What began as an after school field trip for a group of 20 Dartmouth High students soon turned into a much larger performance, as 11 students volunteered to perform their own “TEDTalks.”

TED is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short, powerful talks that are 18 minutes or less.  TED began in 1984 as a conference where technology, entertainment and design converged, and today covers almost all topics — from science to business to global issues — in more than 100 languages. Independently run TEDx events, such as the event held at the high school, helps share ideas in communities around the world.

Lead world language teacher Hilary Sousa came up with the idea for student-based TEDTalks after she, as well as history teacher Elizabeth True, attended a TEDTalk Conference in New Bedford with a group of Dartmouth students.

“We asked the students to volunteer,” said Sousa. “They performed the talks during National Foreign Language Week to coincide with the theme of ‘Language Enriches the Mind.’”

The students had approximately four weeks to prepare a 10-minute speech on the topic of their choice.

“The students were very excited,” said Sousa. “Some students are already signing up for next year.”

History teacher Chace Howland said that the overall experience was eye-opening and interesting.

“I haven't heard about some of the topics before,” said Howland. “It was very educational and the students conducted themselves well.”

True said the students really wanted the talks to succeed and it was their desire to make it happen.

“I think the kids were amazing,” said True. “They really stepped up and took it upon themselves.”

She mentioned that it was a great learning experience and confidence booster for the kids.

Only 250 to 300 students were allowed to observe the students’ performances.

“We approached the students who went to the TEDtalks in New Bedford in the fall first to see if they would be interested in participating,” said True. “They really brought education to a different level. The community as a whole wanted to learn from them.”

Senior Ricardo Figueiredo said that although he’s usually shy, he decided to volunteer to speak.

“I talked about the importance of being bilingual,” said Figueiredo, who lived in Portugal until he was 10. “It was a great experience and I would definitely do it again.  It was fun being able to tie into my speech on a personal level.”

Junior Daniel Grubbs-Donovan spoke about Esperanto, which is an international auxiliary language.  The goal of Esperanto was to create an easy-to-learn, politically neutral language that would transcend nationality, as well as develop international understanding between people with different languages.

“A lot of people were interested in what I talked about,” said Grubbs-Donovan. “I thought it was an interesting topic.”

Senior Bailey Peach said she thought everyone was interesting and brave to go up on stage and share their knowledge.

“Everybody did a great job,” said Senior Samantha Hakeem. “It was well-organized and everyone’s knowledge was really impressive.”

Senior Austin Vincent, who directed the video recording of the talks, said the speeches were very professional.

“It went very smoothly,” said Vincent. “I’ve watched a lot of TEDTalks, and compared to the actual TEDTalks, the speeches were very professional.”