TED interview with Juwon Park

 TED is a kind of talent donation and knowledge/experience sharing system that aims to satisfy all curiosity without limiting the subject. Among them, TEDxYouth@MCH has the unique characteristics of Michuhol Foreign Language High School, allowing students to expand their thinking on various topics and by giving their own lectures to everyone, they pioneer and develop their career path. The main theme of TEDxYouth@MCH for 2023 was ‘The Power of Youth’. Today, we interviewed 'Juwon Park', a student of MCH, who gave a TEDxYouth@MCH talk this year. She gave a talk on ‘Roots Tracer, Change Maker: History’ making realize the importance of history in bringing us face to face with our own existence.

 

△What made you decide to give a lecture?

I love listening to stories, telling my own stories, and making conversations with various people on various topics. I felt like this year’s TEDxYouth@MCH would allow me to do all that I love. The topic of this year’s TEDxYouth@MCH, The Power of Youth: Inspiring our Generation, made me feel like I could truly tell “my” story. My speech was about my experience on how engaging myself in history helped me find out who I truly was as a dual citizen, and how it eventually helped me overcome my identity crisis. I emphasized that history was crucial since it allowed people a platform to find out about themselves. I wanted to share this message and emphasize that the power of youth is important in fighting for historical truths. 

 

△What was the most important consideration when choosing a lecture topic?

I wanted my speech to be meaningful and memorable, so this is what I considered the most when choosing the topic of my speech. I figured that in order to achieve this aim, I would have to make my speech unique. So, I thought about what I could do to give a one-of-a-kind speech, and I realized that the most meaningful speech would be one that comes true from the heart. 

 

△How did you feel when you went up on stage to give a lecture?

I was surprisingly calm. I thought that I would be very nervous, but I guess the yearning to share an enriching and genuine story was larger than the butterflies in my stomach. 

 

△What do you hope the students who listened to the lecture will gain from the lecture?

Well, I would be very honored if they saw why we should fight for our history against those who are dishonest about it. All through my speech, I spoke about how history helped me to know who I really was. I would be even more grateful if students realized that history is related to their everyday lives, that it lets us embrace ourselves, that this is why we should cherish history, and that our history is up to them, the youth. 

 

△Please give some advice to the students who will be speaking in the future on TEDxYouth@MCH.

I’m thrilled to hear your stories on TEDxYouth@MCH. I hope you fully capture every moment of this event. Passionately share your positive words and whole-heartedly listen to others’ messages. Carry it all along.

 

Through this interview with student who gave TEDxYouth, it could be possible to make opportunity to comprehend more about TED talk. We hope that lots of students get interested in TED contest to exert their talent and challenge the future more and more.

 

Moon dae-kwon (1-5)¹ | Staff Reporter

Na Min-Seo (2-3)² | Staff Reporter

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1) deakwon0721@gmail.com

2) minstar00v@gmail.com