Presenter Angela Guo ’27 spoke on dynamics between running and her family.
The annual TEDxPhillipsAcademy was held on February 14 in Kemper Auditorium. The Oliver Wendell Holmes Library (OWHL) hosted the event, centering around the theme of “Breaking Barriers.” Six student presenters spoke on a variety of important topics, including fast fashion and nuclear fusion.
Angela Guo ’27 was the first speaker of the event and shared her experiences with running, describing how the sport helped break barriers within her family. Guo shared personal stories of overcoming adversity and mentioned her hopes to inspire audience members, even if they participate in other sports.
“Not everyone runs, but also some people do have other sports so they can maybe see a bit of themselves in that team building, or that overcoming mental or societal barriers, and finding unification within stuff like that. I feel like it was more so just to get people to learn more about the topic [running], and the incredible stuff that it’s doing, but also to think a little bit more about the small communities that you might not really think about in your lives, and how they can contribute to something greater,” said Guo.
One of the attendees of the event, Ibu Hada ’25, reflected upon the eye-opening speeches and how they allowed her to reflect upon her personal background in Japan. Hada highlighted her connection with Guo’s speech.
“[Angela] was talking about how running broke the barriers of physical limits and also mental limits. Her speech resonated with me because I experienced cross country and indoor track, and it was my second sport ever in my life. As it was a completely new thing for me, I didn’t expect how it turned out. Sometimes I felt physically and mentally challenged throughout practice. With those memories, I felt like her talk resonated with me in a way that when we are mentally challenged, that can connect to overcoming challenges and then gaining more and more mental energy,” said Hada.
Alberto Agudo PG ’25, another presenter, centered around redefining queer allyship. He spoke about his experiences in the Catholic church back in Spain, and how to build allyship with others, providing a safe community for everyone. He commented on how the TEDx program was the perfect stage for him to share his experiences.
“When I came across the TEDx program, I had long wanted to give a public speech about queer experiences inside the Catholic Church back in Spain. I had never been given an opportunity to give a speech. When the TEDx program came, I was like, ‘This is my shot,’ and I just took it. It was way before wanting the TEDx program. I saw the TEDx talk as a stage where I could just speak about my ideas,” said Agudo.
Elise Zhang ’26, another presenter, spoke about fast fashion. Her speech introduced listeners to a more faceted view of the topic, including both the harms and benefits of the fast fashion phenomenon. Zhang emphasized how she was able to learn much more about herself and her topic throughout the process of researching.
“I’ve learned things about the topic and myself. I’ve obviously learned so much about the topic by researching it so in-depth and I’ve discovered a lot of things that I would want to do in the future with this topic, because I don’t just want to end by giving the speech. I want to actually help with efforts, supporting fast fashion and supporting fast fashion workers. That’s something that I would want to do looking forward. In terms of personal growth, I’ve learned a lot about compromising, because this is such a sensitive topic that if I don’t compromise, then people aren’t going to receive it as well,” said Zhang.
Maya Tomlinson ’28, another attendee, enjoyed listening to all the speeches and supporting the presenters. She reflected on how the speakers’ personal anecdotes helped to broaden her perspective and deepen her understanding of certain topics.
“My main takeaway is that it is important to put yourself out there and you shouldn’t be scared to be who you are, you shouldn’t be afraid to do something new, and that you can do anything you want. I feel like I have a lot more empathy for people because their stories have a lot of emotional impacts so they gave me a deeper perspective on life,” said Tomlinson.
Camille Torres Hoven, the Director of the OWHL, organized the event and helped advise the student presenters throughout the process. She felt the event this year was a success and commented on how the students were able to overcome challenges during the process to get to the final product.
“The presenters [were] so awesome this year. When they got off that stage, they were excited. They worked so hard and it came together and the audience supported them. That’s always the highlight. Along the way, there’s a lot of good stuff too, but there’s always lows like people get stuck in the middle of their speech, their speeches are too long and they have to cut them. There [were] a lot of ups and downs, but overall [it was] really good. I really enjoyed our Friday nights,” said Torres Hoven.
