Psychologist Tracy Thomas spoke at the TEDx conference, held May 25, about overcoming one’s inappropriate impulses in favor of more positive outcomes in her lecture, titled “The Emotional Strength Effect.”
By: Loan-Anh Pham
TedX hosted its first conference since 2016, titled “Bursting Bubbles,” at the MHS theater on May 25, TedX Secretary Ayushi Malhotra said. The conference presented seven speakers, including four professionals and three students, and 111 tickets were sold, Malhotra added.
The conference’s goal was to leave an impression and encourage the audience to pursue their goals, no matter how out of the norm said goals are, Malhotra said. The theme, “Bursting Bubbles,” was chosen to represent the barriers that teens, women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ+ community have broken, as well as acknowledge the bubble of competition within the college admissions system, Malhotra added.
“I’m really happy with how smoothly everything went. Our months of planning and hard work really paid off! I hope that our speakers were as inspiring to our attendees as they were for me,” Malhotra said. “Our future plans are to hopefully have two conferences next year! One in the fall and another in the spring. I’m looking forward to working with the rest of my team to make future events better and better.”
Preparations for the conference began last August and September, Malhotra noted. The club planned the event, found sponsors, reviewed speaker applications, and helped speakers edit their speeches and presentations, Malhotra said.
Dr. Cindy Huynh, a tenure-track faculty member at San Jose City College (SJCC), learned about the conference via the digital sign in front of the SJCC Milpitas Extension, Huynh said. Huynh decided to draw on her experiences as a community college professor of ethnic and cultural studies to present her speech, “Can community colleges be prestigious?” she added.
Throughout her years as an educator, she noticed many students seeming deflated at attending community college and always feeling a need to prove themselves, Huynh commented. She wanted to affirm her students’ journeys despite their nontraditional route, Huynh said.
“Whether it takes you two years to transfer or fifteen years to transfer, your experience is valid regardless. And beyond writing a love letter to [my students], I wanted to acknowledge to the public too that community colleges are valuable,” Huynh said. “I definitely think the [stigma about community colleges] is nationwide, but I do think that it is stronger in the Bay Area because we have CSUs here, we have UCs here, we have tons of private schools here. There’s a lot of money here, too, and just a lot of competition. I think community colleges are valuable just because they are an open door for so many different people.”
Senior Natalie Lata learned about the event through Instagram, she said. According to Lata, she was motivated to present her speech, “Walking Numbers,” to point out socioeconomic diversity and its effects in her community.
“It was about never letting your financial status and your failures define who you are. I chose this topic because it hits close to home,” Lata said. “Growing up in a diverse community where rich and poor people are mixed, it exemplified the uneven playing field. And so for myself being a first gen student, and coming from divorced parents, it took me a while to find my life purpose again. I picked this topic to help my peers see that a bump in the road is not the epic life downfall.”
Freshmen Jenelle Soo attended the conference with her parents since she and her mother enjoy watching TedX videos, Soo said. She found it inspirational that a speaker commented on social media’s use as a tool for leaders to develop, Soo added.
Eighth Grader Siya Shah attended the event with her mother and would definitely attend another one, she said.
“I feel that the topics that they’re talking about are definitely ones that need a voice,” Shah said. “They’re very informative.”