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Because of the COVID pandemic, the second TEDxYouth@ASF event will be livestreamed. Featuring 8 Upper School students and 3 faculty members, TEDxYouth@ASF will span a wide range of topics and ideas. Please register on our homepage and consider a donation to help families affected by the global pandemic.

American School Foundation Fine Arts Center
Bondojito 215
Mexico City, Distrito Federal, 01120
Mexico

Alejandro Gilardi

12th Grade Student

I’m Alejandro Gilardi. I was born in Mexico City, and have lived here my entire life. As of right now Ive been a student at ASF for 12 years, and consider it as a second home. Many of the things I have learnt, besides the academic ones obviously, have been through my experiences here. My TED talk topic, procrastination, is something which I can closely relate to, yet I do not consider to be personal or in any way exclusive to me. I find that changing the way one sees every day life is as impactful as eye opening and unique experiences.

Alene Holmgren

12th Grade Student

Due to my father’s career as a Foreign Service Officer, I have been fortunate enough to experience living in several different countries throughout my lifetime. One thing that has always stood out to me however, is how much the average American takes their educational privileges for granted while students in Non-Western nations often have to work doubly hard in order to be awarded the same opportunities. Furthermore, my eyes have been opened up to the epidemic of brain waste- which is mainly prevalent in the USA as it deals with the underutilization of the skills of well-educated, albeit foreign-educated, immigrant professionals. Since living in Mexico, this topic has become especially illuminated to me through volunteering with the US Embassy’s educational programs and encountering this idea among many students at ASF that they must receive American higher education to be successful in the USA/broader Western World.

Camila Curiel

10th Grade Student

Hi! I’m Camila Curiel, and I’m a 9th grade student at ASF. I’m 15 years old, and I love creating art, school, and my friends. I guess the topic for my TedTalk began to form itself when I looked back at who I was. It’s as if life were this road: you keep moving forward, making stops along the way, but you yourself built that road. And, at one point, you decide to look back- on who you were, on what you’ve done. And, when I look back, I can’t remember how I got to being who I am today. But, out of the blue, I saw changes in myself, and in others around me. One thing that I became more aware of was how people indulge in self deprecation and were constantly in need of relationships. This is what sparked my curiosity to delve into the human psyche in both a societal and individual perspective.

Federica Merino

12th Grade Student

My name is Federica and I am a ballet dancer. At 14 years old I was selected to study for a year at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia. It was there where I experienced a cultural clash. I was living in a country whose weather, food, language, and culture I was not familiar with. There, I realized the importance of language and how it is essential for human communication and interaction and how in order for me to breach that language barrier I needed to understand the culture. In my talk, I explore how I had to change my way of thinking in order to adapt and how my outlook on life shifted when I studied at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow

Gal Bezek

12th Grade Student

I’m a 17-year-old boy who thinks he knows more about music than you, but unlike most people that take the moral high ground when it comes to “knowing about” something I would be glad you proved me wrong. In fact, that’s what the talk is going to be about. Listening to music is great, but listening to a new song/album is even better. So if anything that revolves around music interests you then you will probably enjoy the talk as much as I enjoyed giving it.

Grace Stearns

Educator

I have been an educator in Mexico City for the past 9 years, prior to which I was an instructor of Art, Design, Humanities, and Life skills courses at Ventura County Probation Agency where I taught incarcerated youth in Oxnard, California. I studied my Undergraduate degree at the University of Colorado at Boulder where I majored in Ethnic Studies and Studio Art. My focus in Undergrad was on Native American Contemporary History, Drawing, and Digital Media. I have a Masters Degree in Secondary Education from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa (International program) and also studied Drawing and Painting at Academia de San Carlos (UNAM), in Mexico City. Before working in traditional educational settings, I worked at Direct Relief (International Humanitarian Aid/Health NGO), in the food and beverage industry, and as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. I am originally from California (Santa Barbara and Palo Alto) but have lived in Mexico City for the past 13 years.

Leo Trias

Educator

Leo holds a Bachelors in Fine Arts from ¨La Esmeralda¨ CNA National Center for the Arts and a Masters in International Education from SUNY Buffalo State University NYC. He has devoted his time on this planet to teaching visual arts and ceramics since 1999, at The American School Foundation CDMX and Industrial Design at Ibero University. He had served as K-12 visual arts coordinator and department head in ASF for several periods of time and in his spare time he loves to play with his two kids and enjoy the great outdoors.

Owen Xu

11th Grade Student

My name is Owen Xu Li. I am an incoming Junior at the American School Foundation in Mexico City. For as long as I can remember, I have been deeply in love with the arts. This is why for the past two years, I have performed in 4 musical plays. With these four plays, I have learned multiple things. Most importantly, I’ve learned that there really is no difference between acting and society. For most of my life, I have been playing the Asian role because my appearance has been my audition for the role. However, I soon realized that these scripts, or stereotypes, are just too oversimplified to encapsulate a whole country or a whole race and that if people let these scripts define them, they will be mentally and emotionally affected.

Patricio Rada

12th Grade Student

As I was growing up, I had trouble fitting in with the rest of the boys my age. I would express myself in a more feminine way, which I quickly realized was looked down upon. I just never understood why. In my talk, I explore the perceptions of gender in the western world, and how these perceptions have the potential to be harmful. I evidently have some experience with this, as I grew up secretly loving playing dress up with my female friends and feeling shamed whenever my parents found this out. I want to work towards dismantling these often negative perceptions against differing gender identities because, as multitude of research demonstrates, they are more “normal” than most people think. Once we become more accepting that the gender binary does not necessarily encompass the entirety of our community we create an atmosphere in which we can all feel free to live as authentically as we can.

Pearce Littler

Educator

I have been working as a music educator for the last 6 years between the US and Mexico, and have been practicing as a violinist and choral singer for 18. During that time, I have come to appreciate how the practice of improvisation has helped me - and the ensembles I work with - in the creative process. After many different experiences, I have also come to believe strongly that the principles of improvisation can be applied to any field and any type of creativity. I am excited to present what I see as an untapped resource that can improve all of our lives in one way or another.

Valentina Casasus

11th Grade Student

I’m Valentina Casasus and I’m going to be talking about dealing with anxiety, binge eating disorder and mental health awareness. I've had personal experience with the topic, and because I hold it close to heart I found it so important to talk about. Through discourse and understanding, we begin to break down the stigmas that cage people suffering from mental health disorders. Small behaviors have big impacts, and only through discussion can we begin to change our own behaviors, and make the load the word mental health carries a lot lighter. I want to be part of that discussion, I want everyone to be part of that discussion, and it's because I understand at a personal level, that I think that this is so important