On Wednesday evening, Newton North High School's (NNHS) TEDx Club held its second annual TEDx Youth event themed "The Power of Passion" with 10 speakers ranging from high school and college students to masters students and professors.

The first speaker was Vijay Gadepally, senior scientist and principal investigator at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory for research and development of advanced technologies. He stressed the importance of finding passion amid growing AI capabilities.

"The world is changing very quickly ... by some estimates, by 2030, 30 percent of the hours worked will be automated," Gadepally said. "If these are [jobs] that can be replaced by a machine or a robot, maybe there are better things that we can do."

Maialen Alawam, a junior at NNHS, emphasized the need for human connection and empathy in her speech.

"We build walls, both physical and emotional, between us and [our enemies], and in doing so, we forget the most powerful truth of all -- that the people on the other side of the battlefield are human beings just like us," Alawam said.

Alawam argued Americans especially need to work on these skills.

"Instead of just being the stereotypical dumb Americans, let's be diplomats," Alawam said. "Let's be learners, communicators, and strategists. Our place on the world stage depends on it."

MIT freshman and NNHS alumnus Linda Xue stressed the importance of balance in the journey toward accomplishments.

"While it's important to earn that employee of the month, it's equally important to take a day off," Xue said.

Ward 2 Newton City Councilor David Micley explained that sometimes dreaming big can be harmful instead of helpful.

"Everything in this country and our culture is about big, ambitious dreams," Micley said. "And that's exciting. That's inspiring. But is it helpful?

Micley shared that dreaming small is what led him to his current career.

"[When I first ran] I raised no money," Micley said. "I got no endorsements. ... I probably won a few votes, but I wasn't really running to win. I wasn't really running to be the best. I was running to participate. I was running to run, and that was my dream. ... Eventually, I ran again and did win. Starting small leads to big things later."

Yashvi Aryan, master's student of pharmaceutics and drug delivery at Northeastern University agreed that passion is about the journey instead of the outcome.

"I will say that passion is not just about success," Yashvi Aryan said. "It's mostly about your journey."

Hal Abelson, professor of computer science and electrical engineering at MIT, said it's important to act on passion as soon as possible in order to create change in the world.

"If you have an idea for making the world a better place, don't wait," Abelson said. "You have the power to do that right now."

NNHS sophomore Margaret Ren highlighted the necessity for change especially concerning her passion, climate change. Ren explained that despite her dislike of the taste of fish, she was frightened by the prospect that fish might go extinct in the near future.

"I want you all to find your passions, your potential energy in your fish," Ren said. "As of today, you have 22 years until then."

Qiaorui Zhang, a junior at NNHS, explained that passion begins with self-acceptance and self-love.

"Expecting less from other people doesn't mean shutting them out," Zhang said. "It doesn't mean becoming cold or less compassionate. It means understanding that people will come and go and that's okay, because you will always have yourself."

Ella Hamel, a sophomore at NNHS described that as children grow up, their surroundings make their search for passion linear when it should be abstract.

"How did we go from abstract to linear thinkers?" Hamel said. "The answer comes down to the chain in our living style. Our lives have become consumed by our hope for success and our fear of failure, both of which we try to contain with abundant daily structure."

Maya Fendler, a sophomore at NNHS described their tumultuous pursuit of their passion through their interest in the American chestnut.

"The things that drive you to push yourself -- the things that drive you to love, to speak, to scream -- be sure that you are willing to fight for them, that you are willing to try and to try to grit your teeth, to cry and to fail for them, to embarrass and to sabotage [yourself,]" Fendler said.

Audience member and NNHS sophomore Sonya Finkel said she appreciated the variety of speakers.

"I like that they were all really different ... how diverse the topics were," Finkel said.

Aneesha Aryan, co-president and co-founder of the TEDx Club at NNHS, described the motivation behind the event's theme.

"Some of us are like, juniors, sophomores, seniors, and we're just thinking about college," Aneesha Aryan said. "So obviously, a big part of that is our passion, so we wanted to get inspired."

Aaditya Aryan, the other co-president and co-founder of the TEDx Club at NNHS, elaborated on the theme of passion for the event.