Theme: Dare to Question

Welcome to our 4th TEDxYouth@TashkentIntlSchool event, which features students from grades 9-11, each one taking the risk to challenge something that holds personal significance to them. We are very proud of our TEDxYouth student speakers who have taken the risk to share their ideas and stories.

Tashkent International School
38 Sarakulskaya Street
Tashkent, Toshkent, 100005
Uzbekistan

Abhivyakti Abhivyakti

Student

Abhivyakti, a Grade 11 student from India, was born in Washington DC into a diplomatic family, thus making it necessary for her to move around every few years to new countries. Transitioning school systems has been part of her life. She has now lived in 6 different countries, in varied cultural settings. Her upbringing influenced her to choose the important topic related to her feeling of not being rooted enough in her native culture. This is her first time participating in a TEDxYouth event. In her spare time, Abhivyakti participates passionately in badminton, volleyball, and MUN. She also paints, plays piano and enjoys all music, from jazz to Michael Jackson. She is fluent in Hindi and English. Affable and friendly, she aspires to study law and international relations.

Anna Pishchur

Student

Anna is a person who believes in the beauty of every human soul. Originally from Moscow, she is now a grade 11 IB Diploma Programme student. Throughout her entire life, she has had a passion for dancing. In her first TEDxYouth talk, Anna explores the importance and impact of dance on our society, talking about how dance has changed body perception, freedom of thought, and politics throughout history. In addition to TEDxYouth, Anna is the head of the school's MUN Club and actively participates in international conferences. She also takes part in drama productions and even sings soprano! Anna is a big fan of philosophy and sociology and is ranked nationally in Law and Social Science Competitions and Olympiads. Today, she dares to question: Can dance make our world a better place?

Damla Turkyilmaz

Student

Born into a Pomak family in one of Istanbul's oldest districts, Damla's identity is tightly connected with the rich fabric of her culture. She started a new journey in 2021 when she moved to Tashkent. This move provided her with interactions with new cultures, thus giving her new perspectives. In addition to being a writer, Damla has a deep love of exploration, at heart. Her passions include photography, archaeology, history, and Model United Nations (MUN). Her perspectives on the world have been formed by these passions and equally influenced by her father, who also helped her relate to, and comprehend, the diverse cultures that form our global fabric. Damla will explore a very personal and sensitive topic in her TEDxYouth talk. She will introduce you not only to her culture, but to her fight against the loss of her own cultural identity and against who she truly is.

Galina Aranitasi

Student

Galina was born in London, UK, and her parents are from Albania and Bulgaria. She has lived in Albania, Bulgaria, Cuba, North Macedonia, Turkey and the UK and has studied in five different international schools. Galina started writing her own stories in grade 1. She later raised funds for a home for elderly people by selling her stories. An aspiring author, Galina discovered the magic of underreported stories and the wide-reaching impact they would have if shared more. She decided to use her writing to spread these important and underrepresented stories. Galina hopes that by doing this, more people will seek out underreported stories in their own lives because storytelling can “bridge the gaps where everything else has crumbled” (Paulo Coelho)

Hollansa Cardoso

Student

Hollansa was born and raised in Mozambique. At the age of ten, she left Mozambique and moved to nearby Malawi, joining an international school. This is when she was first introduced to a true variety of cultures. After witnessing the diversity that our world truly holds, she has been keen in understanding the different cultures of the world and how each one may shape different aspects. Four years later, she moved to Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Central Asia, where she was faced by a tough cultural transition. This only inspired her to explore the connections between transition and culture and who she truly is.

Humoyun Mehridinov

Student

Humoyun is a grade 10 scholarship student at TIS, who is greatly interested in history, global politics and geography. He is also an artist - his passion is photography. His various experiences have helped him develop a unique perspective of life, which often involves breaking down stereotypes. He doesn’t like when people blindly follow conventions, without questioning the reasons behind. Apart from that, he loves debating, and therefore, you will never hear him being biased on either side. This passion resulted in his participation in many MUN events and conferences. In his first TEDxYouth talk, Humoyun challenges the common notion of talent.

Seth Battye

Student

Seth is a grade 9 student from England. He was born in Libya, but he lived in China for most of his life before moving with his family to Tashkent in August 2022. Seth has a great love for sports. He started to play touch rugby at the age of 4, and later, in grade three, he joined the cross-country team and truly fell in love with sport. He is now part of our school’s Cross-Country Team. Despite his success in sports, Seth has often struggled with procrastination and a lack of motivation in his daily school life, rarely getting work completed. Recognizing this, Seth has been on a mission to live his life to the fullest, by working hard and trying what others might not. In his TEDxYouth talk, Seth shares his understanding of what motivation truly is, wishing to help others find ‘that something’ that drives them to achieve their goals.

Yusufbek (Yusuf) Batirbaev

Student

Yusuf is a grade 11 scholarship student studying in the IB Diploma Programme. Pondering the pathway set for him by his family, he recognizes the need for a stable career to be able to have a future and to provide, and wonders as to what extent he can push the expectations placed on him. In his TEDxYouth talk, Yusuf confronts the struggle between choosing a career path based on his own interests versus a career path that provides financial security. How one squares this struggle, and finds happiness, is the greater question. Other than public speaking, Yusuf finds joy in both sports and music. He is a runner, a badminton and volleyball player. Yusuf plays the saxophone and clarinet and produces digital music.