The Student Speaker Competition will take place on Thursday, October 5. We invite all students to enter in the competition. At the competition, students will share a four minute speech of a topic which they are passionate about that is related to this year's theme. A panel of faculty judges will elect the winner, who will give a full, 18-minute presentation at the 2017 TEDxMiddlebury event.

Our theme this year is "Lost and Found." “Lost and Found” is about the perpetual discovery and rediscovery that is essential to our existence as human beings. It questions what it means to feel lost and find purpose once again, be it in the formation of ourselves or the creation of our communities. It calls us to remember people, places, words, and histories we have left behind or taken for granted, but simultaneously invites us to reclaim, reshape, and reconstruct what we know. It makes space for both grief and joy, fate and intention, exile and belonging, context and abstraction. Most of all, it asks that we rethink our narratives of time and progress as we navigate our individual and collective past, present, and future.

Please answer all the questions below. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at tedx@middlebury.edu.