This year celebrated the 5th anniversary of TEDx at Pace! The purpose of TEDx is to incite thought and questions about the world around us through listening to different speeches under a common theme. Upper School English Teacher Robert Kaufman, sophomore Madeline Ganz and junior John Hardesty co-organized this year’s event, which took place on Nov. 3. This year’s theme was “Living with Love,” inspired by the seven different forms of Greek love: philia, ludus, agape, pragma, philautia, storge and mania. Several students spoke, including the first lower schoolers to ever speak at a Pace Academy TedX event along with an ensemble of students performing “The Book of Love” at the beginning of the event.
The first speaker was sophomore Paige Vadnais speaking about mania (obsessive love) in her speech called “Alive as I’ll Ever Be.” Her speech was about her love of the alternative scene. Expressing herself through different styles like goth, punk and emo, allow her to have creativity and passion. She talked about how she created her own business on Etsy to sell jewelry and clothes which was a great outlet for her creativity. She also touched on her love for different concerts and how they are her safe place.
Next, junior Teah Charkawi spoke about agape (love for everyone) in her speech, “Patience and Paws.” Her speech focused on her job at a doggy daycare that she picked up over the summer. This job helped her learn the differences between each dog that she cared for and even learned how to communicate with each one. She connected the differences between each dog she has cared for to how different humans understand each other, ultimately learning that to love is to be patient.
Junior Nekhi Stover and Class of ‘29 Roman Pace gave their speech, called “Marching to our Own Beat,” regarding philia (deep friendship) next. Pace spoke about his experience going on the television show, “America’s Got Talent,” with the Atlanta Drum Club. This experience led him to be interested in the drumming club here at Pace. The two talked about how this club helped them form a brotherhood and learn how different rhythms of drumming connect to the different rhythms of life.
Junior Harriet Blaha spoke next, with her speech called “The Pursuit of Happiness,” about philautia (love of the self). Blaha talked about different anxieties in her life and how she chose to intentionally pursue happiness after struggling to do so in her past. Her journey of her slump with running, then learning to fall back in love with it helped make her goals with happiness clear. She taught the audience that to truly be happy, it is important to keep things fun, stay surrounded by the right people and focus on the little things in life that bring happiness.
The first lower schoolers to ever speak in a Pace Academy TEDx event took the stage next. Grame Buffenbarger and Anika Singh, Class of ‘32, called their speech, “Teachers are All Around Us,” which focused on ludus (playful love). Both students talked about their different passions in life through sports, and how it is important that they put effort and love into their crafts.
Pragma (long standing love) was touched on next with junior Bennett Cummings’ speech, “The Art of Being Real.” Cummings spoke about his past struggles with aspects of his sexuality. He went through a journey of trying to blend in and reluctance to come out as gay to his friends, but he then realized it is better to embrace himself. He was able to put this love into his hobby of photography, making it an everlasting passion of his.
Lastly, Sam Halpern, Class of ‘29, spoke about storge (family love) in his speech, “The Perfect Chocolate Cookie.” His speech connected his love for baking to his love for his family and explained his journey of how he got into cooking and baking. His process of finding the perfect recipe for chocolate chip cookies, hence the title, taught him that perfection has different definitions for everyone, mistakes are necessary to learning and love comes in many different forms.
