Speakers
Sarah Francis Adair: Sarah Francis Adair is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. A singer and guitarist, Sarah Francis understands that music can have a profound impact on someone’s life, but lately, she’s been thinking about how music, and music therapy in particular, can actually help people transform their lives.
Abraham Askenazi: Abraham Askenazi is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. Like many Americans, Abraham started to figure out just how unhealthy common foods really are, and in particular, just how much sugar and artificial sugar goes into them.
Emily Bebenek: Emily Bebenek is an eighth-grade student at MBJH. This is her second year as a TED-Ed Club member. She spoke at last year’s TEDxYouth@MBJH on the prevalence and atrocities of canine abuse. This year, she used her interest in psychology to explore the concept of social acceptance.
George Davis: George Davis is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. His entire life, George has loved baseball and math. It wasn’t until a few years ago he realized just how related the two are.
Emily Franklin: Emily Franklin is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. One day while in art class, she overheard some startling misconceptions about gender equality and decided to address the issue by informing others about the truth.
Sean Fredella: Sean Fredella is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. In the last year, Sean has worked tirelessly on his organization, Pedia-Trick or Treat, to raise awareness about the fact that only 4% of money donated to cancer research is allocated to childhood cancer research.
Robert Goolsby: Robert Goolsby is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. This is his second year as a TED-Ed Club member. He spoke at last year’s TEDxYouth@MBJH about the benefits of language immersion. This year, he chose to take a very different direction, and research was replaced by intense self-reflection.
Brett Lewis: Brett Lewis is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. Having worked as a peer helper for five years, Brett understands the benefits of peer helper programs. However, after some research, Brett realized just how few programs there actually were for students to interact with students their own age in the special education department.
Izzy Narducci: Izzy Narducci is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. After attending a gun show a few years back, she left with her jaw dropped at just how easy it was to purchase guns. In conjunction with her work as a youth legislator, Izzy has researched extensively about the gun show loophole.
Chip Porter: Chip Porter is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. This is his second year as a TED-Ed Club member. He spoke at last year’s TEDxYouth@MBJH and TEDxYouth@CBES about fear and how to overcome it. This year, he decided to talk about something that, frankly, ticks him off - the way we, as teachers, grade students in school.
Christopher Thagard: Christopher Thagard is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. Many of Christopher's peers consider him to be a stand up guy. He is loyal, honest, and dedicated. One might argue that Christopher cares a great deal about honor. Connecting his deep reverence for honor and his distaste for lengthy school rules, Christopher decided to look into honor codes in schools.
Charles Tyndal: Charles Tyndal is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. After seeing an entire recycling bin full of wasted paper, Charles started thinking about the amount of money spent on paper, and more importantly, the environmental footprint of wasted paper.
Beth Wilder: Beth Wilder is passionate about literacy. She has been involved in literacy as an advocate and provider for over 15 years and has served as director of the Literacy Council of Central Alabama since 2010. Beth understands that literacy is the foundation on which all life skills are built and dreams of someday living in a world where everyone can read. Her TEDx talk will introduce an idea that is simple in nature, but revolutionary in its ability to transform our educational system and eradicate illiteracy.
Genevieve Wilson: Genevieve Wilson is an eighth-grade student at MBJH. After a trip to New York on New Year’s Eve, Genevieve starting thinking about the benefits of interacting with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures, and how that may benefit our understanding of global compassion.
Performers
Riverbend: A group of talented ninth and tenth-grade musicians, Riverbend is a local Mountain Brook favorite. Recently, they released their first EP, “Colors.”
Emma Sanders: Emma Sanders is an 8th grade student at MBJH. She has been dancing for ten years. She started competitive dance at the age of eight. Emma attends Birmingham Dance Theatre and dances around nine hours a week. Her teachers are Kim Wolfe, McCall Scofield, Angela Walker, and Allison Barnes. The solo, “Unsteady,” she is performing was choreographed by McCall Scofield.
Emcees
Claire Kimberlin: Claire Kimberlin is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. She spoke at last year’s TEDxYouth@MBJH about food deserts around Birmingham.
Grace Turner: Grace Turner is a ninth-grade student at MBJH. Her interests include basketball, golf and Peer Helpers.
Featured Artist
Leila Radney: Leila Radney is an eighth-grade student at MBJH. Whenever you see Leila walking in the hallway, she has a sketch book under her arm and pencil lead smeared on her hands. Every time she finishes her classwork, she immediately picks up her sketchbook and dives into the universe of characters she is designing.
