Students to use TEDx talks to bring 'Ideas Worth Spreading' to Oak Knoll

Through a mixture of live speakers and videography, students are preparing to bring “Ideas Worth Spreading” to Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child this April with the TEDx club’s inaugural talk.

TEDx talks, an offshoot of the global nonprofit TED group, are aimed at helping communities, organizations and individuals spark conversations about compelling societal topics around the theme of “Why?”

The talks, which are comprehensive and require a great deal of preparation, prompted nearly 30 Oak Knoll students to form a TEDx club. The group began meeting in the fall and are in the midst of practicing for the April 6 talks, which will take place from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in the Mother Mary Campion Center for the Performing Arts in front of parents and family.

Sophomore Curran Stockton ’18, of Summit, said the talks she and her classmates will give will address several issues through the question of “Why?” For example, why sports injuries appear to be on the rise despite advances in medicine; or why are celebrities worshiped in today’s society?

“In having these talks, it forces students to go outside of simply looking at research and writing it down for a paper,” Stockton said. “They have to compare the information to their own thoughts and ideas.”

Nine students will give talks, which will last between nine and 12 minutes. Each of the nine talks is supported by a team, including an understudy and student producer, who assist in staging and filming any visuals used with the talks. Producers also help with research and overall direction.

Later in April, understudies will give talks along with one or two of the main presenters in front of their classmates.

Stockton, who participated in TEDx prior to coming to Oak Knoll, said the presentations are an ideal fit for the school.

“I believe TEDx follows the Oak Knoll philosophy in the sense that it promotes creativity, independence and a lot of other skills students should definitely have,” she said.

In particular, Stockton said the students are incredibly motivated as the talks aren’t classroom assignments, but something they chose to do.

Upper School computer science teacher Joan Mruk, who advises the students, said TEDx talks are invaluable to the students, as it expands upon lessons and skills students are taught at Oak Knoll.

“These talks encourage critical thinking about a topic that’s not necessarily academically focused, but rather interested based, and let the students explore that thought more deeply,” Mruk said. “This gives the students an opportunity to take these skills that they’re learning in the classroom and apply it a real-life way that’s meaningful to them.”

After the talks are given live, the presentations will be posted on YouTube. Both Mruk and Stockton are hopeful that enthusiasm for TEDx talks will grow and help the presentations become a staple at Oak Knoll.