Delhi Public School, R.K.Puram hosted TEDxYouth, a Jamboree-sponsored, independently organised annual event on 17 December 2017. It was inspired by the widely popular Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conferences, which are a global set of convocations devoted to spreading ideas in the form of short, powerful talks.
Students from many prominent schools and colleges were spotted in the audience. The guest speakers invited for the event were of national and international acclaim.
The Teacher-Organizer, Ms. Sangeeta Rana, along with her team of teachers, ensured that the event ran smoothly. They were assisted by the student body for TEDxYouth.
The event commenced by showcasing an interesting TED-produced video highlighting the importance of the talks in the contemporary world.
Following it, the student-speakers were invited on stage and the audience’s interest progressed as quickly as their stories did. The major themes covered were related to psychology and societal issues; with young men and women speaking about schadenfreude, the media sensationalizing cries for help, the abhorrent impact of dank memes and self-doubt in adversities. One of them even chose to inform the audience of the misconceptions about Urdu and how we speak it colloquially without realizing it.
The Guest Speakers were felicitated by the Principal, Ms. Vanita Seghal, with a token of regard.
Some honourable guests included social activists like Ms. Chandini Khan and Mr Chandrahaas Misra; the former is the President and Founder of Voice of Slum, which aims to change the mentality of slum dwellers and provide them with education and employment, while the latter, a male acid attack survivor, is the public relations officer to the UP chapter (Acid Survivors & Women Welfare Foundation), working religiously towards treating and handling legal cases for other survivors.
Several entrepreneurs spoke at the event; including Ms. Meghna Saraogi, Founder of StyleDotMe, Mr. Akshay Chaturvedi, Co-founder and CEO, LeverageEdu and Mr. Manasvi Singh, Co-founder and CEO, Buddy4Study. They focused on moving out of the comfort zone, never giving up and the predicted status of work in future.
Ms. Tripti Somani, CEO and MD, KGS Advisory, spoke about mental efficiency while Mr. Suryansh Yadav, an alumnus of the school, spoke about his struggle with cancer, which was diagnosed just 3 months prior to the Grade 12 Board Examinations.
Mr. Mukesh Kumar, HOD, Computer Science, impressed everyone by his inspiring story – describing a shift from a Hindi-medium school in Bihar to being a part of the first B.Sc. batch in Delhi University. He later rejected a huge offer from an MNC to continue working in the school when he realized where his true passion lied.
The final speaker of the day, the Principal, Ms. Vanita Sehgal felt quite humble as she stood in front of the several speakers, who she felt were wonderful. She related a painful, personal story, which took place over a decade ago, recollected tips from her father and praised her mother and students for giving her immense energy and support through her toughest times. In conclusion, she urged the audience to live in the present and not necessarily conform to the norms. She quoted Kurt Cobain, who said “I’d rather be hated for who I am, than be loved for who I’m not.”
The event concluded with the delivery of the vote of thanks by Saksham Arora, the Chief Organizer of the event.
