Photo by Anastasiia Zubareva

On April 10, NYU Abu Dhabi held its second annual TEDxNYUAD event. The audience included almost 400 people from the NYUAD community. From a pool of 60 applicants, 28 people were selected to present their speeches to a committee; the number was further narrowed down to nine speakers. With the exception of Director of Global Awards Doug Cutchins, Obase Aboli, a member of the Serco team and Jessica Mow, a neuroscience research assistant at NYUAD, all of the speakers were NYUAD students.

The talks explored the theme of perception. Ideas put forward included personal definition of the Rhodes Scholarship in terms of success, a reflection on self-identity and the complicated relationship between science and media. Stories from the 2011 revolutions in Egypt were also brought to the forefront, along with thoughts on diversity and heritage, an awareness of Islam in a dismissive society, luck and karma in the context of greater good.

Freshman Yousra Hassan, an organizer of TEDxNYUAD, spoke to The Gazelle about her experience of putting the event together.

“We started selecting speakers in November and we've been working ever since. It got quite hectic at times but we had a good team at hand and a lot of help from our staff advisors,” Hassan said.

“Personally, it was my first time organizing any sort of event — let alone something this big — and there's absolutely nothing more fulfilling to me than helping making something happen, so it was definitely an enriching experience.”

Sophomore Yahya John Scaccia, who spoke about his personal jihad — his struggle against an intolerant society — described the powerful effect of his talk on himself.

“I'm very proud to have given a TED talk, although the days before the event became a build up of emotions, and at times I felt like not giving the speech,” Scaccia said.

He mentioned that he is grateful to have been given the opportunity to get his message across.

Another speaker at the event, freshman Amal Al Gergawi, also remarked on the transformative journey that led up to her talk.

“I quit at least eight times, but it was thanks to Sam Ridgeway and the TEDx team that I pulled through and can finally say that it was a wonderful rollercoaster ride,” Al Gergawi said.