TEDxLawrenceville Makes a Return

          Last Friday, on May 3, Lawrenceville hosted its first TEDxLawrenceville event since the Covid-19 pandemic.  The return of TEDxLawrenceville was pioneered by Vice President of Academics Conan Chen ’24 and Georges Cassissovici ’25. The program kicked off this Spring with four speakers:Student Council President Bryce Langdon ’24, Nitza Kahlon ’25, Sathvik Samant ’26, and Talia Thomas ’27. All four of the speakers prepared speeches that highlighted their talents, individual experiences, and unique perspectives. 

          Samant, whose speech tackled the prevalent topic of Artificial Intelligence’s (A.I.) presence in today’s society, enjoyed his experience with not only delivering his talk but also learning about the other students who presented. “I really enjoyed speaking, listening to my fellow Lawrentians, and learning about all the cool people around me,” he remarked. Samant’s interest in his topic and experience in the area allowed him to construct an argument about why Lawrentians—and society as a whole—should “approach A.I. with a positive [outlook],” as he stated. “As part of the A.I. Council and the Big Data/A.I. Club, I tried to draw upon my technical experience and integrate it with my interest in ethics and responsible use,” Samant reflected. With regards to the future of the program, he declared, “I hope that we can integrate TEDx into School Meetings or make it a club, so we can have year-round speeches and participation.”

          Langdon’s speech centered on finding belonging within a community and he related this idea back to his own experiences at Lawrenceville. “I had a hard time finding belonging at Lawrenceville when I initially arrived, and I talked about how, through tennis and piano, I found specific meaningful things I could offer the community, which then made me feel like I belonged,” he remarked. Langdon emphasized his belief that “the nature of a strong community lies in people being able to offer something to others.” Similarly to Samant, Langdon’s experience with delivering his speech and listening to others really resonated with him. The event was a great opportunity for everyone who attended as “the speakers got to learn how to put together a presentation, present to an audience, and talk about something they care about, and the audience got to learn more about members of their own community,” Langdon noted. 

          While TEDxLawrencville was a new opportunity on campus, the program was a huge success and extremely insightful to those who attended. The event offered a great way to highlight student voices around campus and allow people to showcase their hidden talents and perspectives.