Events Designed to Share
Ideas Around the World
Written By Larry J. Mickartz
N
ot long ago two powerful
movements came together in
Gilroy. One, many of us knew
was there, it just need a face… the other
has been around for a while but needed
an introduction.
The first movement is the ability,
charisma, determination, focus and
leadership of our youth. We have all
witnessed these qualities in the after-
math of the Parkland Florida high school
shootings. High school kids stood up
and are pushing for better gun control.
Their courage, clarity and determination
are inspiring.
We have seen some of these same
qualities in a group of local high school
students. They are championing the right
to be motivated and be inspired!
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This brings us to the second move-
ment that, for some of us, needed an
introduction. TED which stands for
Technology, Entertainment and Design
was based on a conference in 1984
that was meant to inspire attendees
with powerful talks that included
the introduction of the compact disc,
the e-book, cutting-edge 3D graphics
from Lucasfilm, and using fractal
geometry to map coastlines.
That first TED event lost money and it
wasn't until six years later that the TED
movement took off. It's now a powerful
and influential nonprofit organization
with worldwide events, seminars, books,
tapes, institutes, and an NPR TED radio
hour. Educators and youth leaders often
tap into TED videos to instruct and
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018
motivate. The first TED event was held
nearby in Monterey California.
TED describes itself “as a nonprofit
devoted to spreading ideas, usually in
the form of short, powerful talks…and
today covers almost all topics—from
science to business to global issues—in
more than 100 languages. Meanwhile,
independently run TEDx events help
share ideas in communities around
the world.”
The convergence of the two move-
ments happened about a year ago when
a group of local high school kids decided
to host a local TEDx event. The move-
ments came together when Pranavi
Kethanaboyina, a senior at GECA and
Tasia McConkie, a senior at Christopher,
decided that Gilroy would have a TEDx
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