Theme: SPREADING EMPOWERING IDEAS.

Join us for yet another inspiring and thought-provoking day at TEDxUlink Guangzhou Youth, 2024, where spreading empowering ideas takes center stage. This independently organized TEDx event brings together a diverse school community of passionate teachers and students from various fields and backgrounds, all sharing a common goal: to explore and discuss ideas that have the empowers our world. TEDxUlink Guangzhou Youth offers a platform for both established and emerging speakers, each bringing their unique perspectives and expertise to the stage. Through captivating talks, performances, and interactive experiences, our speakers will challenge conventional wisdom, spark conversations, and ignite the audience's imagination. Under the theme of SPREADING EMPOWERING IDEAS. Through this theme, we aim to delve into the issues affecting our daily lives, exploring innovative solutions, and sharing stories of resilience, hope, and transformation. From science to social impact, our speakers will cover a wide range of topics that are shaping our world and challenging the status quo. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with speakers and fellow participants, expanding their networks and forming new connections. TEDxUlink Guangzhou Youth encourages open-mindedness, collaboration, and the exploration of diverse viewpoints. We hope the ideas empower you!

GUIS Campus
8 Wei Li Road, Nansha
Guangzhou, Guangdong, Guangdong, 511458
China

Allana Benjamin

Educator and Social Media Influencer

Ms. Benjamin is a great educator who encompasses her prowess with understanding of modern use of technology in her day-to-day life. Being a passionate social media enthusiast. She gives a keynote speech talking about the impactful Psychological Shift in Social Media Use. In an educative and entertaining TEDx. “I was an early adopter of social media, using it to connect with distant friends and share everyday moments. Initially, it was a platform for genuine interaction, where influencers shared helpful insights. Now, it often feels less authentic, with pressure to present a flawless life. As an educator, I see its impact on young people who have never known life without it. I'd like to share this phenomenon and the challenge it presents to guide students wisely, fostering resilience and adapting education to the digital age.” says Ms. Benjamin.

Ambiga Naidu

Educator

Ms. Naidu shares her story as a mother, wife, educator, mentor, and leader whose life exemplifies courage in the face of adversity. Her story is a celebration of resilience, passion, and transformative leadership. Ms. Naidu has not only dedicated her life to the pursuit of teaching and learning but has also navigated the profound challenges of widowhood. In her TED talk, she will take us on a deeply personal journey, sharing the struggles she faced after her loss, the reality of balancing her roles as a mother and educator, and how she found the strength to succeed despite the odds. Her unwavering passion for education, combined with her will to rise above hardship, makes her a beacon of hope and inspiration for us all. Join us as Ms. Ambiga shares her powerful story—a testament to the human spirit’s ability to overcome, adapt, and thrive.

Angela Shi

Student

As a young teen Angela is taking on the sensitive idea that affects modern-day teenagers. She emphasizes that good relationships are essential for a fulfilling life, yet many of them find themselves caught in the web of toxic connections that drain their energy and weaken their overall well-being. Her talk will explore why teen relationships are becoming fragile and toxic, the impact they have on their daily lives, and most importantly, how they can build and maintain stronger, healthier relationships that uplift us. By understanding the dynamics of these interactions, they can make conscious choices that lead to more meaningful and supportive connections.

Aria Yu

Student

Happiness, one of the most important aspects of our lives, is often the goal we chase. We dedicate our time and energy to finding it, believing it lies in achievements, possessions, or relationships. Yet, in this pursuit, we frequently overlook that happiness may not be a distant destination but a state of being cultivated in our everyday moments. It’s found in the joy of small victories, the comfort of shared laughter, and the serenity of quiet reflection. By embracing the present and nurturing our connections with others, we begin to realize that happiness is woven into the fabric of our daily lives, available to us through the choices we make and the perspectives we hold. This is the story of Aria.

Audrey Lu

Student

A senior year student at Guangzhou Ulink International School in China, give a personal account on how to understand Anxiety and how to handle this problem especially as a high school student which navigates academic, parental, and social pressures. Audrey gives a TEDx talk on understanding anxiety as a student and how to handle it. She believes we live in an era where everyone is striving to grab and gain and pushing forward hard for victory and the so-called bright future. We've been taught since we were kids to race against the clock because time waits for no man. While time is never on our side, we ourselves should be. It’s not that common to hear in a Ted Talk such an intimate sharing about the struggle, perplexity, and ultimately the silver lining, related to the pressure we are facing every day posed by flying time. Please join Audrey and delve into her anxiety journey. Touching and impactful.

Carl Zhong

Student

Carl is a high school student at Ulink College Guangzhou with a deep passion for biology and its impact on human behavior. He is particularly intrigued by how our daily dietary habits and preferences shape our mood, actions, and overall well-being. Through his TEDx Talk, Carl will delve into the biological mechanisms through which food influences behavior, offering new insights into better understanding ourselves and making better decisions.

Dr. Santhosh Puthiyakunnon.

Scientist and Educator

Dr. Santhosh is an experienced educator and scholar worked as a Medical Professor and Clinical Research Scientist in Medical Universities in the past 25 years and currently teaching and mentoring Biology and Chemistry in international schools since 2020. Throughout his career he has seen many graduates, Postgraduates and PhD students to pursue their dream careers in life and in association with the scholar alumni built a strong scientific and intellectual community in transcending knowledge, personality, and wellbeing. In his TEDx he talks about health awareness surrounding the addiction to electronics in the modern day while enlightening the negative impact of continuous usage of a few common electronic gadgets in our daily life especially focusing on young children and adolescents. Asking a very fundamental question. “Are we generating a dumb and deaf human race?”.

Henry Mensah

Linguist and Educator

Mr. Mensah is a distinguished English teacher in the international education system from Ghana. He has taught in various universities and high schools across many different countries including, Namibia, Ghana, Lesotho and currently China. As a lead teacher education trainer, he applies intercultural communication linguistic styles with keen interests in sociolinguistics of multilingualism and multiculturalism, intercultural and international communication, and the discourses of law. Mr. Mensah prides himself as a empowered linguist and a decolonial thinker. He has done research in the language of news media, advertising, business communication and language policy. This TED talk examines in depth how English as a global language is interpreted and utilized in diverse ways across different cultural and linguistic landscapes through the ontology of the native speaker and its shifting ontologies as it journeys (saunters) across different times and spaces in this era of globalization.

Ines Tang

Student Leader

Currently serving as the Vice-President of the GUIS- ULC student union. Ines encompasses a modern-day teenage leader. She is enthusiastic about participating in various after-school activities and establishing a great rapport with her colleagues as a student leader. This forms the backbone of her idea of modeling leadership skills as leader of her homeroom, and the leader of blue house. Ines is your typical all-round student. She loves and plays for her school soccer and basketball teams. In her TED talks she comes to share her understanding of how to create the spirit of teamwork and share the significance of modelling leadership skills among students.

Jack Hong

Student

Jack is a grade 11 senor student at GUIS- Ulink College. He is recognized for his deep curiosity about the world and sharp critical thinking skills. He sees math not merely as a set of numbers, but as a powerful tool for decoding the complexities of life. In his TEDx talk, "How Can Math Understand Us?" Jack explores how mathematical models can uncover patterns in human behavior, social trends, and most importantly, human language. Thereby offering profound insights into our daily lives. With a combination of analytical rigor and broad intellectual curiosity, Jack seeks to demonstrate how math enhances our understanding of both us and the world around us.

Judy Alonzo

Accontant and Educator

Ms. Judy is an experienced accountant and educator with many years of experience in China, Hong Kong, and Macau e. In her 20s faced a life-changing decision—continuing an expensive dentistry course or pursuing a new path after giving birth to her first child. Despite rejections and financial challenges, she followed her intuition, fought for a spot in the prestigious accounting program, and eventually became a CPA. Today she prides herself in producing award winning students in Accountant. She is currently the Head of Business at GUIS-ULC and with determination still pursuing her masters in master’s in business administration. In her TEDx talk, Judy shares her story of perseverance, showing how determination and belief in yourself can turn rejection into success. Sharing her experience on establishing a great career against all odds.

Kylie Deng

Student

As Biology student, Kylie is passionate about animals. And seeing them abandoned is her worst nightmare. “As people's living standards improve, more families are including pets, especially dogs and cats should also improve” she says. However, many people choose to keep pets without careful consideration of their basic needs and requirements, leading to many abandoned pets. These high school students discuss the challenges faced by abandoned pets and their impact on urban ecology and potential harm to native species. Kylie is passionate about this topic because it is a widespread issue and has a significant influence on urban ecology and native species. The goal of her TED talk is to help reduce pet abandonment and encourage people to think carefully before taking in an animal to raise it as pets. Less they abandon them.

Lillian Li

Student

Lillian is a high school student at GUIS- Ulink College. In her TED talk she is sharing her experience as a student and how her relations with her teacher’s overtime have impacted her development as a student. It’s with this background that she seeks to understand as opposed to being understood when it comes to how she relates with her teacher. Lillian believes that understanding teacher-student relationship is a phrase that provides leading the way of how to build a beneficial relationship between students and educators. Through this TEDx talk, she shares more about her perspectives as a teenager, seeking to establish much better ways to relate with her teachers.

Luciana Liu

Student

As a high school student deeply engaged in various social media. Luciana explores the concept of social media as a "necessary evil," a term that highlights its dual nature, which affects teenagers’ behavior, perception and mindset. While social media connects and empowers teenagers, it also brings significant challenges, such as peer pressure, social comparison, and the manipulation of public opinion. The real issue lies in how it influences teenagers’ self-perception, education, and relationships. Luciana’s conclusion emphasizes the importance of critical thinking, encouraging teens to question the content they consume and resist manipulation. By fostering media literacy, a teenager can engage with social media more mindfully and shape a healthier online environment. This is the main background under which Luciana, a high school student at GUIS-ULC bases her topic on her TEDx Talk. Great presentation on how to defy this trend and become a self-aware as a teenager.

Murphy Nie

Student

As a teenager and high school student of GUIS. Muphy tries to delve into that idea most young adults fear to face: the feeling of shame. Shame is a painful emotion that stems from the belief that being human is inherently flawed. She believes that a healthy sense of shame can prevent us from crossing moral boundaries, excessive shame can be damaging. It can lead to self-loathing, self-harm, and self-sabotage. This is especially true during the vulnerable stage of adolescence, when we are constantly afraid of not fitting in, excessive shame can rob us of the courage to assert ourselves. Join Murphy in exploring the nature and purpose of shame from various perspectives and share how we can learn to view and accept our shame in a healthy way.

Nicole Wei

Student

Nicole is an ambitious outdoor enthusiast. This high school student is determined and has a lot of passion for hiking, to go beyond herself and explore the world. Hiking becomes an important part of her life. Through the outdoor activities, she learnt various things about nature and self-knowledge that couldn’t be learned in the classroom. This time, Nicole wants to share her experience of hiking in Kilimanjaro, talking about her inspirations and sentiments from this trip. At the top of Kilimanjaro – The highest mountain in the Africa and second in the world.

Patrick Rakiro

Educator

Mr. Rakiro is a seasoned Kenyan educator with over 10 years’ experience in the international education sector teaching across different countries. In this TEDx talk he shares his knowledge on the little-known monster among us today. Adult bullying: Most of us associate bullying behavior with kids pushing one another around the playground or even bothering one another online. Adult bullying, however, occurs frequently and can be particularly damaging because many adults do not view themselves as bullies. While they are more conscious of their actions, adults bully in many of the same ways that kids do. An adult bully could be more difficult to identify because they might be a passive-aggressive bully or conceal their physical assault. According to research, the behaviors of an adult bully are usually a result of their own childhood experiences with trauma or violence in the home. These bullies frequently feel inferior to other people and use bullying to justify their low self-esteem.

Skylar Deng

Student

Skylar is a senior student at Affiliated High School of SCNU. Explore her journey of making decisions that have impacted her life as a student. She looks at it from how she has transitions through different schools and how this has impacted her life as a student and teenager. She looks at her regrets and lessons learnt through this process. The experience of transferring schools’ experience. The challenges that she faced when she transferred from a normal Chinese high school to an international school. Expectation vs Reality. In her talk Skylar calls for teenagers to have a more pessimistic outlook on life to recognize everything they must be grateful for and appreciate those blessings. “If you get the opportunity to play this game of life, you need to appreciate every moment” she concludes.

Vincy Hong

Student Leader

Vincy is a well-rounded senior student who actively participates in every school activity, continuously developing her interests throughout her growth process. However, on her journey to become “the best version of herself”, she had never paused to consider the intention or motivation behind her actions. All on a sudden she lost direction to the future and start feeling remote to the reality. She began to explore the themes of meaning, boredom, and the human condition. Through these works, she realized that grappling with feelings of existential anxiety and indifference is a universal part of the human experience. Rather than seeing these feelings as obstacles, she embraced them as catalysts for growth, seeking to define her own existence and purpose amidst the ambiguity of life. At the age of 17, inspired by the philosophy of absurdism, she discovered a new perspective on how to navigate an uncertain world and face the challenges ahead.

Yutaka Kijata

Student

Yutaka is a high school student currently enrolled at Ulink College Guangzhou. Throughout his academic journey, he has experienced three different educational systems across three countries. Education is undoubtedly a critical element in personal development over a lifetime. In this speech, Yutaka will share his reflections and experiences of being educated in diverse countries and cultural contexts. More importantly, he will propose educational methods that could enhance the quality and effectiveness of learning, contributing to a healthier educational environment for communities.