May 25th, 2012 – Announcing TEDxYMCAAcademy 3.0 “Machines and Minds”

As many of you know, one of our new initiatives over the past year has been to establish TEDxYMCAAcademy.  It would not be unrealistic to say that the TED and TEDx series of events have become an important part of our popular culture over the better part of this past decade.  Our friends at TED self-describe TEDx events like this:

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission, “ideas worth spreading.”  The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

At TEDx events, a screening of TEDTalks videos — or a combination of live presenters and TEDTalks videos — sparks deep conversation and connections.  TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.

As The Academy is a Community School in the truest sense of the word, we love being able to include many of you, our Toronto friends, in our event.  In addition, we livestream each TEDx event, bringing thousands of viewers from around the world, as do the videos from the events that we post on our site. Attending (and, for us, curating) a TEDx event is a lot of fun!

So, our TEDxYMCAAcademy 3.0 (it’s hard to believe that we’re already on our THIRD event!) has the theme “Machines and Minds.”  As is the case with theme-based TEDx events, we leave this open to interpretation – it is designed to be intentionally elastic.

We really hope you join us on October 13th.  Tickets are always free and you can get yours here: machinesandminds.eventbrite.com

We are all looking forward to seeing you there!

Don Adams – Head of School

May. 11th, 2012 – TEDxYMCAAcademy Details

Dear Parents / Guardians and Students,

Just a reminder that tomorrow (Saturday – May 12th) is our 2nd TEDx event – The Heart and Soul of Learning Disabilities.  It takes place at the Central Y Auditorium (20 Grosvenor Street, Toronto) from 10am to 2 pm.  If you are still interested in attending but have not registered for it, please visit:  http://www.tedxymcaacademy.com

If you are unable to attend in person, the event can also be viewed live at (the streaming starts at 10am):  http://new.livestream.com/tedx/events/875960

Apr. 27th, 2012 – Walk for Strong Kids Campaign

On April 26th 2012 The YMCA Academy staff and students joined the Family Development Centre’s childcare kids on their BIG walk in support of the YMCA Strong Kids Campaign!!  Thank you to Scholar’s Choice for sponsoring the YMCA Walk for Strong Kids!

Our walk began at 9:30 am on Breadalebane St. We travelled in a parade of singers and banner holders down to College St then up Bay St to Grosvenor St – ending our procession in the Central YMCA gym for bouncy castle fun.

Thank you to all our volunteers and supporters. What an amazing event!

Check out the rest of the pictures on our Facebook Page!