As they step out into the spotlight the speaker grabs the audience’s attention through their first words. After months of hard work of writing drafts, practicing their speeches and rehearsing non-stop the big day came.
The third annual TEDxFrisco HS Youth event happened on Mar. 11 in the lecture hall. Students from all grade levels performed their speeches in front of a live audience. Their performances were recorded to be put on the official TEDx Youtube channel in late spring. Topics that presenters covered included the value of art and the benefits of team sports.
“I think the process was definitely very challenging to execute but if you work hard for it anyone can present,” sophomore Liberty Power said. “I think it’s a really great event to present at because then people can hear your story and your perspective.”
The part some presenters, like sophomore Rishann Ganpath, struggled with the most was picking a topic.
“To choose a topic, one that actually interests you and that you know is going to be interesting for the audience as well, takes time,” Ganpath said.
Junior Phoebe Wooldridge shared the same struggle. She decided to focus on not having a passion.
“I struggled a lot with figuring out a topic which is something I spoke about in my speech,” Wooldridge said. “I tried to find something I was passionate about enough to talk about but I couldn’t find anything so that’s why I thought I should talk about how I don’t have something to talk about.”
Having the speeches be in a TED Talk format taught sophomore Anakha Ajai how to be more creative when presenting.
“When I was first writing the speech my draft was like a school presentation, but now working on this has helped me make it flow and help me reach a bigger audience,” Ajai said.
The event has helped freshman Sudeepthi Maddukuri with developing better public speaking skills.
“Working on the speech has helped me a lot with speaking because I learned how to project my voice and how to speak with confidence,” Maddukuri said. “Also if I get something wrong I’ve learned how to improve and keep on going.”
Juniors Lila and Luke Fahrenwald collaborated to present about the importance of team sports and how its benefits translate to real life.
“We planned out the main ideas of our speech and then we both coordinated and made our own scripts,” junior Lila Fahrenwald said. “I feel like we had a shared vision because we are both in team sports so we were on the same wavelength,” added junior Luke Fahrenwald.
Through trial and error of picking topics and rehearsals, TEDx Youth allowed students to share their ideas and research with their peers.
“I think that youth is where our future generation is, so having the ability to talk about different topics that interest us and really resonate with us is really important,” Ajai said.
