Last year, Biddeford High school hosted a student-led event that truly made a wave.

That event was TEDx, an independently organized branch-off event of the popular TED talks that regularly occur around the globe. After presentations by various speakers, ranging in age, occupation, and viewpoint, all centered around a single central theme, participants come away with a new perspective concerning the world they live in.

Last year’s event centered around making waves, and it set off a chain of ripples that extend into this year as a new committee gets fired up for the this year’s TEDx, called “Ignite”.

Pulling from her experience in last year’s steering committee, senior Dalani Roy brought big plans to this year’s executive committee, a smaller group comprised of herself, Daniel Bourque, Amber Mondor, and Jacob Blanchard, the leading four students who play the largest part in organizing and delegating tasks to the other members. Roy’s insight prompted the group to get a head start on areas that posed problems last year, like fundraising.

“I think the biggest thing…was that we had to get started on sponsorships early,” said Roy. “Even this year we’re still trying to get the money that we need to, but it made all the difference in the world trying to get sponsorships earlier because last year we were scrambling at the last minute trying to get everything together.”

That strain of funding such a huge event weighs on all members of the committee. The main cost of the event comes from the TED guidelines that require a speaker coach to work with each of the presenters. Connor Bouffard, a junior participating in the steering committee this year, expanded on the need for the speaker coach besides simply fulfilling the official TED requirements.

“Honestly, the biggest problem is funding, because for each speaker that we have, we have to pay for a speaker coach,” explained Bouffard. “You can’t just get up there and give a spiel…it has to be thought out…logical. This is a very formal event, so we have to get a speaker coach to teach the speakers how to speak.”

Despite the current struggle to find enough businesses willing to sponsor the event, Roy is confident in the plans she and fellow executives laid out at the beginning of their preparation.

“Everything in general is better organized [than last year]. We have organizers that we pass out to all of our committee members and designated tasks so not one person is doing everything. It’s split up more evenly, so things get done much more smoothly.” Roy said.

Agreeing that the division of designated tasks makes for more efficient approach, Bouffard illustrated his role in the committee with blunt clarity.

“Right now, if you think of it like a chess board, I’m kind of like…a pawn,” grinned Bouffard. “I do all the dirty work, I do all the footwork, but next year hopefully I’ll be bumped up to the executive committee and make some actual decisions.”

He isn’t the only person already looking ahead to next year. Though Roy will not be part of the event next year, she still dreams about the future of TEDx at Biddeford.

“Our future goal is to make it bigger, to be able to have more students. You have to go through a bunch of…regulations in order to get a bigger audience…[but] that’s a future goal, the biggest one,” Roy said.

Echoing that sentiment on a wider scale, sophomore Taylor Turgeon expressed her hope that  TEDx Biddeford would one day encompass the entire school, saying “I would love to see the whole school involved with it somehow because it’s such a great event.”

As for Bouffard, he holds a clear picture of the goals for both this year’s event and next year’s.

“Obviously last year’s event was a success, it made a wave,” said Bouffard. “People know it now, this year has high expectations, so next year…if I’m on the executive committee, I plan to make it the best it’s been in the past three years.”

No matter the goals for next year, the enthusiastic members still have to get this year’s TEDx running in time for the March 28 deadline. For those who attended last year, some significant changes will be in place this year. Daniel Bourque, a senior and member of the executive committee, detailed the layout of the day.

“There are two [main] sessions, so it’s sessions one and two [in the first main session] and sessions three and four [in the second main session],” explained Bourque. “So you go to session one and see three speakers and a video, and you go and have a snack, we’ll have a little break. Then session two is three speakers and a video and you go to lunch. Then the next group of kids will come in, and it’s pretty much the same thing.”

With a total count of nine speakers, six speakers will participate in the first session, and the second session will feature three new speakers as well as three repeat speakers from session one. That means that students will be missing three talks, depending on which session they attend, as each student can only participate in one session.

Though different from last year, where students watched all the speakers present and missed an entire day of school, this new model of organization means that participating students will only be missing half of their classes, making it easier for those with a heavy workload to attend.

With the start date rapidly approaching, Roy feels the pressure, yet has confidence that the committee will pull the event off smoothly.

“I think in terms of getting items that we need, there’s still some stuff that we wish we had already had done, but I think that we’re okay,” smiled Roy. “Everyone is getting a move on, everyone has their tasks, everyone is kind of [saying] ‘alright, this is really happening’. We’re all in, and it’s good. I like where we’re at right now.”

Last year’s TEDx event sent up a splash in the minds of those attending, and with this year’s event throwing off sparks already, everything is set to ignite a revolution of thought.