TEDx Manhattan Beach was held on Nov. 4 and featured a series of various speakers along with an Expo Center featuring diverse organizations, local food favorites, and interactive exhibits for attendees to enjoy.
Costa TEDx club members, who are also TEDx interns, met every week for the past couple months to plan the event. A group of around 20-25 interns spent their time reaching out to sponsorships, working on social media promotion, and getting enough volunteers to make the event a success.
“It’s been an amazing experience,” said senior Raci Levine, president of the TEDx Club. “I started the club after I spoke at the event last year, and I’m so happy that I am able to work with TEDx and hope I can continue to work with them.”
This year, the overarching theme of the event was “Future Shaping.” Different booths and installations encapsulated this idea in many ways. Sophomore Lila Mokhtari presented her company, Maji, which is dedicated to making vegan, handmade, and eco-friendly motivational soaps, illustrating the future of hygiene products.
“I got inspired by my sister because she never washed her hands as a kid, and she really liked shopkins, so I would use a soap kit I had and put shopkins inside to motivate her,” said Mokhtari. “Maji also donates profit to the Thirst Project, promoting hygiene to all different backgrounds.”
Costa freshmen Charlotte Fan and Wyatt Newbill showcased their award-winning invention of biodegradable styrofoam called Terreus, made of agar dish soap and diacerein. The freshmen inventors also received second place in the Invention Convention 2023 national competition as eighth graders for Terreus.
“We love inventing because it’s rewarding to know that you created something and made it come to life,” Newbill said. “It’s rewarding to know that even though there were challenges along the way, we could still overcome our obstacles and bring our invention to life.”
Art was another aspect of the Expo experience. Specifically, The Experimentally Structured Museum of Art (ESMoA) promoted its new interactive museum, which is opening in 2024. ESMoA displayed pieces of interactive art for attendees to collaborate on, demonstrating the unique qualities of their art and their museum.
“I have been working with TEDx for 10 years now, and I am always so impressed because it’s always a surprise to me,” said Paul Silva, the TED Talk MC. “It’s always new to me, so I get to absorb the experience along with the audience.”
Mira Costa’s South Bay Food Initiative Club (SBFI) aids people in the South Bay community through food donations and volunteer work to get food to those in need. The club is led by senior President Ava Nicols and her younger sister sophomore Vice President Zoe Nicols. The club works closely with The Volunteer Center in Torrance, LA Food Bank, and local companies and MBUSD schools to facilitate the pick-up and drop-off of donations and provide volunteers to help sort and pack food for distribution.
“Joining South Bay Food Initiative has taught me how many people are really struggling from food insecurity and what that even means,” said Zoe Nicols. “Having consistent access to food is a privilege that many take for granted because people are struggling in our own community. We strive to push the educational component of our club’s efforts and get students not only involved through hands-on work, but informed about food insecurity.”
The Mira Costa Green Team was also in attendance at TEDx, helping sort the trash from the event. The Green Team is affiliated with the Grades of Green RISE () Campaign and aims to save the environment through beach cleanups, clothing swaps, and more.
“Our Green Team is passionate about environmental sustainability, specifically reducing waste in our community,” said senior Green Team President Claire Koerber. “We host numerous events throughout the year, including our spring clothing swap and Redondo Beach Harbor Marina cleanups that help reduce waste.”
With the trash from the event, the Green Team hopes to make a bench from recycled plastic bricks in collaboration with ByFusion. ByFusion is a company that uses recycled plastic to construct furniture.
“Ultimately, we want to educate our community on environmental issues and help them take hands-on action that allows us all to be a part of the solution,” said Koerber.
Through the Green Team’s conservation efforts at the TEDx event, Koerber says the group hopes to gain traction both with the Costa and South Bay communities.
“We hope that by engaging with the Costa community we can help students understand the impacts of their habits and actions on the Earth,” said Koerber. “Over the past four years with the Costa Green Team, I have seen our efforts reach a lot of students and community members, so I hope they were inspired to take a more active role in protecting our environment.”
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