Audrey Lam
Audrey Lam is a 15 years old at San Marino High School. She's involved in the school dance program, dancing hip-hop. ballet, and also lyrical, and contemporary dance. She also has a passion for Speech and Debate winning an oratorical competition to become her middle commencement speaker despite growing up as a shy girl in her elementary years. In high school, she qualified for State in the Lincoln Douglas debate. A self-proclaimed TEDster by heart, Audrey loves helping others especially inspired by her Great Grandmother's passing. If she were to rule the world, she would show everyone the power of kindness and how it could impact everything in such a beautiful way.
Cassie DePecol
Cassie's life has always been filled with adventure: from homeschooling to living in rural Washington, CT to attending over 5 different colleges in different parts of the world. When she and her brother took off to travel to Europe, they parted ways and Cassie continued on with what would be two years of travel across four continents with only $2,000 in her bank account. She slept in train stations, lived off of bread, swept floors and hitch hiked her way through the Middle East, Africa, South America and Asia while pursuing Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality through internships. In fall 2013, Cassie survived naked in the Panamanian wilderness alongside three others to complete a 21 day challenge for Discovery Channels ‘Naked and Afraid’. In-spite of all these crazy adventures, it was still not enough to satisfy Cassie's wanderlust. Her dream since High School was to see every country on earth, and it wasn’t until her 25th birthday that she set out to do just that in Expedition 196.
Kirk Hum
Kirk Hum is a Senior at Mark Keppel High School. At school, he is involved in many extracurricular programs, such as Varsity Volleyball, where he plays the position of Libero. He is a board member of his school’s Future Business Leaders of America and California Scholarship Federation. He is also the Secretary of Finance of his school’s Associated Student Body. An active adventure-seeker, Kirk enjoys activities such as hiking and snowboarding. He is an Eagle Scout of Troop 329 based in Monterey Park, California. He will be marching with fellow Eagle Scouts and Gold Award Girl Scouts in the 2015 Rose Parade. In his free time, Kirk enjoys cooking If Kirk could rule the world, he would push back the starting times of high school so that teenagers like himself could get more sleep. Afterwards he would probably reward himself with a nap or two.
Nancy Herrera
Nancy Herrera is a 2009 SCA scholar and a senior in Scripps College majoring in Science, Technology and Society and minoring in Creative Writing. Her thesis focuses on how students appropriate iPads they use in the classroom. Her work has been published in several media outlets such as The Scripps Voice, LA Weekly, The Scripps College Journal and Cracked.com. She is active on campus as the president of Scripps Leaders in Education and as a member of the Latina organization Cafe Con Leche. In her free time, she loves to play the ocarina, master new videogames and run a science blog with Keyanay Colvin '15. Nancy hopes to pursue a Masters degree to become a special education teacher. Ultimately, she would like to run for public office and obtain a Ph.D to also teach at the post-secondary level.
Nathan Lam
Nathan Lam was born in a small suburb in Southern California. Although he is a native English speaker, he has an interesting family background that has been influential in his
identity and values. His parents are Vietnam War refugees, who received significant assistance from NGOs and other charity organization. That is why to Nathan, the value of volunteerism means so much. Through activities like Boy Scouts and school clubs, Nathan has participated and enjoyed hundreds of hours of community service and is thankful for the opportunity. Nathan is also an avid debater, enjoying debate not only for its intellectual stimulation, but for the skills it has taught him in expressing and advocating for what he believed. He has qualified to State and Nationals twice each, where each experience has reminded him of real life challenges we face today.
Paul Steinberg
Paul Steinberg is Professor of Political Science and Environmental Policy at Harvey Mudd College, where he directs The Social Rules Project. He is the author of three books: Who Rules the Earth? (Oxford University Press), Comparative Environmental Politics (MIT Press) and Environmental Leadership in Developing Countries (MIT Press), which won the International Studies Association’s Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for the best book in international environmental affairs. He has held academic posts at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University and at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins. He has also worked in applied positions with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Conservation International, The World Bank, RARE, Pesticide Action Network, and the US Peace Corps. He serves on the editorial board for the journal Global Environmental Politics.
Richard Kuo
Richard Kuo grew up convinced he was overweight, unintelligent, and a good-for-nothing child. He lived much of his early life with low self-esteem and little motivation towards succeeding in school and life. Today, Richard utilizes his story of overcoming negative self-talk and making bold life-changing decisions, such as quitting his 9-5 job to pursue his dreams, to empower thousands of students around the world to realize on their own that everything they need to succeed is inside of them; not outside of them.
Suzy Prudden
Suzy Prudden
Suzy Prudden, internationally acclaimed and prize winning speaker and seminar leader, author and TV/radio host and personality, has been inspiring audiences and groups since 1965. A New York Times Best Selling Author, fitness expert, hypnotherapist, success and accountability coach, radio and TV host. She has authored 14 books on physical fitness, weight loss, body/mind technology and mind power, 4 videos and dozens of DVD’s and CD’s.
Van Nyguen
Van Nguyen is a 17 year old writer that uses poetry to raise awareness about mental illness and social issues. If she ruled the world, education and mental health & sexual assault resources would be more accessible. There also wouldn't be a stigma that comes with seeking help and talking about these issues.