TEDx kicks off at Laguna Blanca School in Santa Barbara
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Students packed the Laguna Blanca school's gym to experience this year’s TEDx Conference in Santa Barbara.
“It’s been going really well it’s been a long process we work on the event all semester so I’m excited the event day here so I’m really excited there’s a lot of nerves," said student Olivia de Ponce of Laguna Blanca School.
Students running the conference hope this year's theme "Limitless" will inspire others to "challenge the norms that conform our thinking and venture into new realms of innovation."
"I think for us it just means thinking outside of the box hearing new ideas and approaching things in different ways," said de Ponce.
“Extremely powerful platform where we are learning about many different businesses where people are fitting in our world … you know it’s limitless right now," said speaker JJ McLeod at TEDx.
This years TEDx speakers included mostly local hero’s including a former NFL player.
“I hope they come up to me and ask me … it not only applies to people who hit their head … but it applies for people who are in depression or who are just in a bad spot," said former NFL player Chris Gocong.
"I think everyone leaves the event feeling like a better person more inspired than when they arrived … I know I certainly do in just talking to our speakers," said de Ponce.
Students who attended the conference came from several schools including Santa Barbara High, Franklin Elementary and Santa Barbara middle school.
TEDx is a semester long course in which students have been working on for months planning, curating speakers and pitching sponsors to help support the event financially.
TEDx is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks.