High School Swimmer Becca Michaels Gives TEDx Talk on Swimming

Somerset Hills YMCA swimmer Becca Michaels recently was featured at a TEDxYouth event at the Gill St. Bernard’s School in New Jersey, where she is currently a junior.

TED is a non-profit organization that hosts its major annual event every year where they welcome “big thinkers” to Vancouver, Canada to speak about “big ideas” on topics ranging from the original 3 main ideas (Technology, Education, and Design, or TED) to science, cultural, political, and academic topics.

TEDx events are independently run under the TED brand and are organized similarly to TED events in presentation, though they are generallly much smaller in scope. TEDxYouth events are a subset of these specifically geared for speakers in grades 7-12, with similarly-aged audiences.

Michaels’ speech was given during an event specifically hosted by her school, and was included in those videos posted to the TEDx YouTube channel.

In her presentation, titled “Happiness in Waves,” Michaels talks about competitive swimming, how humans relate to water, and how it has helped her brother, who has a disability.

Michaels is a New Jersey High School “Meet of Champions” qualifier whose falls in the sprint freestyles. Her best yards times are 24.95 in the 50 free and 53.89 in the 100 free.

Michaels is currently planning on swimming in college, but has not yet made a public commitment.

Watch her full video below:

Other swimmers who have given TEDx talks in the past:

• Janet Evans
• Mallory Wegemann