On April 10, BVH held its seventh annual Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) talk inside the Bolles Theater, which was hosted by the TEDx BVH program. During the event, community members came together to speak about their experiences under the theme of ‘mosaic’; an art piece made up of colorful pieces of glass, tile or stone to create a picture. In this case, the ‘mosaic’ describes the entire life of the individual who is speaking.
TEDx Speaker Department member and BVH senior Alexander Roman was a speaker for the event who focused on their experiences as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. They explain their experience in tackling writing the speech and adhering to the theme.
“[To me], a mosaic is all my negative and positive experiences in one that made me the person I am today. [It’s the] struggles and overcoming them. It was hard writing at first because I was being vulnerable. [I’ve had] big struggles in my life that ultimately contributed to the person I am today, and I wouldn’t be as strong as I am if it weren’t for those struggles,” Roman said.
Throughout the event, two speakers—San Diego community member Gina Tang and BVH senior Lyra Rhoades—caught Roman’s attention. Tang’s speech focused on her experiences with struggling through drug abuse and unplanned pregnancy. Additionally, Rhoades’ speech revolved around her challenges with pushing through her daily routine.
“Gina and Lyra made me feel like they both embodied the theme of mosaic, when they talked about the positives and negatives of their life, and how they overcame challenges. It was really beautiful to hear all the speakers in general and their perspective on life, their mosaic,” Roman said.
A common obstacle numerous speakers faced was the fear of speaking in front of a crowd. Their anxieties built up as they looked over the crowd of people in attendance at the event. However, the speakers were able to get over these brief moments of anxiety as they began. For instance, TEDx speaker and BVH sophomore Jeremy Berke was worried when he began his speech, but found his confidence as he went on.
“I was so nervous beforehand, practically sweating bullets. When I went on stage and started talking, [everything] made sense, especially because I believe in what I speak about. I did not memorize a script, I was speaking from my heart, and I hope people could tell when I gave my speech,” Berke said.
Berke’s speech was about taking the mundane and boring aspects of life, and realizing that every experience an individual goes through is all part of life’s art piece. Berke was also a part of the BVH theater program, giving him public speaking experience. He explains that as he spoke on the stage, he gained his confidence and understood what he wanted to mention.
“I knew from the start that I was going to do a more philosophical and way of life speech, rather than this formal research paper. [The topic] gives a lot of liberties with the word “mosaic”. I used mosaic in two ways. To live your life with the idea that a mosaic is made from the little mundane pieces of life to make art, second being that your own life consists of moments to fill your own personal mosaic,” Berke said.
However, as someone who lacked experience in speech writing, Berke was given a tutor. Berke was mentored by TEDx Speaker Department members Louis Nguyen, who ensured that all of Berke’s tasks had been fulfilled and carried out efficiently. Nguyen explains his role in TEDx..
“For today, I was controlling presentations and making sure everything backstage was going well. But my role for the entire year was mentoring Jeremy Burke, who is the speaker here today,” Nguyen said. “[I helped Berke] speak, as well as helping him edit his speech and figure out what he was trying to say in his speeches.”
On the other hand, an obstacle Roman faced was that they had not fully memorized their speech. Due to speakers dropping out of the event, Roman decided to deliver a speech at the last minute, giving them limited time to memorize it. They explain that speaking at this conference was a new and unique experience to them.
“The speech I had wasn’t fully memorized. It was a new form of performing for me, which I found really fun and empowering for myself because I don’t think I’ve ever given a speech that’s been almost either within the same intensity in comparison to my other speeches,” Roman said.
Roman’s speech was broken up into multiple parts in Google Slides. The slideshow was controlled backstage, where the pages switched after the speaker delivered the last sentence on each slide.Another issue Roman experienced was their lack of vision, as the theater was dark.
“I could see the teleprompter fine, but I couldn’t see the audience. This was hard because I like making eye contact with my audience, so they get the message of my speeches. It was fine because it helped with the nerves a bit, but it was a hard part for me not being able to fully connect with my audience,” Roman said.
Overall, both speakers and the TEDx members found the experience as something positive. With Roman finding joy in delivering their speech in front of an audience, along with Berke expressing the passion each speaker had, they both found benefits in participating in the conference. Nguyen explains how this event was one of the highlights in his high school career.
“[TEDx BVH] was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had at BVH. It’s probably one of the highlights I’ve had here in my sophomore year, and the rest of my high school experience. People at BVH and others in San Diego were given a voice,” Nguyen said. “It was really inspiring to see the people.
Nguyen views the TEDx program as a good opportunity for anyone in the San Diego community to advocate for what they believe in. He wishes that more people are inspired to join the TEDx program. Nguyen adds on by mentioning how inspired he was by the speech delivers, allowing him to enjoy the event.
“People at Bonita and others in San Diego have a voice to speak out their opinion. We’ve seen great speeches today that I really enjoyed and I’ve learned about. It was really inspiring to see people, even students, speak in front of a lot of people,” Louis said.
