Each year, LFHS partners with Tedx to present students expressing their thoughts through speech, music, and video. 10 speakers, three student videos, and six musical acts took the stage on March 16.

Each year the event has a theme, this year’s being Explore the Unknown. Each individual’s talk “explored the unknown” by discussing a personal and unique topic they felt should be shared with the school and community. 

Madeleine Kapsalis: Religious Diversity and Music

Religion is a topic not often discussed at school, however, for senior Madeleine Kapsalis, it’s a topic that has overwhelming meaning. Hearing about her views on religion and how it has provided her with unique opportunities captured the audience’s attention. 

She opened up her speech with a unique story, sharing how one of her friends didn’t know Kapsalis’s personal religion, Orthodox, was considered a part of Christianity. This sparked her interest and action to help teens understand and accept a wider variety of religions.

“I wanted to ameliorate people’s understanding of world religions,” Madeleine Kapsalis said.

She expressed her passion for religion and how it brought her the opportunity to work with children at the Bahai Temple in Wilmette, despite it not being her own religion. Her drive for learning about other religions granted her the ability to work with people from a religion different from her own and expand her knowledge. 

“We are on our way to having a more loving and accepting society,” Kapsalis said. 

Kapsalis inspired the audience to come together and be open to learning about different religions. Together, she said, people can unite around religion and become more worldly. 

Kapsalis created a website, IF Teens, or InterFaith Teens, that teaches the youth about religious diversity and offers projects to open minds to all beliefs. 

Not only did Kapsalis preach about religious diversity, but she performed a complex and mesmerizing piece on the piano. Her performance of Deux Arabesques by Claude Debussy, being challenging on its own, was well-rehearsed and she didn’t miss a beat in front of the audience.  

S. Mack: Mental Health and Acceptance

S. Mack  opened their speech with a cautious trigger warning, to ensure the audience was comfortable with the topics that were going to be discussed, as they included depression, mental illness, self harm, and suicide. This gave the opening impression that their speech would share the reality of mental illness.

They were extremely well spoken and their speech emphasized that mental health is not taboo, and it should be acknowledged and discussed. 

Mack’s words made others that are struggling know their worth and encouraged them to get help if needed.

 “What you’re feeling is valid, you’re not weak or less than for struggling and wanting to get help,” Mack said. Mental health issues can be very difficult to deal with, but Mack inspired others to take care of themselves.

Their speech particularity stood out because of its reliability and connection with the audience. With so many struggling with mental illness in this day and age, especially high schoolers, their Ted Talk is something that should be heard by everyone. 

The biggest take away I got from Mack’s talk was that mental health issues should not be trivialized  as bad days. 

“My normal wasn’t normal at all,” Mack said. Clinical depression impacted Mack significantly and changed their life; they wanted the audience to know that it’s important to realize and advocate for yourself if you start feeling down and not normal. 

“We all need a little help now and then,” said Mack.

Finally, Mack addressed how people often invalidate mental health by making jokes about mental health and even suicide. After building a strong connection with the audience, everyone deeply took the advice to heart and will consider Mack’s perspective and thoughtful words next time they instinctively make a joke involving mental health. 

Tally Feingold: The Butterfly Effect

Despite being on the Speech Team since freshman year, this was junior Tally Feingold’s first year giving a speech at TEDx. Feingold spoke on her personal history with overthinking and her struggle with decision making. 

Using anecdotes and funny confessions, she was able to project her own adaptations of the Butterfly Effect, the idea that something as small as the flap of a butterfly’s wings can cause a tornado. Feingold took this to heart with the realization that she could apply this to her own struggle. 

“I completely surrendered myself to the fact that all of my decisions, no matter how tiny, could lead to or prevent anything else from happening in my life or in the world,” Feingold said.

The stage-seasoned naturality shined through, making the audience feel almost as if they were having a conversation. A topic coming from the basis of nerves and anxiety was broken up with witty confessions, like “ask me to pick a restaurant, and you’ll never see someone sweat more!”

Despite technical difficulties and nerves, the speakers, musical acts, new media students, and tech crew successfully executed a tradition that will continue to educate and inspire LFHS.

The event was limited to March 16, but in case you missed it, you can watch it here.