TEDxGeorge School Scheduled for June 2015

November 24, 2014

TEDxGeorgeSchool is scheduled for Saturday, June 13, 2015 in the George School Fitness and Athletics Center. The event will explore the future of education through a variety of diverse, entertaining, and thought-provoking speakers. TEDxGeorgeSchool is an independently organized event.

“In the truest sense, our mission for hosting this conference is the pure search for knowledge, a search guided by human hearts intentionally committed to working in a consensual, egalitarian process,” shared Ralph Lelii, TEDx organizer, English teacher, and International Baccalaureate (IB) Coordinator.

“The beauty of TEDx, in my view, is that it brings us face to face with those who present new ideas. There are no commercial intrusions, no mandated inclusions, and no centralized enforcer of ideas. We are free to choose whom we like, and it is up to us to open our hearts and our minds to those who would likely confirm and challenge what we already know, and bring us awareness of what we do not. It seems to me the rightful business of a school to pursue such a program.”

The framing idea for the program is this:
In a world where the amount of knowledge doubles every twelve months, we are challenged to think carefully about the nature and content of the curricula we construct for our students. During TEDxGeorgeSchool we hope to explore a range of ideas about what should be taught to students who must adapt to a world that is undergoing an unprecedented rate of cultural and intellectual change.

A dedicated group of twenty-seven community members, under the guidance of Ralph, are researching and inviting prospective speakers who will speak on a variety of topics. More information about speakers will be available as they are confirmed.

About Our Sponsors

As we anticipate our first ever TEDxGeorgeSchool, it is important to recognize the crucial role that our TEDx Sponsors, Enterra and The Project for STEM Competitiveness, played in bringing this event to fruition. Without them, it is unlikely we could have gone forward, and we are very grateful for their willingness to fund this gathering of diverse intellectual and artistic exchange.

Enterra is bringing the promise and power of Big Data Analytics and Insights to industry, organizations, and governments. Through the Enterra Cognitive Reasoning Platform™, Enterra enables organizations to capture, curate and analyze vast amounts of complex and disparate data. This capability allows our clients to uncover and understand non-obvious relationships that lead to innovative new product development and innovation, heightened consumer understanding, enhanced supply chain execution, and more efficient and targeted consumer marketing. Enterra’s analytics and insights help the world’s leading brands and organizations operate smarter by finding higher meaning in data.

Project for STEM Competitiveness is committed to bring outcomes-measured STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) education to both underrepresented and private-school populations through exciting and inspiring project-based learning. Key is an integrated community approach involving individuals from corporations, national laboratories, other governmental agencies, and other non-profit and philanthropic organizations throughout the United States. The Project hopes to create experiential learning through hands-on programs and materials that enrich the academic curriculum of schools and can be adapted to diverse school environments (e.g., urban, suburban, or rural) while taking advantage of involved local community resources to support STEM education.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TED Talks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Started as a four-day conference in California almost 30 years ago, TED (Technology, Education, Design) has grown to support its mission with multiple initiatives. The two annual TED Conferences invite the world’s leading thinkers and doers to speak for 18 minutes on a diverse mix of topics. Many of these talks are then made available at no charge at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Nandan Nilekani, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Follow TED on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TEDTalks, or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TED.

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