The Morris Knolls TedX Event returned again this year with the brand new theme of  Mosaic, representing the significance of combining diverse pieces of ideas, perspectives, and experiences to produce an elevated entity. The event took place on February 21st at 7:00 p.m.

Orchestrated by senior Abril Calle Rodriquez, the TedX event provides a way for speakers to express their unique ideas and leave a lasting impact on the school. Viewers can indulge in the many different ideas and perspectives presented, inspiring them to think outside the box. 

There were a total of 9 speeches, each on a different topic, ranging from Greek mythology to economics to language. Below are the speeches that were discussed by their respective speakers that night:

• Laughter Acting as a Form of Medicine by Addie Staskiel
• Why and How Greek Mythology Stays Relevant Today by Soniya Shah
• Prosperity and Downfall of Languages and Its Impact on Society by Zachary Glantz
• Benefits of Social Media by Mihir Shetty
• One’s Environment Controls Their Perspective of Reality by Cooper Johnson
• How Boredom Is a Powerful Motivation for Creativity by Vera Bachu
• How Pessimism Distorts Our View of the Economy and the World by Julien Riera
• Struggles of Neurodivergent by Gaby Couto-Baez
• How Small Fragments of Wisdom Are Misinterpreted and What That Reveals About the Human Condition by Matthew Nemerofsky

Several speakers were willing to share their TedX journey with us while preparing their speeches. For example, Julien Riera, a sophomore, found out about TedX through his friends, and attended the event last year, which helped him learn a lot and made him interested in the event. His speech touched on how pessimism has distorted the people’s view of the economy and largely the perception of the world.

When asked why he chose this topic, Julien responded, “I chose this topic because the economy is something that’s quite prevalent in today’s society and although it’s talked about a lot, there’s a lot of misinformation regarding it. I think it’s important that there are people who can share their knowledge, alleviating people’s worries, which are caused by misinformation.” Another topic Julien was interested in speaking about was differentiating faith from logic. In total, Julien worked on his speech for about 15 hours spread over 3 days before he was selected for the event.

Matthew Nemerofsk, a junior, also spoke at the event thanks to Abril Calle Rodriguez who went around different classrooms speaking about TedX in hopes of getting more people to audition for it. Matthew was reminded of the TedTalk videos he watched in his classes, and it inspired him to create his own TedTalk to speak about a topic he’s passionate about. 

In the words of Matthew, his speech “explores how people often neglect the context of things like poems, books, or historical events, often deriving whatever meaning they prefer to take from it, rather than all of its potential implications.” The speech, entitled “Short Story Long,” reviews two poems and a quote from a book about a historical event, and analyses how people, instead of looking at the bigger picture when consuming literature, focus on one aspect and take the meaning that they want from it.

Matthew’s idea for this topic came from his AP Literature teacher, Ms. Mazur. Matthew had been turning over the concept in his head for a while ever since he was on stage crew for “The Twelve Huntsmen, ” the 2024 MK Fall play. “It interested me how one of the characters in the play took a single line spoken to them by another character and used it to completely change their life and set their outlook on the world.” He ended up connecting this part of the play to one of the poems discussed in his AP Literature class, the same poem that would later go on to be a part of his TedX.

His interest in this concept was only amplified when Ms. Mazur assigned him the other of the two poems that he would go on to talk about in his speech as an assignment. Ms. Mazur had played a big role in Matthew’s conceptualization of his TedX speech, and when the opportunity was presented to turn his ideas into said speech, he said “I surprised myself by how much I was able to write about when I typed up my first draft…” The quote that Matthew ends his speech with is a Mark Twain quote which was also told to him by Ms. Mazur.

Vera Bachu is a freshman and she gained an interest in TedX through the fliers on the school lockers and walls. She, like Matthew, had watched TedTalks for her class, and the opportunity to participate in one of her own excited and motivated her. In her TedX speech, titled “The Power of Boredom,” Vera explains the ways in which boredom and imagination are connected and argues that boredom is essential to creative thinking.

When asked why she chose this topic, she responded, “I chose this topic because I thought it was original and came out of experience. It was controversial to what most people think, so I believed it had a lot of potential to convince and persuade people to change for the better.” Vera was passionate about her topic since it came out of a place of personal experience, and hoped her speech would inspire others to take time out of their day to be imaginative. Vera was able to draft her entire speech in under a day, but spent a total of 3 days perfecting it by adding statistics and nuance.

These are just three of the nine speeches presented at TedX, and it is clear how much time and effort each speaker put into their incredible work. Every speaker brought a unique perspective and had their own way of developing their topics—whether inspired by teachers, friends, or personal experiences. These varied journeys all come together at TedX, beautifully reflecting this year’s theme of Mosaic.