Sadali Mawi
Lead Curator, TEDxYouth@Singapore
Your experience curating the TEDxYouth@SG event
It has been a great experience curating the event. I grow as a leader and have learnt so many things I don’t get to learn in classrooms. It gives me the opportunity to meet new people and it motivates me to strive to do better things for myself and my community. I constantly get inspired as we go through our TEDx meetings and rehearsals. The stories that the speakers and volunteers have shared—they blown me away and made me reflect upon myself.
Also, it gives me the exposure that I need as an organiser, being able to meet and work with people and organisations that believed in doing great things. It’s been an honor to be given such an opportunity.
Your thoughts on how the event has grown year on year (sense of achievement?)
Our TEDx community has definitely grown year on year. In 2010, people didn’t know that we exist but slowly, people are finding out about TEDx events in Singapore and everyone wants to be part of it — which is great because it is encouraging for the organising team, and also a source of motivation to execute such a great event for people in Singapore to experience and be empowered by.
It also feels good to work with young volunteers. This indicates that Singaporean youths are increasingly empathetic and are seeking opportunities to do great things for the community.
How do you feel about Kaplan being involved with the sponsorship being a Kaplan student yourself?
As a student, I am proud that Kaplan is involved as a sponsor because it shows that this institution believes in empowering the young people in Singapore. At TEDx meetings, the theme of a rigid education system was always brought up, and we all agreed that it is exactly the reason why TEDx is so great as it educates, informs and inspires beyond the classrooms. We’ve fantasized about how different we will be if we were exposed to TEDx earlier, how we would have been different people growing up. Well, at least for me, I’m incredibly thankful that Kaplan has chosen to support our cause, and it definitely makes me proud to be a student at Kaplan.