Theme: Breaking Barriers

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TED has created a program called TEDx. TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. Our event is called TEDxYouth@TCIS, where x = independently organized TED event. At our TEDxYouth@TCIS event, TEDTalks video and live speakers will combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events, including ours, are self-organized.

Taejon Christian International School
77 Yongsan 2-ro
Performing Arts Center
Daejon, Daejeon Gwang'yeogsi, 34035
South Korea

Anna Cruz

Special Education student/National Athlete

Anna Cruz is a passionate student-athlete from the Philippines. She is a senior Special Education student at the University of the Philippines - Diliman. In 2016, she received a one-year exchange study scholarship at Hannam University, Daejeon, South Korea where she studied Global Communication and Culture. She is currently leading the Philippine Short Track Speed Skating Team as the Team Captain, and holds a Technical Level 1 Coaching Certificate for Speed Skating. She advocates inclusion and participation of children with disabilities and special needs in sports and education. She uses her passion and skills in public speaking to bring her advocacy in sports diplomacy and inclusivity to various platforms. She will be talking about her journey as an ice athlete in the Philippines, and her advocacy on inclusion of PWDs (Persons with Disabilities) in sports and education.

Benjamin Kask

High School Economics and Epistemology Teacher

Mr. Kask has been an international educator for over 15 years. An economics and epistemology teacher, He is passionate about teaching students to see the interconnected nature of the world and for students to explore the true meaning of ethics.

Campbell Cartes

Campbell Madison Cartes is currently in 6th grade. Having lived in three continents and gone to thirteen countries, Campbell has a passion for travelling. It was hard for her every time that she left, but she always left with a wonderful experience—she learned about culture, new languages, and most of all, met amazing people. Through these experiences, she found that most of her peers struggle with being themselves. She realized that they felt that they were under the pressure of not being good enough, so they changed into a completely different person. Today, she will be talking about how it is not bad to stand out; it is bad to let people get to them and tell them they don’t think you are good enough.

Daisy Kim

Accountant, Social Justice Advocate

Ms. Kim is a professional accountant and wants her life to be a voice for the unheard, especially for the millions trapped in modern slavery. She is also a freelance guest speaker for universities and schools where she believes bringing awareness to our future leaders will help them make better decisions when they grow up to be in influential positions. She and Mr. Kask will be talking about modern slavery and how we can fight it.

Daniel Ji

While Daniel does not define himself as a professional piano player, playing the piano is an essential part of his life. He enjoys having audiences who listen to his performances on stage. While he used to fear being on stage, he has learned to enjoy being with the audience to share his ideas and thoughts through the expression of music. He still wants to learn and develop his skills in piano as after many years of self-learning, teaching and experiencing piano, he finds that there is always something to learn from every artist regardless of age or depth of experiences. Not only does he love playing and learning the piano, he loves teaching the piano. He likes to share his experiences to younger students so they can have more chances of enjoying music along with his errors so that they can avoid them.

Jae Won Kim

CEO of Elice

Jae Won Kim is a co-founder and CEO of Elice, Computer Science education platform that provides interactive and data-driven classrooms for everyone. Its mission is to create new opportunities for everyone through continuous education. Prior to his startup, he has studied in Korea, Canada, Germany and the US, and has worked in multiple IT companies. He has left his graduate study momentarily to focus on developing the startup, Elice, but he plans to continue pursuing his research to revolutionize the current education system. He will be talking about defining your barriers and breaking smaller barriers of your own.

Jennifer Kim

Student

Jennifer Kim is currently an eighth grader at TCIS and has a background in both Canadian and Korean culture. You can find her on most social media apps. She loves to talk on stage since she believes that her thoughts can be delivered the most effectively. She plans to talk about how lookism affects teens and herself.

Rashed Kaiser

PhD Student and Researcher

Rashed Kaiser graduated in Mechanical engineering from Bangladesh university of engineering technology (BUET). Now he is doing his MS leading PhD in mechanical engineering at Pusan National University along with being a researcher at the Nano Particle Technology Laboratory. Mr. Kaiser is the vice-president of public relations (VPPR) of Burning Brunch Toastmasters club in Busan. His dream is to become a public speaker in the future, and he will be talking about how he was able to overcoming his stutter.

Seoyoung Kim

High School Student

to Korea, and she is planning to attend Cheeh Ahk High School. Chromesthesia is a type of synesthesia in which heard sounds automatically and involuntarily evoke an experience of color. For the purpose of disambiguation, her speech will refer to chromesthesia in inducer-concurrent terms used to describe other forms of synesthesia.