On Tuesday, April 9th, a handful of eager AMHS juniors and seniors, including myself, joined Mr. Stackhouse and Ms. Henley on an excursion to see the dress rehearsal for Charleston’s 6th Annual TEDx event. This year’s theme was Currents and featured a variety of  enlightening talks with topics ranging from musical-medical treatments to climate change to community/police interaction. Before getting to the Charleston Music Hall, however, we had to pick up some sub sandwiches for lunch, of course. We also had time before the event to explore Charleston’s very own Best Friend Train Museum, a delightful piece of railway history.

At the Music Hall, we were joined by groups from many other local high schools. Of course, the actual TEDx event was hosted the next day, April 10th, for TED patrons throughout the Charleston Community, but high schoolers were able to see the show for our own benefit and because it’s always helpful to have a full, live audience for a rehearsal.

The speakers included students, dancers, researchers, lawyers, and more. Of course, their diverse backgrounds and perspectives brought different meanings to this years theme, Currents. Some of the talks weren’t actually talks–one, Annaliesa Gowe, performed ballet and contemporary dance, and there was also an opera performance by Small Opera.

One of the speakers, Ryan Fiorini, is actually a friend and colleague of Mr. Stackhouse. Ryan is an entrepreneur who talked about how he has developed technology to efficiently detect concussions on the spot, which is obviously an exciting innovation for any athlete or sports fan.

More of these “ideas worth sharing” emerged throughout the day, including a favorite of many Magnet students’, which was Jay DeMarco’s captivating talk about how much opioid abuse stems from over-prescribing. Kevin Boyd, 12, says that he will “be more conscious about [his] opioid use.”

After so much exposure to new ideas and people who are doing exciting things in our community and around the world, we decided that a fitting end to our journey was a stop by everyone’s favorite over-priced ice cream shop, Jeni’s. Over all, this field trip was a lot of fun and it was really cool to watch TED talks in person. If you’re interested in going to the dress rehearsal for next year’s TEDx , let Mr. Stackhouse or Ms. Henley know when that time comes next April!