Tedx Youth Event @ CA 2022

Recently, five CA students shared their passion, interests, and thoughts in our TEDx Youth @Canadian Academy event. Following the TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Talks format, our students spoke eloquently and openly-- as adults aren't the only ones with ideas worth spreading.

In her talk, Piya Sarkar addresses the issue of colorism in India, as well as shines a light on how it is perpetrated worldwide. She is passionate about speaking on the responsibility and duty the current generation has to combat colorism and prejudiced ideologies based on the color of someone's skin. 

A life-long animal lover, Riko Kubo has developed her interest in animal welfare since elementary school after a project on euthanasia. She has become passionate about raising awareness about animal suffering in Japan and pet welfare issues. By sharing her vision, Riko challenges Japan to normalize equity between animals and humans. It is her sincere hope to make a great change to the Japanese pet industry. Her talk can be found here.

Richard (Ricky) Miller is like a lot of teenagers who have a favorite sports team, the Ottawa Senators. Initially, Ricky started a fan account on Instagram in ninth grade, but due to it being unsuccessful he quit. Towards the end of his attempt, an opportunity arose where he was asked to write for an ice hockey publication website. Running with this opportunity, he continues to write for ice hockey publications to this day. Through his presentation, he hopes to encourage others to not be afraid of failure but rather embrace it and move forward especially when things are uncertain. 

Eva Bonnier, is inspired to make change and overcome negative period stigma. In her speech, Eva informs the audience about negative period stigma and suggests three ways to overcome it, which include having open discussions, teaching about menstruation, and making products accessible. Through this, she aims to help create a more inclusive environment, bringing a positive emotional impact on everyone who menstruates.

After learning about autism in class and visiting a school for those with mental and physical disabilities, Dylan Javeri wanted to specifically focus on helping those with neurological disabilities. His first step towards helping was to spread awareness of autism and the struggles people with it face in society and day-to-day life. In his speech, Dylan hopes that by spreading awareness, he can inspire others to also help integrate those with neurological disabilities into society.

Congratulations to our five participants, and we hope that you will be inspired by what they had to say.