TEDx conference hosted at Cate School

Dec. 3, 2010 - PRLog -- “In the World of 2030..." was the theme for the first TEDxYouthDay@CateSchool conference, held Nov 19th 2010, one of over 100 TEDx Youth Day events held in over thirty different countries around the world to mark International Children's Day this year. The event was coordinated by Cate junior Catherine Thornber--who has been a devoted watcher of TED talks since they were first made available online in June, 2007--and a committee of students and faculty advisors. "The moment I read about the TEDx Youth Day initiative I applied for the Cate license," Catherine explains. "The event was scheduled to fall on the last day before Thanksgiving Break. It seemed perfect. An opportunity to stop and reflect on all the big picture questions and challenges facing our generation in the coming two decades."

The event's presenters included DoubleClick founder and FindtheBest CEO Kevin O'Connor, who spoke on the state of technology two decades from now; Emmett Fitzgerald, manager of the largest IDP camp in Haiti, who discussed challenges faced by development and aid workers in the next twenty years; celebrated architect Barton Myers, who presented his vision of environmentally sustainable housing for an exploding world population; and Academy Award nominated writer and director John Singleton, who presented his hopes and expectations for arts education in the context of evolving technology. Patrick Woolf played cello and Alexx Temena, and Angela Lee performed slam poetry. Cate students and other attendees wrote down their individual visions for the world of 2030 for inclusion with those of the other TEDx Youth Day events around the world. It was particularly exciting to see young people engaging with such big picture ideas and grappling with solutions to our global challenges.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. The annual TED Conference invites the world's leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes. Their talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Al Gore, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In the spirit of "ideas worth spreading," TED has created TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. This year, to celebrate International Youth Day, TED challenged young people around the world to organize and host their own independent TEDx events. Cate's event was called EDxYouthDay@CateSchool, where x = independently organized TED event. At TEDxYouthDay@CateSchool, TEDTalks video and live speakers combined with slam poetry and musical performances by members of the Cate community to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including Cate's, are self-organized.

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Founded in 1910, Cate School is a grade 9-12, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school in Carpinteria, California. What began as a group of twelve boys and a few teachers has expanded into a 265-student, 65-teacher, deeply academic and talented community with the most diverse student body of any boarding school of its size in the United States. The faculty are experts in their fields: 74% hold advanced degrees, 18% of these have PhDs. Cate is one of this nation’s most selective boarding schools, accepting only 20% applicants each year. 52% of Cate's most recent graduating class attend the 25 top-ranked colleges and universities in the country. The Cate experience combines academics, athletics, art and co-curricular activities in a close-knit, community setting where students are enriched by their relationships with their teachers and each other. When students leave Cate, they have the tools and the conviction to seek out lives full of purpose and meaning.