TEDx youth group aims to motivate other teens

Nikkisa Abdollahistarted nonprofit so

kids could go beyond'viral cat videos.'

gY JOSEPX Rt{CitilORANCE COUNTY REGISTER

Itlilad Rohui sat etraptured,'listening to the Young Personsoeakine before him'emai tftu, a l6-Yeu+ld Phi-lanthropist from Utah, was giving a

speech aboui how he started uorganlzation, Bags to Riches, at a

TBDxYouthBomer0anYon con-

ference in Orange Couty lasi Year.Seing Khm sPeak Pasionately

about his nonprofit, which recY-

#s unwanted conference bags,nd donates themto those in need,

Davld ltsaver, left, ot snn Juan caplstrano 'nd

TED volunteer Milad

i"i*i'1"-J "riliir," TgDxYouthBommetcanvon art show Tuesdav'

qlder thu me, doing great thingsmade me ask. 'What m I doing?' "saitl Rohai, now 16 and a junior at

Sace Hill Scbooi in NewportBeich, "He motivated me togo out

in tbe world and do something'arD'thing."

IrnmediatelY after that conJer-

ence. Rohani said he signed uP tobecome part of the Youth cowcil ofTED:iYouthBomercmYon, a local vouth affiliate of TED.

"i wmted io get involved withthe commmitY md help shre mdspr€d idess," Rohui.said'' TED stmdsforTechnoloS4'En-'

tertaiment, Desigrr. TED md lecal TEDx conferences rye mualidea-spreading events knom fortheir iNpiring talks ftom innova-

tors, entrepfenem ad other netable speakers.

TEDxYouih8ommerCml'on'

ROD VEAL, ORAI{GE COUN'Y REGISTER

awoke something inside Rohani'

"Here 1 ws, I5' md just listen-ing to this guy who wm onlY a Ye*

SEg IEDX ' PACE 6

THE CURRENl

based in lruine, md otherTEDx youth afftliatesaround the world are going

lounger and reaching out,hoping to inspire the nextgeneralion of leaders:laveens md teens.

"Just imagine ifre werelisteuing to ll'ED talks whenrve were younger how much

that might have changedoul life's trajectorY," said

Nikkisa Abdollahi, the

lbunder of TEDxYBC. it'6the only'l'EDx Youth grouP

in Orange CountY, she said.The mother of three

bo-us, AbdolJahi said she

fouded TEDxYBC in 2011

after listening to a TEDtalk. She wanled to exposeher boys, ages 11, I sd 7 atthe time. io something dif-ierert from "Chulie bit mY

luger ot viral cal videm,"she said,

She managed to find a

video and in the Processcame to ihe realization thalnost TED taiks do not cat-er to a teen audience'

With no oPerience, she

contacted TED and askedto become a TEllx Youthorganizer.

ln the "WLrY do You wantlo become a TED organ-izer?" part of the apPlica-lion. she lvrote, "If I can

shaie a wellchosen talk toany child that could shiftth€ir traiectory one or twodegrees, that would be

hngc."

TEDXrNOII PAGE I

'lE1l offlcials immediate-lt'accepted ber, she said.ivhnn she creat€d heryouth group, there rvere

about 6O TEDx Youtb afftl-iates around the world.Las! Yed, there were 10O

TEDxYouth eventB ir 51

eou4tries, said MelodY Se-

rafino, head of TED Publicrsldtions.

Abdollahi nmed it TED-xYouthBommerCanYon be-

ccuse she didn't want to be

tied down to a perceived lo-c*llon as TEDxYouthlir4ne. Bommer CanYon,

she said, is a destinationformany people in OrangeCourty.

lGsra Llkan mak33. slqn lor th."Mln t the GaP" art erhlblt.

Since founding theorgmization, she's held tworonferences. The first Yery,

there were 22 speakers and

150 attendees Half of thesDeakers were teenagers,i,ith aU of the toPi"s guur"dtoward teens md familY

Last yer, seven of the 11

swakers were teenagersaird attendmce grew to450. The grouP's third con-ference will be held atOrmge Coast Oollege inOctober

"1/s received so much

better when theY hea themessage from their Peas,"Abdollahi pid. "For kids,

when adulls talk it's like thePeanuts adult voice$, 'Mwa,mwa, mwa' but if thes

mroS, nOOVelU OnlilGE COUNTV RESISTER

Aloat l$rn ls the 16'vesr:old foundtr of 6aqsioRlches,. nonprotltorEanizEtlon lhat dilatesexiess cmference bbgs

tothe 163 tortunate.KhaniPole {lhe .-

IEDXYBC 4ent lait ieEr'lf ! tid Fnatarl-ftce

book whY cant i do'somethhE? th€ day€ ofnot belnE able to haw a

blq imPact arelong gone,"

he mld.

ilor.qln th.i,ls,a 12". ,

vsFold hlp'hop daN9rend mgmber cl Drag'mBallg dance .cres Sleaspoke at the TEDXYBC.conlerence last Y€En

"Ar m mEet hefe ln thelntersciloi ct w:d€r:st!hdlrg lnd lndlflerenteiculture a[d comtasslgB,dlq deep and sntclouslythink Ebqut Ysr PercEF'tion and hry ft could af'lect otheB," slpr !8id-

Ja$a Elll$ar ls a. 'qudrlplcqlc surfen He 13

the lounder ol Llfe RollsOn, a @niroflt ihatlm!rrovs the gualtty of llfeaory@nq people wlth sPI-

nal cqrd lnluris. Blllsuetseoke atthe IEOTYBCconl€rdme ln ZO11;

"Ev€n It you.donit ac'rcomplish sometilnq; illong as You glve l! Your all,mbodv can be mad atvou,ll f€..4{: -1..i,:,-,-"4\':..'.,i,4-..

Kld3hang'utlnalouDgeatTheLAEAnt|m.lllncGtil{es8!3ltho3t.theTEDxYouthBommefcsnyonAftshowon;;;;;;:"w;;i; il bfvouaq adutts vere on dltel'Y thtotrehout the makeshllt qsllery'

teens heu the messagefrom someone ebe, tlteirom age, that Percn is bril-limt.'

While most TED confer-ences are onlY held once a

yer, a unique Part of TED-xYBC is lhat it also *resas a de facio Youth group.

CommitY-buildingevents ae held throughouithe year to teach the kidsabout organizing, resPcn-

sibilities and Putting theoryinto practiee, Abdollahisaid.

On Tirsday, TDDxYBCheld an art show at TheLAB Artiroll in Costa Me-s. The event was run and

hosted entirelY bY the Youlhcomeil membere.

The impaci ofbeing Partof TEDxYBC is easY to see

in many of thede teenagers.Anika Lusen, al?'Ye*-

old senior at Laguna BeachHieh. said she's lemed a

lot'of public relations mdother life skills.

"I'm talking to PeoPlemore md have ben able toconnect with the communi-ty," Ltrsen 6aid ''l've reallY

come out of mY shell since

last year."Hideh Hassani has two

sore who are members oithe TEDx Yeuth group-

Sbee joining, she's noticeda diiference in the demea-

nor ofher sons Neah Lekan,

19, and Kasra L€ks, 11.

"They've become $ore

soal-oriented," said Hmsa-ni, an Iryineresident "l was

talking the other day withmv son. Neah, md saying

tfrat it is OX not to get allA's in sehool.

"He immediatelY stoP-ped me and mid, 'Mom. Ihave a goal. I want to go toHaruard,"'

"He's detemined mdgoing for it," Hasuni said.

Lasen and Rohani are

taking what theY lednedfrom TEDxYBC to theirhigh schools tbis fali. Thet*o are plaming to stal'ii sunoficial TED club on em-Pt

**t to inspire otheryoung kids and teens," La-sen said. .

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