Theme: Explorers of the Contemporary World

This event is organized by students at an international school in Belgium. Different groups of speakers, from an international community, share different ideas surrounding the theme. Topics such as abusive relationships, vulnerability ,sustainability, and dyslexia are discussed in this event.

St. Johns International School
Dreve Richelle 146
Waterloo, Brabant wallon (fr), 1410
Belgium

Abigail Rose Taylor

Student + Synchronized Swimmer

Abi Taylor is focusing her speech on the barriers to human potential along with how and why these barriers should be conquered. As an Ex-GB synchronized swimmer she has seen the successes young people can truly achieve. She is very passionate about this topic given her beliefs that many people have so much more to give and many untold talents that may go undiscovered should people not choose to step outside their comfort zone.

Alberto Arranz

Student + Magician

I am Alberto Arranz, 19 years old, I've been doing magic since I was 10. I started thanks to my dad who is also a magician and for a lot of years was my teacher in this subject. Mentalism is the area of magic in which I perform and now, I can firmly say, that I achieved a professional level of magic.

Evgenia Dymkina

Interior Architect + Product Designer

Evgenia is an interior architect and product designer. After professional education and ten years of experience in project management, Evgenia completed the design education, as a next step - founded the EDStudio. The starting point for design concepts of her focus are intelligence, simplicity and new vision on everyday objects. Evgenia also developed and produced several educational programs for kids and adults. Evgenia is a member of International Association of Designers (IAD). Her projects were granted with international awards. She believes that design has a power to change our life, make it better and help people communicate easier.

Freya Leggat

Student

My name is Freya Leggatt. I am from Sotogrande International School and I study the International Baccalaureate. I picked a topic very close to me for my TedX talk. I struggled with accepting my dyslexia for a lot of my younger childhood. Due to this I wanted to speak out and share my experiences on the subject.

Hanin Kandeil

Student

Hanin is a 10th grade student. She is passionate about psychology.

Harriett McQuillan-Howard

Economics Student

Harriett Howard will be exploring the benefits and consequences of a billionaire filled society. As an economics student she was interested in the wealth distribution around the world and its effects, which is inspiration for this speech. She plans to continue economics into university.

Harry Bradley

Student

Harry Bradley’s speech will be looking at the importance of reading books within the 21st century, focusing on the benefits of reading paperback in a rapidly evolving digital age. An aspiring English scholar, he is very passionate about the significance of reading, and the many advantages that it promotes. This has served as inspiration for his speech, aiming to inspire a love of reading for others within his generation.

Jesus Castillo-Coronado

Theory of Knowledge Teacher + World Religions Teacher

Jesus Castillo Coronado, better known as Dr. Castillo in the St. John’s surroundings, has a background in Philosophy and Theology. Also, he has done research on the relationship between Philosophy, Religion and Science and has taught in Mexico, the USA and Belgium. Currently, he teaches Theory of Knowledge and World Religions at Saint John’s International School (Waterloo, Belgium).

Julia Shewry

High School Teacher + Environmental Activist

Julia Shewry is a teacher at St. John's International School. She is also one of the 9.7 million followers of Greta Tunberg on Instagram.... So this may be a clue about her talk.

Lénie Kamdem

Student

Helloo! My name is Lénie. I’m now 15 and currently a student at St. Johns International School. I don’t like anything as much as reading and watching movies. Ok, maybe writing… Point is, I love stories and so in this TEDx Talk, I will tell you one. It is about a character who tries to face her fears and reach her goal of eradicating a very dangerous army of distractions. I’m fooling around here but this presentation will be revolving around the multiple lessons I learned about surviving the everyday overflow of entertainment and altogether distractions that restrain us from achieving our goals. What can we do in order to work more efficiently and be able to focus on our personal interests? Are there different tools at hand to make more use of our time? In what ways can we build a healthy relationship with distractions?

Mark-Henri Mollits

Student

Mark-Henri, an Estonian student studying at the Sotogrande International School, who has a passion in tackling situations in a different approach. In this TEDx Talk I am going to be questioning how the age of majority is set and whether it is right, with shinning a new perspective on it.

Nicolás Gutiérrez-Jodra

Student + Magician

Im Nicolás Gutiérrez-Jodra a Spanish student from Madrid, I've been practicing magic for 3 years now and it has quite quickly become one of my passions because I felt like astonishing and entertaining people is a very fulfilling practice.

Selena Barbera Moyano

Student

My name is Selena Barbera and I am currently a student at Sotogrande International School who is going to graduate this year from the International Baccalaureate program. Picking a topic for this TEDx talk was not very hard as I chose to speak about a personal secret of mine on how to become strong and brave. As a person who has been through lots of struggles like: loss of trust in people, low confidence levels, and the lack to believe in myself; there was ONE factor that led me to overcome these problems. It all lied in being Vulnerable. Due to this I wanted to express and share my experiences and point of view on this subject to help others out there.

Shilpa Kapur

Science Teacher + Education Blogger

Shilpa Kapur is an experienced Leader and Teacher of Science. With over ten years experience in industry, education and learning, Shilpa has worked internationally, accruing experience in different educational settings whilst continuously learning and focusing on interconnectedness of Education, Technology and Neuroscience. An advocate for well-being, sleep health and Education; Shilpa realised early on in her career that education is not about grades and that schooling should provide constructive learning on many other aspects of life; well-being being one. Shifting her perspective and practice in teaching and learning, Shilpa values well-being of her students more than anything else in classroom.

Wolf Diedrich

Religion Teacher + Public Speaking & Debate Teacher + Theory of Knowledge Teacher + Philosophy Teacher + Artist

W. Wolf Diedrich was born and raised in Eagle River, Alaska. He studied Liberal Arts for two years at Gonzaga University, before moving to Belgium. At K.U. Leuven he obtained Bachelors degrees in Philosophy and Theology, and Masters degrees in Theology, Religious Studies and Education. He studied to become a Catholic priest between the years 1994-2001, stopping just short of ordination. He has worked at St Johns International School since 2007, teaching Religion, Public Speaking & Debate, Theory of Knowledge and Philosophy. He is happily married with three children. His greatest enjoyment in life is spending quality time with his wife, Joan, and his boys Joachim & Noah and his daughter Aisha. He also likes creative writing, singing, playing guitar and piano, and hopes to start a(nother) band very soon. It will most likely be a typical cross between Death Metal and Folksy Bluegrass.