for renewing the license hadn’t passed. In fact, event organizer and Keystone Grade 11 student, Bella Zhao, had just informed her team that they may need to restructure their plans to host a different idea-sharing event when, the very next day, she got a response that the second application had passed. TEDxKeystone Academy BJ was a go!
On Sunday, the 10 presenters all prepared to take the stage: Dr. Emily McCarren, Henry Ye, Oscar Zhou, Maya Ma, Dawit S. Habtamu, Jack Wang, Ms. Jenny Zhang, Catherine Tang, Alpha Abulikemu, and Mr. Zhongyao Sun. Presenters could take any angle they choose but had to center around the theme: Left in the Dark. From music (with an actual performance) to media, the talks by Keystone students and faculty members covered the topic from a wide variety of angles. Although there is certainly darkness all around us, TEDxKeystone Academy BJ radiated with brilliant ideas that shone light on new perspectives.
While many of the speeches delved into the depths of darkness, they also offered guiding rays of light through thought and philosophy. As Keystone Secondary School Math Teacher Mr. Zhongyao Sun illuminated in the final talk of the event:
“The dark is not for queasy minds. The dark is only for the brave. Sometimes we are shoved by others, sometimes we venture into it by our own free will. Whichever the case, the dark is never the destination. When a room is full of light, there is no light. The most blinding light only exists in the darkest dark.”
Even as the presentations examined the darkness around us – on the internet, in the media, and more – they also offered time to reflect on how we could create our own inner light illuminating the dreary world around us. As Mr. Sun mused, “greatness is a choice. Looking back, all great minds had one thing in common: they looked beyond the age they lived in, no matter how dark, desolate or hopeless it was.”
The speakers and organizers of TEDxKeystone Academy BJ were shining examples of such great minds, with the event being a beacon for the Keystone community. As Bella Zhao states, “the TEDx philosophy is ‘ideas worth spreading’. I knew that there are a lot of ideas worth spreading in our community, and I wanted there to be a formal opportunity for others to present and share these ideas, and to bridge this connection around the Keystone community.” Although this year’s event has come to a close, the spark of inspiration it has left at Keystone will continue to illuminate ideas worth sharing around the school. Other students in the Keystone Secondary School are already hard at work creating more events that will continue to let the amazing ideas around the school shine through their sharing with others.
Special thanks to Bella Zhao and the speakers at TEDxKeystone Academy BJ for providing information for the article. Be on the lookout for the video of this event which will be shared on the official TED YouTube channel in the future.
