Students gathered in the Freeman Room for the TEDx open house, an event hosted by the Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL), on October 18. TEDxPhillipsAcademy (TEDxPA) is an annual collection of student TEDx talks at Andover, which was reinstalled last year following several years of hiatus. The open house marked the start of the program for this year.
Last year’s open house was held later in the winter, giving presenters a significantly shorter time frame to put together their presentation after being selected. With this year’s open house moved earlier to the fall, potential presenters have more time to work on their speeches. Camille Torres Hoven, Director of the OWHL and co-organizer of TEDxPA, elaborated on the changes made to the layout of the open house.
“Last year’s open house had tables — people there could just come and ask questions. We decided to do a presentation this year. It went much smoother. It was much clearer and people got to hear other people’s questions… Also, there’s changes this year [to] the program, so it was nice to announce it,” said Torres Hoven.
Members of the OWHL Student Advisory Board, faculty members, and former TEDxPA speakers were present at the open house. They detailed the application process and the theme of this year’s program, “Breaking Barriers,” and closed with a Q&A segment. Sahana Manikandan ’26, former presenter and current co-chair of TEDxPA, explained how her experience at TEDxPA last year inspired her to return as a mentor this year.
“I want to help people learn about the process of applying, because I know that for me, being a part of the presenter group last year was a lot of fun and I wanted people to know that. My part was talking about the application and understanding what needs to go into the application for it to be successful… I wanted to be a part of giving back on what people were able to provide for me,” said Manikandan.
Another former presenter, Camille Davis ’27, described the commitment and fun involved in participating in the TEDxPA program. As a member of the organizing and advising committee, Davis encouraged students to consider TEDxPA as an opportunity to conduct research about their passions and deliver their findings to a larger audience.
“I want people to be excited about the TEDx. I don’t want it to be something that people are looking at as just an activity they can do or something that [they] can check off. It’s definitely a lot of commitment. You have to give up your Friday evenings, but the payoff is amazing… I just wanted to get people excited about it, make them feel like this is an idea that they can turn into something big,” said Davis.
Torres Hoven noted common themes mentioned by students who spoke at the open house as points that aspiring presenters could look towards. She emphasized the importance of self-motivation in being a successful TEDx presenter.
“We really, really want to see you in your thing. It’s not enough to have just a good idea, but you need to somehow show yourself and show why it matters to you and why it matters to everyone else, PA and beyond… We really want to make sure we see your individuality, and we want to make sure we know why it matters, and why you’re passionate about it… not something you think is going to impress people or something that someone thinks you should do, but something you care about because you’re going to spend so much time with it,” said Torres Hoven.
Editor’s Note: Sahana Manikandan is an Associate Copy Editor and Camille Davis is an Associate Commentary Editor for The Phillipian.
