By Alex Sigel, Grade 11 student at The York School

Ilona Dougherty insists that students have the power to change a country. How is this possible, one may ask? Her response: through democracy. Ilona grew up in a home where community involvement was very important. Her parents instilled this fundamental principle in her and it stayed with her for her whole life ultimately inspiring her to create Apathy is Boring, a youth run, non-profit organization based out of Montreal with the mission of helping Canadian youth to get involved in democracy.

With the belief that youth have a tremendous opportunity to influence our daily lives through involvement, she brings her dream of finding “creative ways of engaging young people who are apathetic or just ‘don’t seem to care’.”

This issue became important to her when she realized that there are 5.5 million young Canadians and that, as she puts it, “youth have an amazing ability to make a difference they often don’t take advantage of… that could change an election.”

Yet only 38.8% of Canadians aged 18-24 voted in the 2011 Federal Election continuing the trend that Canadian youth aren’t voting.

In her TED talk at the upcoming TEDxIB@YorkSchool she will stress upon IB students the importance of voting, and how their vote can lead to the change they want to see in the world. She will be talking about why voting actually matters to all of us, how voting can solve youth concerns, and the diverse ways youth can make a difference.

Her enthusiasm and passion for the topic on a personal level through having “never been afraid of standing up for what [she] believes in and standing up to those people in positions of authority” will resonate at the upcoming conference and leave a permanent impression on students about the ability they to influence their own lives.

To Ilona, “voting is one way of ‘taking on the world’. Democracy is a tool we can use to change the minds of those in power. It is in fact the only direct way to decide who gets into those positions of power in the first place. If that isn’t ‘taking on the world’ I am not sure what is!”

By Stephen Dodge, Grade 12 student at The York School

Corey Vidal is the president of Apprentice A Studios, a video company which operates entirely on YouTube.  The company, as well as Corey’s original, and current, main YouTube Channel, takes its name from Corey’s love of Star Wars.  The name had originally been a shortened form of “Apprentice Anakin.”  Corey entered the world of YouTube while still in high school by making dance tutorials and videos with his friends simply because he loved the process.  He had no expectations of number of views, and no idea of the popularity YouTube could bring.

After high school Corey fell onto economic hardship, and after some time his only permanent possession was a laptop.  He didn’t even have the money to print résumés at the public library.  Nevertheless he continued to make videos.  When times were at their worst Corey released a video entitled “Star Wars (John Williams is the Man) A Cappella Tribute Medley Song.”  The video received millions of views overnight and today has just over 17.5 million.  He sums up his own story to this point in a video aptly titled “YouTube Saved My Life.”

Today Corey is still releasing videos on his original channel and seven more.  His company, Apprentice A Studios, hosts eight full-time employees and during large projects, can boast up to twenty including freelance and part-time workers.

Corey’s entire life is on the internet.  As he says, the Vlog (the video-blog his company produces daily which acts as a production diary and a glimpse into their lives) sees all, and he has nothing to hide.

“It’s what happens when you’re a YouTuber,” he says.

Everything Corey does and every video he puts on YouTube is instantly critiqued by the community.  The instant gratification videos receive from viewers all around the world is humbling to him, but also very exciting.  The videos Corey releases have been tweaked for hours upon hours and are at Hollywood video quality, and because of that the audience rarely has anything bad to say.

Corey’s company is still growing and in order to stay relevant he knows that they must continue to evolve in content and in style.  He has big plans for his company, and though he has achieved his life’s dream of making YouTube his job he isn’t planning to stop any time soon.

Jamie Perlmutter, Grade 11

Laughter is uplifting. It raises our spirits and reminds us that there is always hope. Maureen Holloway has always been inspired by the idea of laughter and believes that it is an integral part of life. From TEDxIB@YorkSchool host in 2011 to speaker in 2012, Maureen will remind young IB students all across the globe about what it means to laugh. Her path to this speech however is not as simple as her topic.

Maureen has spent her career in the public eye (or ear). Beginning as a traffic reporter for Mix FM in Toronto, Maureen has flourished in the business after 20 years. She is known specifically for her nationally broadcasted segment “The Last Word” where she updates Canada on the latest celebrity gossip. She has also made a few appearances on TV but truly enjoys the consistency that radio offers.

In 2005 Maureen was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer to her disbelief. Through her perseverance and support from her family, Maureen was able to overcome this misfortune and is now cancer free. She is widely known for her great charity work, specifically with Women’s College Hospital located in Toronto. Her charisma and humour are what make her such a widely sought-after speaker.

The use of laughter in our lives is what really drives Maureen’s curiosity. Through her experience of battling cancer, she is really interested in how we use laughter to cope with troubles. Specifically focussing on women, Maureen believes that laughter is the best method of dealing with difficulties. She will also focus on the two types of people: those who laugh and those who make people laugh. “I see humour as an incredibly challenging and creative occupation,” she explained as she went over her speech topic. “Whatever you are doing you are creating something—it is how we find meaning.”

Through TEDxIB@YorkSchool Maureen hopes to convey the message to the IB students that laughter is an important part of our life and the way we live. The idea of speaking to this audience motivates her and she is eager to speak to young IB students of the world. “I love what TED does and I’ve been to TED and it just inspires me and nourishes me—younger people are more open to humour.” We look forward to being inspired by Maureen when she stands on our TEDx stage on November 14^th.

Adil Dhalla, Co-Founder of My City Lives

Adil Dhalla is innovating how we learn about the world through My City Lives, a local video platform that he co-founded in 2009 and that now operates in over 170 cities globally. Belonging to one of the first graduating classes at The York School (Class of 2001), Adil went on to receive his undergraduate degree in History from Queen’s University and his MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University, although he admits to never being a “great student”. Always restless, Adil’s story is one filled with great risks and great adventures, such as when he worked on the Barack Obama campaign in Brooklyn or when he travelled to rural Tanzania to work for a technology-based non-governmental organization. It was while in Tanzania that Adil realized the potential for technology to disrupt the information space and his work has since led him to many successes including now working with publishers to change how we access the news. Adil has spoken at TEDxQueen’sUniversity about the future of online video and is constantly called upon to give talks about entrepreneurship, social innovation and his love for the ukulele.