After conducting nearly 20 interviews for seven speaker spots, junior Swara Maruvada is working towards organizing Barrington High School’s TEDx event featuring an art showcase, live music and seven speaker stories on Feb. 26 in the black box theater.

Maruvada, who started the application months before planning even began, worked directly with TED, District 220 administrators and her own team to bring a professional speaking opportunity to the student body.

“I started the application process before I even pitched the idea to staff and administrators because I knew Barrington is such a connected area,” Maruvada said.

Now for Maruvada, getting approved by TED was just the beginning. Soon after she shifted her focus into building her team and selecting speakers, with the goal of getting a diverse balanced panel.

“I had about a week straight of back-to-back interviews which ended up being 16 or 17 [people] total, with only seven available speaker spots,” Maruvada said.

Throughout the process she gained a new understanding of what it takes to organize a large event for the community.

“Bringing TEDx to Barrington really gave me insight on how to be a better leader. I witnessed firsthand how many small logistics needed to come together in order for this to be successful,” Maruvada said.

She hopes this event will highlight student voices, and showcase the creativity amongst students at Barrington High School.

“My goal is to be a gateway to showcase our community’s creativity, and although this might be uncomfortable for many, I hope people realize that creativity has no bounds, especially at Barrington High School,” Maruvada said.

Tickets and event information will be posted on the TED Barrington Instagram and official TEDx Barrington website.