TedX Mustangs was launched in February of this year as a new club here at Morton West. Meeting through Zoom on Tuesdays at 3:30 p.m., students watch and discuss interesting TedTalks as students are encouraged to share their voices.

While adjusting to teaching students remotely this year, extracurriculars are important when it comes to keeping students motivated and involved. Wendy Baxter, a Freshman English teacher said “TedX is a club I started because when we stopped school like in March due to Covid, I was trying to find like what can I do online what can I do digitally that’s going to promote student’s voice and allow teenagers to express what they feel and their opinion on controversial subjects”. All clubs had to become virtually due to remote learning and so clubs like TedX are meeting through Zoom and have their own Microsoft Teams page. The club meetings are an opportunity for anybody who is passionate and wants to shine a light on the issues going on in the world. “So during a meeting on Tuesday’s we’ll watch a short text video like 3 to 5 minutes talk about what made it good or what we didn’t like, and then you know just go from there talk about our topics and developing them give each other feedback but it’s all about student’s voice”. Baxter added. Students discover, research, explore. and present their big ideas in the form of short TED-style talks.

Yuriria Nieto Vargas ’23 who is one of the student leaders said “I love encouraging students to use their voice because as a student myself it’s kind of hard to you know to speak up about things so that’s one of my favorite things about this club and being a student leader”. From one student to another leaders know how to uplift others, to share their voice.  The student leaders work really hard on the agendas and to make the environment a welcoming place for new members. “We make sure that everyone is okay in the club and that everything is clear for students to understand make sure they understand what each meeting is about and what topic we’re talking about”. Vargas added.

Tedx Mustangs welcomes everyone. Vargas said, “Students should join because it’s been an amazing group of students who support one another in a positive way, it is so supportive,  everybody asks each other questions and we get into like some deep discussions about stuff.  The meetings are only an hour, but honestly,  like we could talk for hours and hours”. TedX Mustangs is for those students who want their voices heard about what topics they feel strongly about. Raising awareness and sharing voices to speak out about major issues is what TedX is all about.