Tanglin hosted the TEDxTanglinTrustSchool event for the seventh year in a row and this time, the theme was “A Step in the Right Direction”. Why did the student organising team decide on such a theme?

Year 13’s Olivia said, “given the recent pandemic, we wanted to focus our event on moving forward and enacting change. We believe that this all starts with a Step in the Right Direction”. 

Although organising the event was no walk in the park, Olivia and her team were thrilled to hear from all the speakers who shared and conveyed their passion through their varied ideas. She said, “it was definitely memorable to see everything come together and have our ideas come to reality.”

To keep in line with the theme, the organising team put together an impressive line-up of students and guest speakers:

Student speakers

• E-Ern (Year 7): Pursuing your goals and ambitions
• Ashwin (Year 8): Gender Identity
• Kimi (Year 9): Gender Equality
• Rohan (Year 11): Overcoming divisive politics through centrism
• Alicia (Year 13):  Sonification, combining music and biology

Like previous years, most of the student speakers were selected based on their winning performances at the Middle School Speaker’s Competition. E-Ern, Ashwin, and Kimi were the winners of their respective year groups. Ashwin, who was a first-time speaker at TEDx, said, “I chose gender identity as my topic as this is something that I have been very passionate about my whole life. I was extremely excited at the prospect of getting to speak about my passion and sharing my gender identity with such a large audience. I hope that I inspired others with my speech.”

As for Rohan and Alicia, they were selected from a series of applications submitted to the team. Olivia explained, “we advertised the event and asked for Year 10 to 13 students to submit their proposed topics, explain how it was related to the theme, and include an extract from their speech as well as a video of them speaking so we could gauge their public speaking skills. We then went through the applications and selected the best entries from each category (Year 10-11 and Year 12-13).”

Guest speakers
The guest speakers were a mix of staff members from Tanglin and industry experts. Here is a list of the topics they spoke about:

All in all, the event went off without a hitch and the attendees enjoyed it immensely. Well done, Olivia and team!

John Ridley, Director of Learning, said, “What an inspiring afternoon! The theme “A step in the right Direction” was explored by student and adult speakers covering a diverse range of subject matter – from gender equality to green energy – leaving the audience with lots to reflect on.  I was particularly proud of our student speakers who all delivered their talks with passion and confidence. With these young people shaping the future, the world is in good hands.” 

See below for photos of the event: