Clinton set the mood for the day by telling the group, “If you have the opportunity and the means to do something, you should do it.” She went on to encourage the teens with, “As we say in my family, it’s always better to get caught trying.”

The day’s youngest speaker was 10-year-old Caine Monroy, the subject of a documentary film that  features a cardboard arcade that he built. His creation has inspired more than 100 schools in nine different countries to create their own cardboard arcades. He closed his speech by telling the audience, “When you are 10, do what your imagination tells you to do.”

Inspiration also ran high when 16-year-old blind musical prodigy Kuha’o Case took the stage. He told the audience, “I see no limits. I see nothing at all.” At the age of 12, he taught himself to play the piano and organ. He performed a medley of popular songs selected by the audience—including “Some Nights” by fun., “Set Fire to the Rain” by Adele, and “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz—that earned a standing ovation.

Fourteen-year-old fashionista and singer Tallia Storm reminded the audience to always be prepared, asking them, “What’s in your bag?” Storm was very well prepared when she met David Furnish, Elton John’s partner recently; she handed him her demo along with a handwritten note, which John liked so much that he asked Storm to open his show in Scotland, where she was then dubbed “Tiny Chancer” by the press. She is shown modeling a proudly Scottish cape and skirt of her own design.

Not all the speaker were teens. Ndaba Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, spoke about his Africa Rising Foundation, an organization dedicated to promoting a positive image of Africa around the world. He hoped that together, youth could use their collective voices for a positive change.

Sophie Umaz used her voice and effected change; after almost being killed in 2007 during post-election violence in Kenya, Umaz began the I AM KENYAN project to promote peace and patriotism in Kenyans and to ensure a safe 2013 general election. With the use of photography and social media, people posted on Facebook and elsewhere pictures of themselves with the words, “I am Kenyan,” thus encouraging them to see themselves as Kenyans before identifying themselves ethnically. In the six months since she launched her campaign, Umazi’s organization has had a global outreach of over 4 million, collected over 10,000 pictures globally, and is credited with Kenya having a peaceful election with more than 70 percent voter participation.

At seven, Dylan Vecchione began asking questions about the devastating affects of climate change on coral reefs that he noticed while scuba diving. Now 14, the eighth grader can take credit for developing Reef Quest, one the largest documentation projects on coral reefs around the world. The “Virtual Reef” is the leading digital underwater panoramic photographic record of global coral reefs and is also being used as a platform for citizen science environmental programs in 48 countries—over 60,000 students have participated in Reef Quest sponsored research.

Among the attendees who had to apply to attend was a group of students from James River High School in Midlothian, VA. Timothy Couillard, their ethics teacher, decided that it would be a good idea for his students to attend because he uses the TED videos with his class. Also attending was Megan Pehanick, a teen services librarian for the Ocean County Library System (NJ).

“Young people really can and will change the world, I saw that at this event,” Phanick told School Library Journal.  “After attending the TEDxTeen conference I realize that our library system needs to do even more to help teens like these on their amazing journeys.”

TEDxTeen is organized by the We Are Family Foundation and is based on the nationally acclaimed TED conference with its theme of “ideas worth spreading.”

The primary goal is to inspire kids to explore their own interests through a series of online activities and related incentive badges. The second goal is to enhance students’ cognitive capabilities by incorporating knowledge and skill building into the quests. The online conferences and quests are interdisciplinary in nature, offering students an opportunity to choose what they most care about. All quests will be reviewed and badges awarded by a team of Smithsonian experts. Register now to share the wonderful resources of the Smithsonian with your students!