TEDxYouthISAS

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Middle School students from The Post Oak School explain their idea for an innovative Manager Program.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Ruchit Nagar is a senior at the Kinkaid School. Ever since his freshmen year, he has had a passion for both debate and science research. Currently, as a senior researcher and Vice President of the Debate Club, Ruchit is especially interested in how scientific issues shape public policy. Today Ruchit will be giving a talk on the future of nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and space research. He explains his talk as follows: "I think much of mainstream discussion on important issues, such as that of the nuclear weapons debate, is limited. It is limited by political agendas and a demand for realism. However, if our generation and our species is to continue evolving, we must engage in transcendental thinking.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Meryl Gibbs, 17, is a junior attending St. John's School. She plays Varsity and Club Volleyball and is on the Varsity Track and Field team. Meryl participates in Maverick “Mav” TV, the Microfinance Club and she founded the Independent Music and Cinema Club at St. John's. She enjoys writing and was awarded a National Scholastic Writing Award and several Regional Writing Awards. Meryl is also a working model and actress, having appeared in independent films, TV commercials, print ads and on billboards, and on stage.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Judson Dunaway-Barlow is a freshman at the Kinkaid School. He has always loved to debate and especially loves being the devil's advocate and arguing against common perceptions or beliefs.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Hugh Zabriskie is in 11th grade at EHS. A member of the EHS Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Praise Band, Hugh has been playing the piano for 6 years. Recently Hugh was accepted into the TPSMEA All-State and ATSSB All-State Jazz Bands. Along with classical, jazz, rock, and musical theatre, Hugh has begun to compose his own musical compositions, including the samba piece you will hear today. Along with music, Hugh also enjoys swimming and Frisbee. Academically, he is interested in economics, political philosophy, or theology.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Elber Reyes recently began training in mixed martial arts and was a bit intimidated as the only sixteen-year-old in a room full of adults. He enjoyed training in Jiu-Jitsu for six months prior to this experience. But he says, “I'm a student first and foremost.” He currently attends The Chinquapin School as a senior. He believes that being a part of a close community such as the one at Elite MMA is something that has helped him perform better academically.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Chassidy Smith, a senior at The Chinquapin School, loves to dance and has been seriously involved with dance in one way or another since her freshman year of high school. She has never really had a formal lesson, but says, "That doesn't and never will stop me from doing what I love." She explains her talk this way: "I want to ignite the same passion I have for dance in my peers, in whatever it is that they are good at. It doesn't have to be dancing. I want to provide encouragement and inspiration through my creative outlet for them to pursue one of their own."

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Caroline Spears is in 10th grade at St John's. She loves learning about current events and the environment, and is very interested in the ways humans relate to and change their surroundings. The recent Gulf Oil Spill made her think about America's dependence on fossil fuels, and how that might affect the everyday lives of people living all over the world. The topic of her speech today will be Oil and Security: how our oil addiction affects homeland security, the Middle East, and education.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Ann Meek is a senior at Episcopal High School and has a passion for writing. She is planning to major in Computer Engineering and minor in creative writing in college. She has been fortunate to be chosen as a finalist in essay writing and poetry contests and in contests involving women in engineering. Ann enjoys learning and tries to take advantage of all the opportunities provided to her each day. She believes that a positive attitude with the willingness to explore and grow can enable her to make a difference each day. One of her goals is to spread the idea that one can choose to be happy. By choosing happiness we can all create a world with better relationships, more productivity, and greater fulfillment.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School junior Hersh Trivedi talks about his research in epigenetics. Hersh is interested in pursuing a medical career. He spent part of this summer interning at Johns Hopkins.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Greenhill freshman Matthew Stock speaks about a personal journey. Matthew is a freshman at Greenhill School. He enjoys playing baseball and volleyball. Music is his obsession- playing piano for 7 years and starting to play guitar. When not at school, he enjoys working on the Science Olympiad and spending time with his family.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Middle School students from The Post Oak School explain their idea for an innovative Manager Program.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Ruchit Nagar is a senior at the Kinkaid School. Ever since his freshmen year, he has had a passion for both debate and science research. Currently, as a senior researcher and Vice President of the Debate Club, Ruchit is especially interested in how scientific issues shape public policy. Today Ruchit will be giving a talk on the future of nuclear weapons, nuclear energy, and space research. He explains his talk as follows: "I think much of mainstream discussion on important issues, such as that of the nuclear weapons debate, is limited. It is limited by political agendas and a demand for realism. However, if our generation and our species is to continue evolving, we must engage in transcendental thinking.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Meryl Gibbs, 17, is a junior attending St. John’s School. She plays Varsity and Club Volleyball and is on the Varsity Track and Field team. Meryl participates in Maverick “Mav” TV, the Microfinance Club and she founded the Independent Music and Cinema Club at St. John’s. She enjoys writing and was awarded a National Scholastic Writing Award and several Regional Writing Awards. Meryl is also a working model and actress, having appeared in independent films, TV commercials, print ads and on billboards, and on stage.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Judson Dunaway-Barlow is a freshman at the Kinkaid School. He has always loved to debate and especially loves being the devil's advocate and arguing against common perceptions or beliefs.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Hugh Zabriskie is in 11th grade at EHS. A member of the EHS Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Praise Band, Hugh has been playing the piano for 6 years. Recently Hugh was accepted into the TPSMEA All-State and ATSSB All-State Jazz Bands. Along with classical, jazz, rock, and musical theatre, Hugh has begun to compose his own musical compositions, including the samba piece you will hear today. Along with music, Hugh also enjoys swimming and Frisbee. Academically, he is interested in economics, political philosophy, or theology.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Elber Reyes recently began training in mixed martial arts and was a bit intimidated as the only sixteen-year-old in a room full of adults. He enjoyed training in Jiu-Jitsu for six months prior to this experience. But he says, “I’m a student first and foremost.” He currently attends The Chinquapin School as a senior. He believes that being a part of a close community such as the one at Elite MMA is something that has helped him perform better academically.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Chassidy Smith, a senior at The Chinquapin School, loves to dance and has been seriously involved with dance in one way or another since her freshman year of high school. She has never really had a formal lesson, but says, "That doesn't and never will stop me from doing what I love." She explains her talk this way: "I want to ignite the same passion I have for dance in my peers, in whatever it is that they are good at. It doesn't have to be dancing. I want to provide encouragement and inspiration through my creative outlet for them to pursue one of their own."

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Caroline Spears is in 10th grade at St John's. She loves learning about current events and the environment, and is very interested in the ways humans relate to and change their surroundings. The recent Gulf Oil Spill made her think about America's dependence on fossil fuels, and how that might affect the everyday lives of people living all over the world. The topic of her speech today will be Oil and Security: how our oil addiction affects homeland security, the Middle East, and education.

TEDxYouth@St.Johns - Ann Meek is a senior at Episcopal High School and has a passion for writing. She is planning to major in Computer Engineering and minor in creative writing in college. She has been fortunate to be chosen as a finalist in essay writing and poetry contests and in contests involving women in engineering. Ann enjoys learning and tries to take advantage of all the opportunities provided to her each day. She believes that a positive attitude with the willingness to explore and grow can enable her to make a difference each day. One of her goals is to spread the idea that one can choose to be happy. By choosing happiness we can all create a world with better relationships, more productivity, and greater fulfillment.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School junior Hersh Trivedi talks about his research in epigenetics. Hersh is interested in pursuing a medical career. He spent part of this summer interning at Johns Hopkins.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Greenhill freshman Matthew Stock speaks about a personal journey. Matthew is a freshman at Greenhill School. He enjoys playing baseball and volleyball. Music is his obsession- playing piano for 7 years and starting to play guitar. When not at school, he enjoys working on the Science Olympiad and spending time with his family.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - This presentation will be talking about sustainability on our campus. This project came about because we wanted to share with other schools some of the successful sustainably projects our school community has undertaken in the past several years. We are hoping that sharing these efforts will help other students be empowered to make positive change in their schools. As Gandhi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Some of the projects we will be presenting are: The Japanese Xeric Garden, The 1 MW Solar Array, Food Waste Composting, The Vegetable & Fruit Garden, The Plant Sale, The Farmers Market, and The Bio Diversity Garden.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy -Rabin Patmanathan is representing Malaysia at UWC-USA. Born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rabin loves a friendly debate, reading historical reports, and playing ultimate Frisbee. His life's motto is: "Never take life too seriously. Nobody ever gets out alive anyway". Rabin wants to show the world that life is about the little things, and how they affect us all – whatever that means. Iris van der Heijden, 18 is representing the Netherlands in UWC-USA. She was born in Belgium, moved to Singapore and Thailand before living in the Netherlands for nine years. Iris loves physical activity; to pay tennis and hockey, and she is also very much involved in the Wilderness program at UWC. Her life's motto is: "Dare to take risks" which comes from her dad. Iris wants to show the world a different way of living - coexistence with all the beautiful cultures and people we have on this planet.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - This presentation will be talking about sustainability on our campus. This project came about because we wanted to share with other schools some of the successful sustainably projects our school community has undertaken in the past several years. We are hoping that sharing these efforts will help other students be empowered to make positive change in their schools. As Gandhi once said "Be the change you wish to see in the world". Some of the projects we will be presenting are: The Japanese Xeric Garden, The 1 MW Solar Array, Food Waste Composting, The Vegetable & Fruit Garden, The Plant Sale, The Farmers Market, and The Bio Diversity Garden.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy -Rabin Patmanathan is representing Malaysia at UWC-USA. Born and bred in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Rabin loves a friendly debate, reading historical reports, and playing ultimate Frisbee. His life’s motto is: "Never take life too seriously. Nobody ever gets out alive anyway". Rabin wants to show the world that life is about the little things, and how they affect us all – whatever that means. Iris van der Heijden, 18 is representing the Netherlands in UWC-USA. She was born in Belgium, moved to Singapore and Thailand before living in the Netherlands for nine years. Iris loves physical activity; to pay tennis and hockey, and she is also very much involved in the Wilderness program at UWC. Her life’s motto is: "Dare to take risks" which comes from her dad. Iris wants to show the world a different way of living - coexistence with all the beautiful cultures and people we have on this planet.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - 22 high school juniors and seniors in Chuck Buxbaum's environmental science course at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque used ants as a model organism to learn about ecology.  They designed field studies on ants in which they tested hypotheses regarding ant biodiversity, interspecies competition, territoriality, and ants' role in the food web.   They researched scientific work on ants by leading ant biologists such as E.O. Wilson, Deborah Gordon, Melanie Moses, and Bert Hölldobler.  The students have documented their work on video, which has been combined with facts about their different research projects to create a presentation for the November 20 TEDxYouth Conference in Albuquerque.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - 22 high school juniors and seniors in Chuck Buxbaum's environmental science course at Sandia Preparatory School in Albuquerque used ants as a model organism to learn about ecology.  They designed field studies on ants in which they tested hypotheses regarding ant biodiversity, interspecies competition, territoriality, and ants' role in the food web.   They researched scientific work on ants by leading ant biologists such as E.O. Wilson, Deborah Gordon, Melanie Moses, and Bert Hölldobler.  The students have documented their work on video, which has been combined with facts about their different research projects to create a presentation for the November 20 TEDxYouth Conference in Albuquerque.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School junior Daniella Willis inspires us with some spoken word poetry. Daniella is a junior at The Oakridge School. She has been performing her poetry for several years including at TEDxKids @SMU to 350 middle school students.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley students Stephanie Culwell and Danna Bismar talk about the construction of their community garden. Danna and Stephanie are seniors at Trinity Valley School. They both hold leadership positions in school clubs and participate in community service and varsity sports.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley students Katarina Minich and Suanny Vizcaino share their experiences with project based learning. Katarina (junior) and Suanny (senior) are both honor students at Trinity Valley School and are both very interested in the fine arts. Katarina has a passion for drawing and Suanny is a talented singer and actor.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley student Catherine Ann Reynolds talks about her passion of building bridges between students and our US Military. Catherine aspires to help the community support our troops to allow us to learn what being grateful means, and has dedicated her time to building bridges between students and our true heroes, our United States military.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School 8th grader Caroline Boyd-Rogers inspires us to not coast but to achieve. Caroline is an eighth grade student at The Oakridge School. Caroline is pursuing her passions for taekwondo, gymnastics and creative writing.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School 8th grader Braden Bell asks why do we leave technology out of our classrooms. Braden is an eighth grader at The Oakridge School. Braden loves math and enjoys television when he has free time. Braden's talk actually had a direct influenced on the policy at Oakridge.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley student Azania Umoja talks about her passion for dance. Azania is a senior at Trinity Valley School. Her diverse interests include sports, philosophy, languages and the fine arts.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - Nikita Bogdanov is a junior at Albuquerque Academy. His interest in science and technology has been evident throughout his childhood, but really took off during his eighth grade year when he was inspired by his teacher as well as by his participation in the National Science Olympiad Competition with his school. Since then, he has actively engaged himself in what the Albuquerque Academy science department has to offer.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - Geelon So is a sophomore at Albuquerque Academy. He started to play piano when he was 4 years old and has been playing ever since. With the support of his piano teacher who tirelessly work to perfect technique, tonality and musicality and his parents who drive him all over town, he has grown to appreciate music greatly in addition to performing and competing regularly.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - We constructed a No Dig Garden, an above ground garden inside hay bales, with a cold frame on top, in order to extend the growing season. We planted spinach, lettuce, and chard, in September, which will be harvested and served at the conference. We want to show people how easy it is to have a garden, regardless of where they might live. The No Dig Garden is simple to construct and takes a small amount of space. It can even be done in a parking lot! Eating from a No Dig Garden is environmentally friendly and healthier for you, because you don't need to use chemicals, it requires little water, and the food is fresher than what you might buy in a grocery store.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - Hannah Freedman and Jane Huber are First Year Students at United World College USA, while Gabe Trujillo is finishing his Second Year. They have worked with our faculty advisors for the Sustainability CAS to propose, implement and maintain a number of sustainability projects on campus this year.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - The HIV/AIDS Peer Educators are a co-curricular program at United World College USA. This year 15 people from 15 different countries are participating in the program. They have presented their program at schools and conferences throughout New Mexico. Recently the UWC-USA HIV/AIDS Peer Educators were asked to present at the 15th Annual Conference on Advancing School Mental Health organized by the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They traveled to Albuquerque to showcase their HIV /AIDS awareness workshop to an audience of educators, health professionals and policy advocates. The Conference is the nation's premiere school mental health conference and offers numerous opportunities to network and learn more about best practice in school mental health. The theme for the conference was "School Mental Health and Promoting Positive School Culture."

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School junior Daniella Willis inspires us with some spoken word poetry. Daniella is a junior at The Oakridge School. She has been performing her poetry for several years including at TEDxKids @SMU to 350 middle school students.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley students Stephanie Culwell and Danna Bismar talk about the construction of their community garden. Danna and Stephanie are seniors at Trinity Valley School. They both hold leadership positions in school clubs and participate in community service and varsity sports.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley students Katarina Minich and Suanny Vizcaino share their experiences with project based learning. Katarina (junior) and Suanny (senior) are both honor students at Trinity Valley School and are both very interested in the fine arts. Katarina has a passion for drawing and Suanny is a talented singer and actor.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley student Catherine Ann Reynolds talks about her passion of building bridges between students and our US Military. Catherine aspires to help the community support our troops to allow us to learn what being grateful means, and has dedicated her time to building bridges between students and our true heroes, our United States military.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School 8th grader Caroline Boyd-Rogers inspires us to not coast but to achieve. Caroline is an eighth grade student at The Oakridge School. Caroline is pursuing her passions for taekwondo, gymnastics and creative writing.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - The Oakridge School 8th grader Braden Bell asks why do we leave technology out of our classrooms. Braden is an eighth grader at The Oakridge School. Braden loves math and enjoys television when he has free time. Braden's talk actually had a direct influenced on the policy at Oakridge.

TEDxYouth@Metroplex - Trinity Valley student Azania Umoja talks about her passion for dance. Azania is a senior at Trinity Valley School. Her diverse interests include sports, philosophy, languages and the fine arts.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - Nikita Bogdanov is a junior at Albuquerque Academy. His interest in science and technology has been evident throughout his childhood, but really took off during his eighth grade year when he was inspired by his teacher as well as by his participation in the National Science Olympiad Competition with his school. Since then, he has actively engaged himself in what the Albuquerque Academy science department has to offer.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - Geelon So is a sophomore at Albuquerque Academy. He started to play piano when he was 4 years old and has been playing ever since. With the support of his piano teacher who tirelessly work to perfect technique, tonality and musicality and his parents who drive him all over town, he has grown to appreciate music greatly in addition to performing and competing regularly.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - We constructed a No Dig Garden, an above ground garden inside hay bales, with a cold frame on top, in order to extend the growing season. We planted spinach, lettuce, and chard, in September, which will be harvested and served at the conference. We want to show people how easy it is to have a garden, regardless of where they might live. The No Dig Garden is simple to construct and takes a small amount of space. It can even be done in a parking lot! Eating from a No Dig Garden is environmentally friendly and healthier for you, because you don’t need to use chemicals, it requires little water, and the food is fresher than what you might buy in a grocery store.

TEDxYouth@ISASAlbuquerqueAcademy - Hannah Freedman and Jane Huber are First Year Students at United World College USA, while Gabe Trujillo is finishing his Second Year. They have worked with our faculty advisors for the Sustainability CAS to propose, implement and maintain a number of sustainability projects on campus this year.