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, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. 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).

Bonn International School
Martin Luther King Strasse 14
Bonn, Nordrhein-Westfalen, 53175
Germany

Banga Ona Baseckaite

Banga Ona Baseckaite is a 14-year-old and is currently in 8th grade. She was born on the third of November 2004 in Vilnius, the capital city of Lithuania. She lived there for 5 years before moving to Germany in 2009 and she has been living in Germany for 8 years now. Banga’s hobbies are dancing classical and also modern dance, which she has been doing since she was 4 years old; she also enjoys acting and reading, which can be seen in her participation in theatrical activities. This year, Banga will be talking about how society (and other aspects) affect the way people view eating disorders. She decided to choose this topic because she has many people she holds close to her heart that is affected by this disorder. She wants the audience to know that everyone should feel comfortable in their own skin, and they, especially people in this generation, should understand how horrible eating disorders are.

Carolina Isabell Paessens

Carolina Paessens, a 7th grader attending BIS, is 12 years old and was born on the 16th of August in Cleveland, Ohio. She moved to the Dominican Republic, living there for five years, before moving to Switzerland at the age of six where she resided for three years. She moved back to the US again where she stayed for three years before moving to Bonn, Germany. She enjoys multiple activities, including doing sports, playing with her sisters, playing the flute and the piano, and protecting the Earth such as recycling and volunteering. Her TEDx talk will be about pollution and global warming, which was inspired by her knowledge on mass extinctions, the search for clean water in Africa, the discovery of dead animals caused by consuming plastic bags, and the drying out of rivers worldwide. She strongly believes that talking about solutions to these problems will raise awareness and hence motivate people to join in to help save the world.

Joyesha Shrestha

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Julia and Sophia Hanneman and Paessens

Julia Hanneman was born in New York City on the 25th of February, 2007. She is currently 11 years old. She moved to Rome, Italy at nine months old because of her father’s job at the UN. She was 6 years old when she moved back to New York where she attended U.N.I.S. She moved to Bonn after 5 years of living in New York because of her mother’s job this time. Sophia Paessens is an 11-year-old currently in 6th grade at BIS. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio on the 18th of July 2007, and moved to the Dominican Republic when she was a month old. She resided there for four and a half years before moving to Switzerland where she spent another three years. She moved to North Carolina after and lived there for three years before coming to Germany in August 2018.

Julia Hanneman and Sophia Alexandra Paessens Hanneman and Alexandra Paessens

Julia Hanneman was born in New York City on the 25th of February, 2007. She is currently 11 years old. She moved to Rome, Italy at nine months old because of her father’s job at the UN. She was 6 years old when she moved back to New York where she attended U.N.I.S. She moved to Bonn after 5 years of living in New York because of her mother’s job this time. Julia is doing a TEDx talk because she wants to conquer her stage fright, and also because she is passionate about the topic of animal abuse. She will be speaking about the reasons for animal abuse, where it mostly occurs, an d how they do it. Sophia Paessens is an 11-year-old currently in 6th grade at BIS. She was born in Cleveland, Ohio on the 18th of July 2007, and moved to the Dominican Republic when she was a month old. She resided there for four and a half years before moving to Switzerland where she spent another three years. She moved to North Carolina after and lived there for three years before coming to Germany in August 2018. Her TEDx talk this year will be about animal abuse. Not only does she want to do the talk because she has stage fright that she would like to conquer, but also because she would like to raise awareness on this subject.

Natalia Murcia Cencerrado

Natalia Murcia Cencerrado is an 11th grader, born on the 10th of May 2002, from Spain. She moved to Germany in 2013 and lived in Spain prior to moving here. She enjoys playing volleyball as a sport and has been a part of the school team since she was in 7th grade. On top of that, she also enjoys watching Netflix, reading, and hanging out with her friends whenever she has free time.

Ryan Krysinsk

Ryan Krysinski comes from the United States, specifically the state of California. He has only been living in Bonn since the middle of 2016, previously residing in Tennessee, Alaska and Hong Kong since being born in October of 2002. He is currently attending Grade 11 at BIS and is passionate about politics, camping, hiking, rafting, swimming, reading, archery and shooting sports and a range of other activities. His talk will be about Universal Basic Income, a concept designed to replace the existing welfare state with an unconditional, regular cash-handout by the government to every working-age citizen. He was personally inspired to do this talk as at least two places (Stockton, CA and Alaska) that are close to him, either at heart or in terms of family, have, to some extent, adopted UBI. For him, it is also quite fascinating as a topic that scholars from both the political left and right have endorsed, which makes it unique in today's hyper-partisan climate.

Summaya Salam

Summaya Salam was born on the 24th of November and is currently 11 years old, in 6th grade. She is Pakistani and has lived in China and Pakistan before she moved to Germany on the 31st of October. She likes to read and do DIYs in her spare time. This year, she will be talking about the freedom of speech because she feels like it is a really important topic and is a right everyone should have.

Vincent Carlo Weber

Vincent Weber was born in Germany and has been living there since. He is currently in 6th grade and was born on the 25th of October, 2006. He is passionate about fencing, dancing, and playing the saxophone. His TEDx talk this year will be about the use of water in the industry and agriculture. He is passionate about this topic due to a documentary he watched about the scarcity of water currently on Earth, which inspired him to raise public awareness on this topic.