A LETTER FROM OUR HEADTEACHER - MR I SMITH

SIXTH FORM
ETONE GOES TO TEDx
After we all enjoyed lunch the next session
commenced with a presentation by Ed
Charles, the producer of Planet Earth II, who
gave us a behind the scenes view of the effort
that goes into every shot, followed by
Quassim Cassam’s talk on the idea behind
conspiracy theories. Andrea Crisanti then
told us of his pioneering work on the genetic
modification of mosquitoes to control the
spread of malaria. The fourth talk on this
session was by Marguerite Barankitse,
otherwise known as the Angel of Burundi
who amazed us all with her positive attitude
and her life’s work of looking after and
providing for over 10000 children through
her organization Maison Shalom. After a singa-long
to John Lennon’s Imagine, she passed
on her message and belief that one person
can make a huge difference to a situation if
they put their heart into it.
The fourth session started with Irem Ergun,
who set up Project Virtuous Triangle with the
aim to help cooperation between refugees
and local children and helped us to consider
how we are reacting to the refugee crisis.
Mike Ford, of the BLOODHOUND SSC
Project then amazed us all with his part in
the project designed to break the land speed
record and set it at over 1000mph. A talk by
Stefanie Posavec, a data artist made us
reconsider how we view the numbers and
data around us. The final talk of the day was
by Miles Hilton-Barber, who is a British
adventurer who has not allowed the fact he is
blind to hold him back and has gone on to set
numerous records since the age of 50
including ultra-marathons and a
circumnavigation of the earth in a light
aircraft. It was an awe-inspiring note to end
the day on.
The day was a thought provoking experience
and it really made us consider what we can
do to push and break some of our
boundaries. We would really recommend
watching TEDx talks on the internet. Thank
you to Mr Turner and Mr Howes for
organizing and taking us on the trip.
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