Date: Thursday 26th June 2014
Venue: Hampton Court House
Jacob Kent-Ledger: "Can schools really teach business?"
Jacob is 19 year old entrepreneur who has started two businesses in the past 3 years, making the decision recently to go full time in business. Aged just 16 and a week into his A-Levels studies, Jacob took to business starting a small branding agency and quickly building up a clientele of over 100 companies across the UK, USA and Germany. A multiple award finalist, Jacob is also a public speaker and has had the privilege of speaking in the House of Commons on the topic of entrepreneurship as well as several other events on entrepreneurship and youth enterprise. With the aim to build a £1m business in the next 5 years, Jacob has inspired others into business and many of his clientele are student entrepreneurs or startups. Jacob was a “Young Person of the Year Finalist” in both 2012 and 2013.
Recenly, Jacob’s business was featured in a Guardian article in the Small Business Showcase section.
Our Speakers
Charlie Doherty: “The amazing difference we can make through fund raising for charity.”
Charlie has raised £50,000 for charity, starting when he refused Christmas and birthday gifts at the age of 6, following the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, asking that the money go the victims instead. A finalist in “Britain’s Kindest Kid” awards, Charlie has cycled from Brighton to Scotland, and to Poland, as part of his fund raising efforts. The main recipient of the money he has raised is Scottish school meals charity, Mary’s Meals; one of the beneficiary schools in Malawi is named after him.
Gerard Glowacki: “Why should children learn to code?"
Gerard is a passionate computer science student and coder at Hampton Court House. He has many outstanding achievements under his belt and has participated in many related events, starting at a young age. Gerard is a highly enthusiastic student who would like to share his passion and vision for coding.
Gerard is also a keen debater, and uses the skills he obtain from debating to hone his arguments and outlook.
We have picked young people with bright and interesting ideas for our future. Below are abbreviated biographies of confirmed speakers at our event.
Amanda Moorghen: What does debating and Harry Potter have in common?
Amanda has recently graduated from the University of Birmingham, and whilst ostensibly she studied Philosophy, her heart (and most of her time) lay with the Debating Society. She has debated all over the world, from Latvia to the Philippines, where she reached the quarter-finals of the competitive World Universities Debate Championships.
She now works full time on Speech and Debate activities with the ESU (a UK educational charity), and spends her spare time judging and coaching debating both int he UK and internationally. Highlight of her judging career include adjudicating the finals of the European Debate Championships. However, some of her time is reserved for "non-debating weekends", where she enjoys a variety of less all-consuming hobbies.
Ayrton Cable: “What is missing from our efforts to change the world?”
At the age of 9, Ayrton premiered his film in the Houses of Parliament, and partnered with four major NGOs, proposing a law for clearer food labeling to end the horrors of factory farming. His film is regularly shown in schools nationwide. Inspired by a TED talk on conflict minerals, Ayrton went on to campaign for a “Fair Trade Mobile Phone”, for which he won an Amnesty International Photojournalism Award.
Ayrton's latest initiative, focused on food security, follows his ITV and BBC Radio report from Malawi on hunger as part of the IF Campaign; Ayrton’s “World Food Challenge”, partnered with the UN, challenges young people to ensure everyone in the world is properly nourished, no one left out.
Isabella Blake-Thomas: "The world is my classroom"
Homeschooling, flexi schooling, full time and boarding are variations of current education. But imagine when education can be taught and learnt in a completely different way.
Isabella Blake-Thomas is a pupil at Hampton court house but she is a very different type of pupil, today she wasn't sitting in room J4, she was on a train going through the Grand Canyon. Tomorrow she won't be in room s5, she will be learning French at The Getty Centre in LA.
The reason she can learn like this is because she is an actress and so the world is her classroom. With the help of the internet and people that she meets and places that she goes she is studying life. Her education is just as valid as the young people sitting in their classrooms. But the stories she can tell you! When studying earthquakes, she has experienced one, when studying a Jackson Pollock piece of art, she can actually be next to one in the museum. Her education is very real and she wants to share some of her experiences and talk about the benefits of having the world as her classroom.
Mabrouq Mohamed Azeez: How to think about political protests abroad
For many years, Mabrouq has been an active environmental and political activist in the Maldives. As a political student, he has taken up the task to fight extremism and careless policies in his home nation. Mabrouq has seen numerous political coups and the effects it has on democracy and the society - from the military coup in the Maldives, to the most recent two coups in Thailand, where he often travels to for work.
He will be bringing his own experience in his campaigning and activism efforts to the audience at TEDxYouth@HamptonCourtHouse.
Joelle Taylor: Last Poet Standing - why slam poetry is important to young people.
Joelle Taylor is a professional spoken word artist, published poet and playwright, as well as the founder and Artistic Director of SLAMbassadors UK, the national youth slam championships administered by the Poetry Society.
She's performed nationally and internationally for the British Council, touring both Zimbabwe and Botswana, and has performed at a diverse range of high profile venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Ronnie Scott’s, Buckingham Palace, the 02 arena, Glastonbury Festival, the 100 Club and Trafalgar Square amongst many others.
Victoria Waldersee: "Why should we rethink economics?"
Victoria is part of the Rethinking Economics, a global student-led movement which aims to diversify, demystify and invigorate economics. Currently a BA Chinese and Economics student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Victoria believes there is an urgent need for our society to re-evaluate our economic system to safeguard human rights, environmental sustainability and social justice.
Victoria co-founded the SOAS Open Economics Forum, a student society which aims to forge links between economics and other social sciences through events, workshops, and discussion groups. She also seeks out third sector organisations in the UK with similar aims to Rethinking Economics to create a network of organisations seeking positive change. She has spoken at the Houses of Parliament and on BBC World about the importance of changing the way economics is taught at universities, portrayed in media and incorporated into political discourse.
