R4Creating students to appear at TEDxABQ

RIO RANCHO — Local youth with R4Creating, a Rio Rancho-based STEM development group, will participate in a TEDxABQ session Saturday.

The youth who are developing skills to prepare themselves for careers in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics will appear at the event, scheduled for 1-6:30 p.m. Sept. 27 at Electric Playhouse, 5201 Ouray Road NW, Albuquerque.

Shelly Gruenig, R4Creating founding executive director, said her students will ask audience members questions to "spark curiosity and innovation" following remarks from several scheduled speakers.

Those questions will be used to create a "Mad Libs report" of what the audience told them, Gruenig said, referencing the popular game using words to concoct funny stories.

Alex Adams, curator and lead organizer of TEDxABQ, welcomed R4Creating to the event, which she noted has been dormant since 2022.

"We're coming back as a whole new brand and strategy, and it really is about driving curiosity," Adams said. "Who's better at being curious than kids? R4Creating has been doing such amazing things that it just seemed like a no-brainer to loop them in."

She called the activity they'll be participating in an "icebreaker in disguise."

"They're going to be walking around and hopefully getting people to talk about what they do, what they're interested in, and problems they want to solve in ways that the kids can understand," Adams said. "The culmination of their engagement is going to be that Mad Libs that the kiddos are going to fill out — which is fun for them. It's really a way for us share back the kids' perspective of what they heard and a profile of the audience."