高中毕业生啦赞助办沙龙吸引300人

Wang Yuanyuan

What are you doing this summer vacation, going on a trip or staying at home and having wild parties? Unlike many students in the city, a group of high school students chose to spend 20 days organizing a Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) salon in the hope of expressing their ideas and improving their social abilities.

More than 300 people, including students, experts and teachers were attracted to the "TOPIC China" salon which was held at the Civic Center in Futian District on July 22.

The TED conferences are international exchange events held in the United States. Each year, the world's leading thinkers and doers gather to exchange their thoughts and discuss highlights of the year. Attendees have called it "The Ultimate brain spa" and "a 4-day journey into the future, in the company of those creating it." Well-known figures such as Bill Clinton and Bill Gates attend the conferences.

Huang Jiabo, a graduate from Hongling Middle School in Futian District, is one of the organizers of the event. "I first had the idea before the National College Entrance Examinations (NCEE). I told my classmate Zeng Binqian about one month ago and we decided to organize it together," said Huang.

"We just want to give a chance to students like us to haveour voices heard," said Zeng.

Huang and Zeng found some students at Shenzhen Experimental School who were keen to participate. "They are very good friends with ideas and talent. After hearing about our proposal, they were all very excited. We then contacted more students and soon found a team of nearly 20 high school graduates from Hongling Middle School, Shenzhen Experimental School and Shenzhen No.2 Senior High School," said Zeng.

However, the team found it difficult to fund the event.

Ning Kun, who was in charge of the sponsorship recalled some of the difficulties they faced. "We read some of the books about marketing and made a brand-new proposal to sell our thoughts to the education organizations. In the beginning, many organizations did not take us seriously because we were just a group of students, but finally we found one," said Ning.

But in the end, the event proved popular with students. Li Yueran, a student from Shenzhen No.2 Senior High School spoke of what she had gained from the experience, "It was a great event. People of different ages got to share their thoughts on the stage."

Similar events have also proved popular elsewhere, according to Wang Qingguo, a professor at Shenzhen University

"Organizing these events is a good experience for students. Similar activities can be seen in other countries and regions and they help strengthen students' sense of social responsibility," said Wang.