“Oh, there are a lot of you, aren’t there?” Maddie Waters giggled as she stepped onto the stage of the Jefferson Theater for the TEDx Charlottesville Open Mic Night. Little did she know that she would be chosen by the people heading the show to continue to speak for an even larger event, TEDx Charlottesville.

TEDx is basically an independent TED talk–presentations that professionals do based on something they have expertise in. And at the Open Mic Night on September 21, people from the community auditioned for a spot to do their presentation at TEDx Charlottesville. The theme of the Open Mic Night was “What if…,” and the contestants used that as their inspiration to make a unique speech about anything they wanted.

Waters, a freshman, was the youngest person to compete at the event, and at TEDx Charlottesville. Obviously, the pressure was piling on. But she was ready.

She spoke about a topic she calls “masks.” Waters thinks everyone has different aspects of their personalities–masks–that they use during different situations. People try to pin masks onto others to try to make them into a stereotype. They are just putting people in boxes, and Waters thinks that it should stop. The freshman tried to answer the question of what would happen if we got rid of these masks and just tried to be ourselves.“The thing is that these things are really easy to hide.” A video of Waters’ talk is included.

 Mr. Bonham himself attended the event for the sole purpose of watching Waters’ presentation. “I am always proud when students take it upon themselves to do something courageous,” the principal said. “Maddie is obviously passionate about a topic and took a risk to share it with others, many who were strangers. Students should always feel as if they have voice and be able to express themselves.”

When asked how it felt to make this presentation, especially because she is so young, Waters responded that it was very nerve-wracking. “I felt like part of the advantage was that they were expecting someone older. My point of view was based on me being younger than my audience,” she said. “But I feel like people were impressed that I could come up with something when I was that much younger.”

At Open Mic Night, the audience votes on one person to continue to TEDx Charlottesville, but the leaders of the event might pick a contestant or two, if they thought they were particularly good, to compete.  When Waters found out that she had been chosen to go through, she was “yelling on the inside.”   

“Open Mic Night was a lot of pressure, but now there’s a lot more because I’ll be speaking in front of more people and they’re actually paying to see me.” Fortunately, Waters will be better prepared this time. She now has people to help her prepare, as well as more than a week to get ready. She only had a week to write her presentation after she found out she was accepted to audition, and Waters had no assistance with her speech because she wanted to do it independently; her parents didn’t even know what she was speaking about.

“And you’re making a mask out of the things that you see, and pressing it over my face, and my hands, and my mind. And then I become whoever you want me to be,” said Maddie Waters in her speech. “…Because even as you are creating things out of me, I already have who I am. All of them.”