Placing themselves under the spotlight, a handful of select Diamond Bar High School students shone as they took the stage to share their TEDx speeches in an event hosted and organized by the Wellness Center.
After a rigorous audition process, 18 student speakers were selected. The speeches were hosted on Jan. 23 and participants spoke in groups of three for six class periods. Each speech centered around the topic of wellness, supported by personal topics such as personal growth, difficulty and their beliefs.
Junior Kavya Nair was inspired to audition for the speeches by her personal life and problems she faces. Her topic, “The Mind of an Overthinker” documented a difficulty that she faced and how she decided to overcome it.
“I initially wasn’t planning to audition for this Ted Talk because of my own fears and self-doubt,” Nair said. “However, as I was writing my speech for my class, I realized that I need to quite literally follow my own advice to stop overthinking.”
Nair also learned about herself during the process of spreading her message, including how to understand and control her overthinking tendencies.
“Some things that I have learned through this ordeal is how many simple changes we can bring into our life to positively impact it day to day,” Nair said. “Having a good support group that you can share your mind with is something that helps with overthinking.”
Another student, junior John Shimono, shared his own experience with philosophy in his speech about Optimism and Nihilism.
“Learning about the topic I was going to present was interesting and I realized public speaking is fairly rewarding since this was my first time in a major public speaking role.” Shimono said.
He found inspiration through an internet meme, which escalated into something more. Shimono took the uncommon chance to deliver a speech.
“The topic started off as a joke based on a meme, but when I read ‛The Myth of Sisyphus’ by Albert Camus, I realized his philosophy was actually very clever.” Shimono said. “I auditioned mostly because I thought that delivering that kind of speech was a different opportunity than most that are offered during high school and a fun way to test and push myself.”
After sharing their motivational speeches, many speakers aspired to continue public speaking. Nair plans on taking the opportunity to speak again if it presents itself. She doesn’t want to let her insecurities stop her from doing what she wants.
“I would definitely do something like this in the future as a way to get myself out there. I am going to take baby steps towards my goal and achieve it,” Nair said. “And inspiring someone else to take a stand in their life will definitely be an amazing product of my incredible journey so far.”
The TED talks were filmed by DBHS’ Brahma Cinematics video production crew so they would be accessible to anyone who missed it.
