TEDxAmericanRiviera - Mike deGruy - The Evolution of a Spark

[TEDxAmericanRiviera – The Spark Within] I don't believe there could have been a more appropriate beginning for this segment than listening to David and Jacob, an entry into this program that we're gonna show you. The power of young people, I think, was incredibly performed by these two kids, and -- So what we're gonna do is show you a short film. The title of the film is called "The Evolution of a Spark", that was redundant. The title of the film is "The Evolution of a Spark", so I thought I would tell you a little about the evolution of a spark film. A little over a month ago, I was asked if I would be interested in making a film for TEDxAmericanRiviera on kids. Kids! That's something I know about. I have two of them! I know some incredible kids! We all do! So I was in, I thought it would be a great opportunity to bring young people into TEDxAmericanRiviera as well as be a noble and really fun effort. So then we decided I shouldn't make that film – they should. So we recruited a group of middle school and a couple of high school kids to be volunteers throughout the project, in fact, everybody on the project was volunteer. And in a month, we produced a poster, which was distributed all over town. These kids got on social networks, spread the word, we contacted over 20 high school and middle school principals, urging them to get these kids to nominate their friends, their peers, people who they thought had something special. And over a hundred applications came in. We sat our volunteers around a table and through a lengthly and difficult process, they finally selected 10 individuals to represent the young people of Santa Barbara in this film. Then we went out and interviewed these kids. We took films of them out in the community, doing their thing. And remember, these volunteer kids, ages 14 to 16, were running camera, doing sound, moving lights around. And now, you're going to see the premiere of this effort. And it's true, adults had a lot to do with this production. But this is very much a film about our kids, inspirational kids, who, among many others, possess that spark within. [Video Start] (Acoustic guitar playing) (Jazz music) Johnny Weger: When I was in elementary school, probably in 3rd or 4th grade, a group of musicians came to the school and brought out all the instruments and lined them all up for the kids to try out, and ever since, I've just been a drummer. Luna Star: The moment when I realized that I wanted to be a singer-songwriter was when watching the "Live in Chicago" DVD of Jeff Buckley. I'm like, "Oh my God, this is amazing, I wanna do that!" Luna singing: "Those who need love are weaker than us." Channing Peake: My homeroom teacher, his name was Sam Adams, and he taught a guitar class after school. We just started jamming out. Griffin Saxon: Two years ago, these college guys made "A Very Potter Musical". Zoe Serbin: We watched that and then I think we both kind of looked at each other and we're like, "We could do that." Rachel Bergseteren Strange: When I was little, I would look up and I'd see these big girls, that is how I thought of them, working at whatever they're doing, whether it be gymnastics or ballet or maybe just at school, I would think that I wanted to be like them. Sophia Phillips: My family went to Europe for four months and we were in Berlin, we ended up starting to take trapeze lessons at this old train station. Zola Phillips: Abandoned train station. Sophia: Circus squatters had come and taken over. And it was this super cool artist community, so we went and started taking classes there. Mark Godges: I was in John's Social Studies class, one of my teachers, and he shows us these really depressing films. They show you that there's people that don't have a house, nice clothes, a bed, and a hot shower. I want to give these people a voice. Grady Lee: This girl that I was seeing at the time, she played guitar for her church. It was just this symbiotic relationship between the instrument and the singer that I had never even approached before. And that pretty much changed how I looked at music. Maureen Guerrero: A lot of things have been going on in my family, like, somebody has a problem with alcohol. That's where I told myself, "I'm gonna stop drinking." If I ever see that somebody is doing something wrong that I used to do, I tell them, you know, "I've been there. Trust me, listen to me. I got through it, you can get through it." Kelly Shara: When I was 8 years old, my mother passed away, actually from ovarian cancer. Seeing her struggle with that and just seeing how much perseverance it takes to be that incredible of a person, has really honestly been my inspiration. Young man: Along the way, like all these people that have been pushing me on, saying "Go for it", they've all been inspirations. (Music: Move your body, move your body, body) (Guitar hook) Kelly: Hard work means the satisfaction of doing a job that you've put many, many hours of preparation into and seeing it just blossom into something that's just so beautiful that you couldn't have just scraped together in a couple of hours. Young man: Like writing songs, practicing, playing shows, setting up, getting new equipment, finding the right sound that you like, talking to fans, all this stuff goes into being in a band that no one would think goes into being in a band. Johnny: I think it's become a gradual process realizing that I am a disciplined person who can sit down at the drums and practice for just hours on end and really focus and put in the time. Zola: There really is a physical limit to it. You can only do so much before your muscles give out or your burns are too bad or you're too cut up and your calluses are broken and you can't climb anymore. Griffin: We had a cast of 14 kids, we had an assistant director, we had a producer, we had a musical director. We got a good base of people, like a community to help us out there. I think that's important. Girl 1: To be become the best fricking jedi ever, Girl 2: You've gotta be wise, not just clever. Boy 1: Do what Yoda does you must. He's a genius and him you must in trust. Rachel: When you work really hard at something, you gain many things from it. You gain experience, you gain the feeling of self respect, you gain the feeling of accomplishment. Maureen: Follow your dreams. You can be it. It might take a lot of work, but you can get there. Luna: I just really wanna get to a place where I am the person who makes some kid go, "Oh, I really wanna do that!" Griffin: What I hope the most is that somebody will be like, "We really love what you're doing, I'm gonna go do this, too!" Kelly: I feel like I'm changing lives day to day just by giving others opportunity. Grady: There is a sense of entitlement and with the entitlement comes a responsibility because you are influencing so many people. Johnny: We hold a responsibility to keep practicing and keep inspiring the ones before us, the junior high kids and the elementary school kids. Zola: It's so cute to see, like, the next generation that pretty much started by seeing us and our company up there doing what we do and are now just so passionate about it. I love that. Young man: One person can just start a ripple effect of awesomeness. Mark: No point on wallowing in mainstream sorrow. Yesterday's past and repeating tomorrow. This generation wasn't born to follow, true generation of change, and change comes from the youth. (Applause) (Music) (Applause) Alright guys, thank you, thank you! (Applause)