Page 8 - Laguna Blanca Magazine Summer 2018

Inspiration in the Making
Last school year, Laguna teachers Anna Alldredge and Allison Armstrong—straight off
the tail of the TEDWomen2016 conference where they were trained and certified to oversee
TEDxYouth events—returned to Laguna with a big dream in mind: hosting a TEDx event
on the Laguna Blanca campus. The only hitch? The students would need to plan it, start
to finish. Not surprisingly, our Laguna students—many of whom are already captivated by
TED Talks—didn’t need much convincing.
For those who aren’t familiar, TED has become far more than a platform to share
insightful stories from a broad and often brilliant cast of speakers. It has developed into
a movement of curiosity and sharing that spans the entire globe—a movement the entire
Laguna community would now be part of.
The concept of learning in the deep end is not new to Laguna. Project-based learning
(PBL) opportunities have been sprouting up all over campus in the past few years, as
teachers seek to help students build real-life skills that will bring success later in life.
Alldredge knew the task was huge. To help structure it, she built a course around the event,
allowing students to use school time to plan, shape, and learn the ins and outs of event
planning, marketing, and fundraising as a cohesive team. The new course, TEDx: Project–
Based Leadership, pushes all the boundaries when it comes to project-based learning. In
just five months, students we e tasked with:

• Unanimously identifying a meaningful program theme (they originally began
with 50 diffe ent options)
• Networking to find and select app opriate and engaging event speakers—
“This was not just a and convince them to participate
• Creating a budget to re-stage Laguna’s Merovick Gymnasium into a
test or assignment. TED-worthy event space
It was a real-world • Soliciting sponsors to help cover the costs of the event
• Ensuring professional TED-quality audio/video coverage for all speakers
working experience.” • Developing a marketing plan which covered design of an event logo, website,
invitations, and signage, as well as management of press and social media
• Managing between-session entertainment for an all-day event
-KIKI TOLLES ’20
TEDxLagunaBlancaSchool Executive Producer • Arranging a myriad of event logistics such as catering, parking, and
check-in at the event

Although they called it a class, TEDx was actually a real-life, part-time job, requiring students
to network, lead, and re-group, just as they would when working in the “real world.”

Real Life in Real Time
As if planning a professional event in real time for 500 guests wasn’t enough,
TEDxLagunaBlancaSchool students were hit with two real life tragedies just a month before
the event was set to go live: the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslides, both of which
caused large-scale evacuations and school cancellations. With many students relocating
to various locations across the country, collaboration was difficult and emotiona
adult, I wanted to protect them. But as a teacher, I knew it was their choice to postpone or
“The students were dealing with trauma on multiple levels,” Alldredge says. “As an
LAGUNA BLANCA MAGAZINE keep going.”
And keep going they did, fueled by the belief that the entire community needed an

inspiring TEDx event just as much as they did.
“It was a beautiful moment to see their own awareness that this event mattered to other

6 people just as much as it mattered to them.”

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