Local students putting finishing touches on TED Talks for local youth event

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — You have likely heard of or watched a TED Talk before. Now, some Sioux Falls high school students will present their ideas as part of a TedxSioux Falls Youth Event next week.

Ideas worth spreading: that’s the idea behind TED talks.

The Sioux Falls School District wanted to provide a platform for students to share their ideas by collaborating with TedxSioux Falls for the youth event.

39 public high school students in Sioux Falls applied and 15 of them were chosen to be a part of the inaugural event.

“It looked really interesting and I just really wanted to try it out, get out of my comfort zone to see how this works,” Roosevelt High School senior Luis Gaspar said.

“I saw the big posters for the TED talk and I thought, ‘Oh, that’d be cool to be old and tell my grandkids I did a TED talk once,'” Jefferson High School senior Ana Isabela Azumatan Aceituno said.

Not only do they get to present their ideas, but it’s also an opportunity to speak in front of an audience.

“That’s another reason why I did this, because I want to like put myself out there and try to work on it and it get better,” Azumatan Aceituno said.

“This is my first speech I’m ever doing. I’ve never taken a speech class, never done anything like this, so for a TED Talk to be my first exposure to public speaking is nuts,” Washington High School senior Carter Van Ruler said.

Todd Novak, who is the Jefferson Freshman Academy Coordinator, is the lead organizer of this event. He says they’ve been meeting almost every Monday night since January so students could practice and receive feedback.

“Last week, I brought in the red dot, and we all stood around the red dot that you’re supposed to stand on for a TED event. And, you know, just kind of that dawning like, ‘Okay, I’m going to be doing something kind of serious here.’ So it’s been great. It’s been great to watch them grow in their ideas and how they’ve been developing that,” Novak said.

And with less than two weeks to go until they’re under the spotlight, these students are ready.

“It is pretty exciting because we’ve been working really hard on this, put a lot of hours in this and I’m just excited to see the final product,” Lincoln High School senior Masha Doering said.

“I know what I want to say is worth sharing. That’s why I was chosen, so I’m just super excited for it,” Van Ruler said.