On Sunday, April 10, Choate hosted its first TEDxYouth@ChoateRosemaryHall event featuring six alumni speakers: Dr. Mary Branch ’03, Mr. Chris Chambers ’13, Hon. Leeland Cole-Chu ’67, Hon. Katherine Forrest (fmr.) ’82, Mr. Craig Kramer ’79, and Dr. Larry Thomsen ’87. Commemorating the challenges faced during the pandemic, this year’s theme was “re:INVENT.”
The idea for the event was largely inspired by the strong feelings of separation within the Choate community due to the reality of virtual learning. Experiencing this first-hand, Yoyo Zhang ’24 was inspired to create a TEDx event at Choate to foster connection within the School. The theme fit this narrative, representing new beginnings and the opportunities for personal and communal growth that come from various experiences. Nearly a year later, she was finally able to witness her ideas come to life, uniting both alumni and current Choate community members.
Along with co-founder Annika Lee ’23, Zhang created a TEDx committee which consisted of smaller departments: the Creative Department, which houses the Content and Visual teams, the Technology Department, which houses the Online and Production teams, and the Outreach department, which contains the Communications and Business subcommittees. For the first few weeks of planning, the committee worked on writing member profiles, creating graphic ideas for future merchandise and badges, and drafting the plan for the event itself. Nearing the end of the winter term, the committee, with the help of the Communications team, had selected the six speakers through an application process in which interested Choate alumni filled out a form to explain their proposed topic. At the start of spring term, there were 21 days left until the final event. These last few weeks involved several large tasks — finalizing speaker speeches, creating a publication, working on the website, and designing merchandise.
The next step was finalizing the speakers’ speeches through collaboration with the Content team. While reflecting on her experience working with the speakers, Chloe Jacobs ’23 recalled, “I initially found it difficult to challenge their authority. Part of my responsibility was to edit Mr. Kramer’s speech and collaborate with him to make it better. I had to get over that hump to be willing to challenge him.” Despite the initial challenges, members of the committee enjoyed the experience. On a similar note, Nicholas Ng ’23 mentioned his obligation to uphold the relatability of his speaker’s speech, adding that “getting towards the final draft was probably the most rewarding thing. I underestimated how challenging everything would be.”
The speakers were blown away by the organization and dedication of the entire committee. “I love the transparency, the honesty, the easy-going nature that [they] brought to the table,” said Mr. Chambers. Other speakers found that the organization of the process helped them to stay on top of the commitment, especially while juggling their work and personal lives at the same time. During the short press conference following the event, they went into depth about the timeline of their speeches and the numerous helpful suggestions and edits made by each of their personal teams. They also expressed a desire for future TEDx events at Choate, which may potentially include student speakers.
Final preparations began on Saturday night and continued through Sunday morning with various tasks being completed such as creating gift bags for audience members, ensuring accommodations for speakers, and holding a few quick speech rehearsals. The reality of the event started to sink in when the speakers arrived and then as the audience members began filing into Colony Hall.
The hard work was received well by audience members, many of whom were touched personally by some speech topics and speakers themselves. Jada Dixon ’24 shared, “I really took a lot from the last speech which was about mental health and the movement towards erasing the stigma of mental health.” The speech touched them on a personal level and so did many of the other topics. Maya Chiravuri ’23 also had a personal connection with one of the speeches, specifically the one given by Dr. Mary Branch ’03, who discussed her difficult journey towards finding peaceful success in her career in cardiology. This speech inspired Chiravuri as they are also interested in pursuing cardiology. Hearing Dr. Branch’s experience strengthened their motivation to pursue their dream.
The inaugural TEDxYouth@ChoateRosemaryHall event was admirable for numerous reasons. From the hours of hard work poured into the project, primarily organized and led by students, to the collaboration with invested alumni speakers, the event was the first of its kind at Choate. Everyone, from those who engaged in challenging yet rewarding collaboration, to others who were given the opportunity to learn and resonate with dynamic speeches given by powerful speakers, benefited from the experience. This event surpassed Zhang’s initial vision of bringing the Choate community together. The program was able to unite generations of Choate students who shared different ideas about reinvention, many of whom were influenced by their time on campus. The success of the TEDxYouth@ChoateRosemaryHall event speaks to the importance of collaboration, communication, and the opportunities that come with testing new ideas.
