TEDxIslandSchool

Island School hosted its very first iteration of TEDxIslandSchool on Friday 19th of January, with the theme of “Pop!”
Speakers gave the audience some new perspectives and ideas on social norms within society.

There were four student speakers:
Mei Goto [12N]: Why you shouldn’t shake a soda pop – The art of mastering our emotions through stoicism
Ava Au Yeung [11D]: The Dark Side of Pop Culture Politics
Timothy Chan [11D]: Why Nothing Goes To Plan (& Why Keep Going Anyways)
Katrina Hon [12R]: The Popularity Paradox: Why Fitting In Isn’t Always the Pathway to Success

And four external speakers:
Brian Wong (IS Alumni and Assistant Professor in Philosophy at HKU): How world affairs intertwine with personal agency
Amruth Alfred (Astrophysicist and Researcher at HKU): Where is Everyone – the Fermi Paradox
Nick Lau (Web3.0 entrepreneur and founder): How a Failed Sewing Class Paved My Way to Entrepreneurship
Edwin Ty (Entrepreneur and Founder of Fleming Medlab): Second thoughts on innovation, AI, and healthcare — how using exoskeletons can accelerate rehabilitation

Each speaker encouraged thought and reflection speaking on topics such as the existence of extraterrestrial life and the acceptance of rejection and failure to succeed.

Isabelle Woo, 12W, one of the event organisers said, “Without a doubt every audience member had a piece of wisdom and deep ideas to take home with them that night.
We were mind-blown on the amount of effort and time each of our speakers placed on perfecting the execution and content of their talks.”

“This event would not have happened without the support of various members of the Island School community. We would like to firstly thank the Island School Trust, who gave us the funding to be able to run this event, and secondly the talented technicians, Ken An and Ben Chu, who managed all the lighting, the mics and more.”
“We would also like to thank the student helpers, who aided us in registration and the filming of this event and finally we would like to thank Mr Barry and Mr Fausett, who guided us through the entire planning process!”

“We really hope that this event did “Pop!” All of the speakers’ talks will be available on the TEDx YouTube channel soon!

Written by TEDxIslandSchool Student Leadership Team: Evan Zhang [12W], Isabelle Woo [12W], Cyrus Ng [12F] and Aadya Dusad [12F]