For Vinai Kumar and Akash Sarkar, seniors, TED videos have played a major role in their high school lives.

“I see TED videos as a good source for public speaking inspiration,” Sarkar said. “It helped me become a better speaker.”

Made up of several widely-broadcasted speaking events, TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is a public speaking platform in which successful people can share their stories with millions worldwide.

Kumar and Sarkar transformed fantasy into reality when they created a TED-Ed club at MHS. Sarkar said the purpose of the club is to give students an opportunity to hone their public speaking skills and to make connections with others.

“I love the aspect of public speaking. I used to have a fear of it, like most people, but I got over it through speaking often,” Sarkar said. “This club is for people who have stories to tell, want to get better at public speaking or might even have a passion for it.”

Nicole Scherder, language arts teacher, stresses the importance of the club’s mission.

“TED is all about sharing ideas,” Scherder said. “The club is two-fold. It’s to help students learn speaking skills and also give them a platform to share ideas. Hopefully, we will grow in members and get a lot of information out there.”

The club met for the first time on Sept. 8 in Room 289. The members plan to incorporate frequent student speeches into its weekly Tuesday after-school meetings as well as to create videos for its partnership with TED-Ed.

Videos created by the club’s members are submitted to TED, which will then decide if the video is to be placed on its YouTube channel alongside an animation, Sarkar explained.

“Hopefully we can get someone to that level where they can have a topic they’re really passionate about posted online,” Sarkar said.

Tejas Saravanan, freshman, said he attended the club’s first meeting in hopes of improving his public speaking skills.

“I joined the club because I wanted to learn more about topics related to science and improve my speaking skills,” Saravanan said. “I will use it to get better grades and to advance my presentation skills.”

Saravanan also plans to utilize public speaking skills as a stepping stone toward his future career.

“I want to become a doctor when I grow up so if I ever need to talk to patients or present something, I’d be able to do that easily with good speaking skills,” Saravanan said.

Though they just began the club, Kumar and Sarkar have big plans for it, including a TEDx conference in the MHS theater within the next few months featuring a lineup of professionals speaking about student-related issues.

“We want to influence students and faculty through speeches by important people near us,” Kumar said.

The Messenger will be covering the MHS TEDx conference in the near future. Stay updated by following us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @YourMHSNews.