Ted Ed- A Search for Passion
Tara Anil

As a student, life can be pretty stressful, especially during the last four years of High School which determine your future. Every single one of us has the goal of getting into the best colleges of our country or around the world, which requires us to create an outstanding portfolio depicting with great academic scores and a variety of extracurricular activities. Thinking of it, might itself make you jittery. So how do we stand out from the crowd?

Since I began my educational journey at The HDFC School, Pune in the early grades, I've been provided a platform to balance academics and extracurricular activities, which has indeed helped me as a current ninth grade student. Among the various activities that I have undertaken till now, I am particularly fond of the Ted Ed Club which commenced this year in full swing. The club's theme this year is Passion for Purpose. Through the theme and the sharing of individual experiences, we have become aware of how we can take our passion- something that ignites a spark in our lives, and turn it into our career. But most importantly, it has given me the opportunity to tell people about my passion- Behavioral Psychology, and how it has helped me in my life and inspired people around me going through the same things. Thanks to our wonderful seniors and of course our beloved teachers we have understood how to become better speakers without sounding monotonous. Through this we've become much more confident and understood how the way we portray ourselves and our posture are integral parts in giving a speech. Our school had also organized a Ted Ed Competition where the top ten speakers were selected. This provided us to display the skills we learnt and gave us an experience of a lifetime. It was a moment of elation for me when I was selected as one of the top speakers who would be hitting the final stage of Ted Ed.

Clubs like the Ted Ed club not only have helped us boost our profile but also learn various life skills. I am truly grateful to my teachers and our school for providing us such plethora of opportunities. That's what makes The HDFC School an institution that stands out among its peers because here, emphasis is not just given on imparting education but on imbuing life skills as well, so as to make individuals ready to take up challenges that they encounter through different phases of life.