UnCharTED 2018 – the beginning…
Charterhouse pupils have been inspired to become latest members of the global TED community. In 2017, Dr Balasubramanian (Assistant Master of the Scholars and Assistant Housemaster, Gownboys) applied to take a group of 11 sixth formers to the TEDxTeen conference at the O2 Arena, London. Titled ‘Bold Moves’, the conference was an eclectic mix of inspirational lectures, live music, interviews, musical performances and more. The conference enabled our Carthusians to view the world from different perspectives, think about new possibilities, discuss and develop creative solutions to global problems.
At the start of the spring term, Dr Balasubramanian set up our very own TED-Ed Club at Charterhouse, which is a thriving community of around 20 pupils across the age range, celebrating the TED vision. Club President Cosima Graef (F) was interviewed by TED via video conference before her application to become the school’s TED-Ed ‘Facilitator’ was accepted and since then, she has been instrumental in managing the Club’s activities under the guidance of Dr Balasubramanian (as TED Advisor & Chair) and the support of Timothy Lam (H) and Jil Sinnes (S).
Pupils have met every week for two terms discussing ideas and developing their own talks on a range of themes within a framework of ‘Explorations’ as provided by the TED family. The TED-Ed Club at Charterhouse aims to harness and foster the creativity, imagination and innovation that young Carthusians bring, to provide a global platform to voice their ideas and to support a new generation of emerging thinkers and problem-solvers.
Under the banner ‘UnCharTED’, Dr Balasubramanian launched our very first TED-Ed inaugural lectures at the start of CQ’18, which was wonderfully received by pupils and beaks alike. The short, high-impact lectures were given by our Carthusians who had worked hard to refine their public speaking and presentation skills. The lectures covered diverse themes including history, art, politics, linguistics, humanities, sport, sciences and emerging technologies and were recorded live for online publication on TED channels. TED may now invite talented Carthusians to speak at their annual conference.
As part of the inaugural lectures, Dr Balasubramanian also arranged a live video conference from Stanford University, where one of his former pupils, Kaylie Zhu, now a sophomore at Stanford gave a talk on the use of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Healthcare. Pupils had the opportunity to pose questions and discuss their ideas with Kaylie, who proved to be an inspiration to our Carthusians, not only due to her pioneering work but her commitment to help those in true need – in true spirit of the school’s motto ‘Deo Danti Dedi’.
Dr Balasubramanian says: “UnCharTED is a significant undertaking and we place original thinking at the heart of all our activities. The TED-Ed Club at Charterhouse is a home for intellectual exploration, discovery, creativity and development of personal interests for Carthusians of all ages and seeks to cultivate the very spirit of imagination that we have all been blessed with. Our ambition is to hold our very own TEDxYouth Conference at Charterhouse in 2019-20.”
