by Stavi Dimas and Christina Rocha

Why Should Students Share Their Voice And Spread Their Passions?

by Stavi Dimas, Elementary School Faculty and Christina Rocha, Middle School Faculty

The Academy and Middle school Ted-Ed students showcased their continued evolution as architects of their own learning at their final live TedEd virtual event. They showed poise, effective communicative skills, and powerful images to accompany their talks. Through collaboration and discovery and exploration of their curiosities and passions they fueled their journey towards an amazing final Ted-Ed event. Endless hard work went into this successful event, as even during the lockdown, students met with their advisors, mentors and the Writing Studio continuously, exemplifying true resilience.

Lern more about our story from the students’ point of view:

“One thing I learned from being part of the Ted-ed Club was that my voice has power. I learned that if we love something and we believe it can help other people too, then our voice is powerful and it matters. We should never doubt our voice, opinions and most importantly our journey”. (Eva Karagkou, 9th grade) The Ted-Eders from 6th - 10th grade explored a variety of questions and ideas which led them to identify their passions and share them with our school audience. Ideas ranged from athletics and perseverance, to goal setting, politics, language evolution, food, the power of failure and making mistakes, over-consumption, loss, normalization, technology, and even film music.

“When you start it, it’s like a giant mountain. When you have time to think again, you are already done.” (Kai Yuet Zhang, 7th grade)

“I understood the importance of practice… it leads to the overcoming of fear.” (Stelio Martzoukos, 9th grade)

From start to finish, learning to formulate a successful talk is not an easy task. Students learned not to give up in the face of adversity, showing perseverance and fortitude. In order to reach the final stage of delivering a talk, they had to engage in 14 different explorations. The steps ranged from identifying their passions, to brainstorming, story arcs, writing their own scripts, and finally practicing for their final presentation.

“This club was more than a learning experience and through it I improved my public speaking, feedback, and confidence.” (Daphne Raptis, 6th grade)

Through the process, students learned and practiced a variety of 21st century competency skills: curiosity, creativity, cultural understanding, effective listening, communication and the art of giving and receiving feedback. Finally, students reflected on their experiences from the year and provided the following insights:

“Ted-ed is a club that values inner growth and outer spreading.” (Vasileia Lalaki, 7th grade)

“For the incoming members I would tell them that they will enter an experience that they will always remember. An experience in which you explore more about yourself and your powerful voice that can create change.” (Valia Patrikiou, 10th grade)

As we can see from the students’ reflections, they are building awareness, interconnectivity and relationships within meaningful communities. The core purpose of Ted-Ed is to provide an experience for students where they collectively and individually cultivate their voice and choice. This year, as an extension of Ted-Ed, the Academy students had the unique opportunity to participate in an ongoing Erasmus international exchange project titled: Echoes from the Future. It focuses on the UN SDG 2030 goals to which the ACS Athens Conscious Citizenship objectives are aligned. Overall, students enjoyed participating in this Erasmus exchange, as they were able to meet fellow international Ted-Eders, contributing to their intercultural awareness and competence.