North students, alumni, and other locals spoke at the second annual TEDx event organized by North’s TEDx club in the Little Theater Wednesday, Feb. 12.

This year’s theme was “The Power of Passion,” with the 10 speakers covering a variety of different topics in a TED Talk style, including themes of climate action, belonging, and being yourself.

“The TEDx motto is actually ideas worth spreading, so we kind of wanted to adopt that idea and bring it to the Newton community so that students and teachers and guest members can share their ideas and their opinions to offer inspiration,” said sophomore Aneesha Aryan, co-president of the TEDx club with senior Aadi Aryan.

Sophomore Ella Hamel talked about the results of the sociological experiment, the Marshmallow Challenge, where participants tried to build the tallest free-standing tower using spaghetti, tape, string, and a marshmallow. According to Hamel, the kindergarteners consistently built the tallest towers, diving in immediately to test out different structures, in comparison to the adults.

“As we grow up, sometimes we lose the childhood passion that we used to have,” said Hamel.

Computer science and engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and creator of visual programming language, MIT App Inventor, Hal Abelson spoke about young people who created apps to solve real-world problems in their community, like 12-year-old Gitanjali Rao, who created the app Tethys to detect lead due to the Flint, Michigan water crisis.

Also on the topic of changing the world, Yashvi Aryan, a pharmacy graduate student at Northeastern University, spoke about her passion for her work and hopes to improve therapeutic medicine and treatment options.

“It was in my last internship that I was actively researching in the lab and I realized that this is where I belong, this is how I wanted to be,” said Aryan.

Aryan added that “if there is no passion, you will not have the will to even move forward.”

Junior Maialen Alawam, officer of the Middle-East North Africa club, spoke of how during war, people view their enemies as something other and dehumanize them. According to Alawam, it is harder to commit a crime against someone you sympathize with.

City Council member David Micley talked about how dreaming small and wanting less can make you achieve more.

Micley referenced real success stories, such as former manager of the New England Patriots Bill Belichick, who dreamed small and had the motto “do your job,” and Jeff Bezos, who started niche with an online bookstore and the hopes of delivering books quickly to those who ordered them.

Micley added that in the first election he participated in, he lost, but his intention wasn’t to win, but just to participate, and the next time he ran, he won. He said to have a plan every day, and eventually achieving those small goals will add up.

Similarly, North alumna and freshman at MIT Linda Xue spoke about setting a goal you’re passionate about, doing whatever it takes to achieve it, using your passions to your advantage, and finding passion in work.

Junior Sherry Zhang talked about her experiences moving from Beijing to America when she was 11 and trying to fit in, and finally learning the importance of loving yourself first.

AI and computing senior scientist at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory Vijay Gadepally talked about how to AI-proof your future.

According to Gadepally, there are differences in what humans can do compared to AI. He said that humans are good at reasoning, innovation, and creativity, while AI is good at quick response, rote learning, and repetition.

Sophomore Margaret Ren talked about her passion for climate action, which started when she saw a statistic that in 22 years, there will be no more commercial seafood.

Introducing similar ideas about passion, sophomore Maya Fendler spoke about writing their sophomore speech on what they were passionate about and getting third place in their class.

“There was so much variety and you realize that there is so much more than just yourself,” said Yashvi Aryan, who also attended the previous year’s TEDx event. “It just widens your horizons.”

According to Aneesha Aryan, she found speakers for the event through Instagram and flyers they put up around North.