Along with the rest of the sophomores in Honors English 10, sophomore Rachel Lynch strenuously and tediously prepared for her Ted Talk over the past two months. First assigned in February, Rachel finally presented her Ted Talk last week— and received instant positive feedback. Covering the contrast between inner and outer beauty, Rachel spoke with the purpose of informing her peers of how beautiful each of them is.

“I had been struggling with not feeling beautiful myself, and I figured other people were feeling the same way— just by the way society portrays beauty,” Rachel said. “So, I decided I should try to convince other people they are beautiful, and by doing this, I realized that I am just as beautiful as everyone else.”

Rachel argued her point by conducting a social experiment. She took pictures of various peers before and after she called them “beautiful” and compared the two pictures. Rachel found that a smile generously occupied the space of each person’s face after she complimented them, and Rachel concluded that none of the subjects knew or thought they were beautiful.

“Everyone has an equal amount of beauty,” Rachel said. “I approached thirteen different people, and I basically told them that they were beautiful. Most people replied with smiles, and [I realized what] the impact of calling someone beautiful [was].”

Within her Ted Talk, Rachel covered the definition of beauty, how she defines beauty, and what society defines beauty as. She also shared the results of the social experiment with the audience and aided them in concluding what she did from the adorable pictures she took.

“I ended with telling everyone that if your parents asked what you learned today, you could say, ‘Oh, I learned that I am beautiful,’ ” Rachel said. “I wanted them to know that they were beautiful, and I wasn’t just saying this as an assignment. I was telling them that they were beautiful because I truly believe they are beautiful.”

Rachel added repetition for effect within her presentation; she constantly told her audience that they were beautiful throughout it. She also stated that it did not matter how her audience appeared on the outside, what mattered was what was inside of them: even if society did not deem them as “beautiful.”

Rachel discovered that through preaching the importance of knowing that everyone is beautiful, she obtained meaningful information about herself and the environments and people in which she interacts with daily.

“I learned that beauty can be in so many different forms and [shown] in a variety of ways,” Rachel said. “It doesn’t have to be outside beauty, [what’s] more important is inner beauty.”

In order to enact and continue what she has gained through the experiment, Rachel has already begun walking with newly-found confidence and constantly reminding her peers of their attractive attributes— both inside and outside.

“[I am now] walking around with a confidence that I did not have had before,” Rachel said. “Like yeah, I am beautiful. It doesn’t matter what I look like; it doesn’t matter how I dress. I’m going to be beautiful no matter what and same with everyone else.”

Rachel is determined to reach a broader audience and inspire more people at “FHC Inspires.” She believes that her topic is pertinent enough to be considered to be one of the fifteen speakers at the event, and she’s been encouraged to spread her positive message to as many people as she can.

“I want to do ‘FHC Inspires’ because I was only able to impact like one hundred people’s lives [during my first presentation],” Rachel said. “I want to impact such a wide variety [of people] and get my message that everyone is beautiful spread more and more. Like word of mouth, maybe if some parents were able to come, and they heard me say, ‘You’re beautiful; everyone’s beautiful,’ maybe they could tell someone they’re beautiful. I just want the word to spread that everyone is beautiful.”