By Ezra Caber & Hilda Rico Valdez

On Friday, February 23, two International Baccalaureate (IB) seniors, Aayushi Garg, and Nicah Capacia, showcased the first TEDEd Student Talk at Granada Hills Charter (GHC) to promote student voices. The TEDEd Student Talks Program is a presentation literacy program in which students worldwide participate. 

The talk featured six students who worked tirelessly for the past five months to prepare. Freshmen Eva Gujarathi, Hannah Lad, and Sophie Mamyan, as well as sophomores Erene Shaker, Om Patel, and Rebecca Bannister, spoke at TEDEd Student Talks. They each wrote and presented a speech about significant global issues.

Shaker first presented her speech “Leaving the Comfort Zone and Approaching a World with AI.” Shaker discussed how AI is here to stay since technology has taken the world by storm. She later explained that although AI has pros and cons, it does not take away from the knowledge humanity already has. 

Following Shaker, Gujarathi reviewed “The Power of Simplifying Choices: Navigating Decision Fatigue.” Through relatable comedy, Gujarathi talked about the daily struggle of “decision fatigue,” which is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the “difficulty in making a good decision as a result of the number of decisions one needs to take.” To mitigate decision fatigue, she advised keeping constant and the following essentialism.

Patel examined “The Fine Line Between Passion and Addiction.” By differentiating between passion and addiction, Patel showed that people are constantly pressured to push themselves when pursuing their passions, to the extent to which this habit becomes an addiction. To prevent passions from becoming full-blown addictions, she advocated for people having self-realization, balance, and the courage to ask for help.

After Patel, Mamyan presented “Navigating Climate Change with Astral Inspiration: Building through Journey Towards Earth’s Recovery.” Mamyan transitioned from talking about famously admired constellations to the need for focusing on Earth’s future. She explained the ways how we can conserve energy by using renewable energy sources, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions as a result. 

Lad talked about the controversy of AI in “Generative AI: Where do we go from here?” Lad detailed OpenAI’s rising popularity including its lawsuits for stealing art from human creators, and the biggest problem with AI, misleading marketing. She concluded that despite many problems, there is still hope for AI because this technology is a step forward to advancing education that is beneficial for students. 

Lastly, Bannister made “The Confidence Pact.” By sharing her story on adolescent student life, she explained the importance of not giving up and having confidence. She encouraged the audience to follow a three-step program to build confidence: incentivization, pretending to be confident, and risk-taking. 

Garg and Capacia geared the curriculum created by the TEDEd organization toward GHC students for them to connect to global communities of youth service, and gain support from friends and family when discovering, developing, and later, presenting their ideas 

“We spent a lot of time working with students making sure they were doing alright,” senior Aayushi Garg said. “They researched everything by themselves, then we helped them draft out their essays. They did the visuals. And we helped them with a dress rehearsal.”  

Through this program, the students involved gained the opportunity to grow their public speaking skills as well as to unleash their ideas and passions.  These presentations allowed students to be more confident in themselves as they articulated their thoughts and negotiated meaning to real-life audiences. 

“Before this, I never really had any formal public speaking experience, yet this program has taught me how to not only enhance these skills but also help guide people through the journey,” senior Nicah Capacia said. “It was also helpful that TED provided us with a curriculum that could easily be followed so we could provide the best teaching experience.”