On January 31, 2016, Hewitt hosted the annual TEDxYouth@Hewitt event at the St. Jean Theater. Student co-curators, Ruby S.’17 and Jessie S.’17 worked with Ms. Dore, Upper and Middle School Digital Arts teacher, to organize this year’s event. The theme for TEDxYouth shows 2016 was “Made in the Future.” A range of speakers challenged the audience and viewers to consider how girls and women can mold our futures. Information from the livestream suggests that TEDxYouth@Hewitt was viewed globally 3,510 times by people in the United States, France, Israel, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Greece, Australia, Italy, and Japan.

The Hewitt Times caught up with some of this year’s speakers to discuss their thoughts about the day and their experience speaking. Read their interviews below:

Chelsea G.’16

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TEDxYouth@Hewitt speaker and host, Hewitt senior, Chelsea G.’16 Credit: Paloma S.’16

Chelsea was the host for this year’s TEDx. She is the President of the Student Council at Hewitt. She spoke about her experiences as a black feminist. 

The Hewitt Times: Which speaker inspired you the most?

Chelsea G.: Philo Cohen inspired me because both of our TED talks discussed feminism from different angles, and I could relate to her talk most of all. Philo focused on empowering women and young girls through art, and this really inspired me because I believe that art plays an important role in allowing girls the space to express themselves.  I have taken photography for the past four years at Hewitt, and I believe that this artistic form of expression has built my confidence significantly. Getting involved is one of the best decisions that I have made for myself. In addition, Philo also discussed the portrayal of women in art and the lack of acknowledgement for female artists. I agree with Philo that women and young women need to stick together to fight inequality.

HT: How did you feel sharing the stage with so many inspiring people?

CG: As host, I had to memorize their introductions and know about their accomplishments. They are all innovative and pioneering young women and women.  It was an honor for me to interact with them throughout the process of preparing for TEDx because  they are all humble and friendly. When I was nervous to speak sometimes, they would support me and give me a little pep talk before I went on the stage.

HT: What was the hardest part of speaking at tedx? Writing the speech? Getting up in front of an audience?

CG: The hardest  part about preparing for TEDx was writing my talk because I discussed black feminism and empowering girls of color. The talk was challenging because it is a problem that our society struggles with. I knew that I had to be honest about my experiences at Hewitt, but I did not want to offend anyone. However, I think that I was able to balance being firm in beliefs and maintaining a kind tone to engage the audience. Once I finished my talk, I felt more comfortable being in front of the crowd. While I am comfortable at St. Jean’s because I run town meetings and participate in other events there, I was certainly nervous because I knew that there would be people in the audience who did not know me, and I wanted to do a great job. My mother and brother were also in the audience, and I wanted to impress them. All in all, I think that the event was successful and fun to be a part of!

Amanda Sabater

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Amanda Sabater, TEDxYouth@Hewitt speaker and founder of NextRound Productions Credit: TEDxYouth@Hewitt

Amanda Sabater is the co founder of Next Round productions, which is a video production company. She works with women entrepreneurs and helps them start up their own companies. She is a writer, director and a producer and is currently writing a book about her mental and physical journey.

HT: What’s your favorite part of your job? The writing, the directing or the producing?

Amanda Sabater: My favorite part of the job is starting from scratch. When we talk to clients we work with a lot of women entrepreneur to make their videos and they often come to us with the idea that they just want to do something, anything so then we really have to figure out the idea with them and talk to them what they’re really doing in their business because you know as a filmmaker often times I am more empowering women or as a storyteller often times I am telling a story just doing the technical side of it so i really like crafting their story and kind of working with them and talking with them.

HT:Is there anyone that inspires you? Or inspired you?

AS: I was really inspired by movies in general. I was inspired by movies like funny girl and weird movies like Jaws. Jaws is my favorite move and I think what really got me about that was is the fact that is a story that  is about so much more than what you think its about. I grew up watching a lot of different movies and being inspired in all different kinds of directions.

HT:Who is the most interesting female entrepreneur you’ve met? Why?

AS: We did a web series called “living the dream” that was our first year we did it and we interviewed 10 enterperneurs; female, male, all young people figuring out creative ways to live their dream. Everyone from that group is really close to my heart because we did that for free and they were all donating their time.

The Brightside

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TEDxYouth@Hewitt performers, The Brightside. From Left to Right: Mr. Koychan, Madeline W., Julia G., and Lexi G. Credit: Jadeen S.16

The Brightside is a band that was started this year by three Hewitt girls and one Hewitt teacher. The members are Julia G.’19, Lexi G.’16, Madeline W.’16, and Mr. Patrick Koychan, Middle School French teacher. They collaborate to write their own songs.

HT: What is your favorite thing about the band?

Julia G, Lexi G, Madeline W: Our favorite thing about the band is that when we practice, we all can immediately come up with harmonies and make it sound really good because all of our voices sound really well together. Also, we all listen to similar music and like the same types of music so it is really easy for us to work together and write songs.

Patrick Kochyan: My favorite thing about the band is the collaboration that comes from 4 people contributing ideas. It’s really fun to have all of us contribute and see how it all comes together in the end.

HT: How did the band start?

JG, LG, MW: So in the beginning of the year, lexi madeline and I decided we would want to play music more so we knew we would need a room, so we started a club. After playing a few times, Mr. Kochyan came in and started listening to us and eventually started to sing with us. Then we just started playing and we played him some of our songs and he played us some of his. Then we were asked to do Ted X and we became a group.

PK: I think it’s basically what I said at TEDx. I dropped in on some of their “music club” days and we started playing. I was always so excited to hear the three of them harmonize and be creative with their music.

HT:What is your favorite song that you have song so far? Why?

JG, LG, MW: We don’t have a favorite song, we love them all. Every song that we have written are somehow different, so we like the variety in the music we sing.

PK: I’m not sure that I have a favorite yet. I really like the chord structure of a song that we haven’t even finished yet! Madeline just said a few chords one day and it led to a really cool melody.

If you did not have a chance to attend TEDx or watch the event on the livestream, please visit the TEDxYouth@Hewitt page to view the YouTube videos of each speaker’s talk.

 

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