Youth@Bruce Fosters Discussion on the Environment

The ’s Youth Committee is hosting an event next week to draw international attention to an arctic exhibit and to foster discussion among area youth about the need to protect natural resources.

Youth@Bruce, the museum's youth committee, is hosting what's been named a TEDx event at 1 p.m. March 26. Due to limited seating, Youth@Bruce asks that high school students interested in attending to RSVP mlendenmann@brucemuseum.org by March 16. The event will feature a talk about important domestic environmental issues by photographer Jeff Jones, United States Fisheries & Wildlife Services biologist Fran Mauer, and internationally acclaimed author and environmentalist Bill McKibben.

"The Arctic Sanctuary: Images of the National Wildlife Refuge" exhibits landscape photography by Jeff Jones and commemorates the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as it celebrates its 50th anniversary and is now on display in the museum's Bendle Lecture Gallery through May 29.

The talk will be followed by an opportunity to engage with the speakers and local Director of the Greenwich Conservation Commission Denise Savageau.

TEDx Youth@Bruce will be streamed live from the Bruce Museum on TED.com/TEDx for the rest of the public.

“Hosting a TEDx Event is the pinnacle of my experience so far as a member of Youth@Bruce,” co-president Gillis Baxter told Patch. “Although in the past, we have been very successful, raising money and hosting exhibits, becoming the first youth group and museum in the United States to host a TEDx Event is an amazing accomplishment,” he said.

“TEDx and Youth@Bruce is such a great fit, as it equals the power of ideas. These ideas cost nothing but they can be a huge inspiration on a young mind to empower them to make a choice, and to make a difference,” volunteer program manager Mary Ann Lendenmann told Patch.

TED: Ideas worth spreading, is a non-profit devoted to broadcasting “riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world,” and has sponsored over a thousand talks that have been viewed by over 3 million people. TEDx events are independently organized by the public to create their own TED-like events.

“At the Bruce Museum it is our mission to elevate our youth volunteers’ experience in the museum by engaging them in learning and managing opportunities that provide life and job skills," Lendenman said. “Their TEDxYouth@Bruce event is an exciting example of their visible role in the Bruce Museum.”