Theme: The Nature of X

2015 is the second annual event where Youth Voice contributes to and influences the future of Ann Arbor. The intention is that each year high school aged students will share their ideas, vision and innovation with the wider community. Organizers, Speakers, Tech Crew and all volunteers are local high school students.

Skyline High School
2552 N Maple Road
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48103
United States

TEDxYouth@AnnArbor

Recap of the 2016 TEDxYouth@AnnArbor event!

Anurima Kumar

Anurima Kumar is a junior at Community High School. Along with playing music and being a part of a genetics research volunteer group, she has been performing an Indian classical dance form called Bharatanatyam for over 10 years; she is passionate about how culture is a good thing for the world and has written about it as a journalist as part of her school newspaper. Instead of studying, she’s probably watching episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender for the thousandth time.

Brett Boehamn

Brett Boehman is a senior at Pioneer High School. He is on the Student Council and is the Class of 2015 President, competes with Pioneer in Ethics Bowl, and is a member of the peer counseling group PPI. Outside of school, Brett spends his time running, daydreaming, and reading philosophy. Next year he will be attending the University of Michigan and intends to study sociology and philosophy.

Matt Epperson

Brendan & Matt have a love for playing music. When they get together to play they create something inspiring and unique.

Alfred Manganga

Alfred Maganga is an international exchange student sponsored by the YES-program from Tanzania in East Africa, and is a senior at Pioneer High School. He is a young man totally immersed in the passion to pursue the African dream and making it real. He is interested in international affairs and engineering, and is planning to have it as a major in college. As an active student, he is a member of the Pioneer track and field varsity team, enjoys being in the Pioneer Choirs, and listens to music whenever he can.

Ali Shahin

Ali Shahin is a senior at Skyline High School and a first-year participant in TEDxYouth@AnnArbor. An outspoken activist, Ali is particularly invested in combating gender inequality. He is a peer educator with the SafeHouse Center, where he teaches high schoolers about consent and healthy relationships. Next year he will be studying urbanism and gender studies at Wayne State University. When he's not on the front lines of activism, he can found writing poetry, practicing guitar, and participating in Neutral Zone programs.

Brendan Lemkin

Brendan & Matt have a love for playing music. When they get together to play they create something inspiring and unique.

Celeste Adams

Celeste Adams is a senior at Greenhills School and is a first-year participant in TEDxYouth@AnnArbor. Since being bound to a wheelchair at age seven, she has been particularly active in disability rights, along with gender equality, and efforts to stop elephant poaching throughout Africa. Before going straight to college, Celeste plans to take a gap year in which she hopes to travel, work on her portfolio, and collaborate with artists in many different fields. In her free time, Celeste can be found drawing and reading with her cat, attending reviews at the Taubman School of Architecture, or downtown enjoying a coffee in the sun with friends.

Chloe Fraleigh

Chloe Fraleigh is a junior at Skyline High School. She can be found wandering outside on her bike, listening to music, and hanging out with friends. Chloe is in her second year of the Communications, Media, and Public Policy magnet at Skyline, and also tutors her peers in the Skyline Writing Center. She is very excited to be speaking at her first TEDx experience.

Clara Kaul

Clara Kaul is a student in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Colette Stearns

Colette Stearns is a senior at Huron High School who is a first-year participant in TEDxYouth@AnnArbor. She is excited to be given the chance to raise awareness for depression as she shares her experience. She keeps busy by babysitting regularly, hanging out with friends, and participating in Huron's poetry club. Colette will be attending The University of Toledo in the fall.

Eleana Tworek

Eleana Tworek is a junior at Skyline High School. She volunteers at the SafeHouse Center in Ann Arbor as a peer educator working to teach teens about consent and the importance of healthy relationships. When she's not spreading her knowledge to other Ann Arbor teens, you can find Eleana on the soccer field or taking portraits with her cameras; she loves art, especially photography. This year, she is excited to make her debut at TEDxYouth@AnnArbor and hopes to spark a conversation on her topic as the local community listens to her speak.

Frances MacKercher

Frances MacKercher is a junior at Community High School. She keeps busy playing tennis, writing for the school newspaper, and serving as a board member on the Board of Directors at the Neutral Zone. Her passion for reproductive justice and sex education was discovered this year when she joined Planned Parenthood as a Peer Educator.

Jonathon Muir-Cotton

Jonathon S. Muir-Cotton is a 17-year old senior graduating from Ann Arbor Skyline High School. He is a multi-award winning musician-athlete, who plays basketball in addition to pursuing greatness on the double bass and the 4, 5, and 6-string bass guitar. Jonathon plays a variety of music crossing many genres, including, but not limited to, Classical, Funk, Neo-Soul, R & B, Hip-Hop, Gospel, and Jazz. Jonathon has been blessed with great opportunities to perform in Detroit, the greater Detroit Metropolitan area, the Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area, as well as other venues outside of the state of Michigan. After participating in extensive music education programs and ensembles in middle and high school, Jonathon will begin his studies to pursue his Bachelors in Jazz Studies this fall. Jonathon hopes to tour the world, become a music educator, teach Jazz at the collegiate level and be an inspiration and give back to the next generation of students and aspiring musicians.

Katy Pasquariello

Katy Pasquariello is a freshman at Community High School. She occupies her time playing saxophone, writing short stories, and making awful jokes. She is very passionate about educating others on child trauma and helping people who have gone through it. She is a part of the CHS Jazz program and went with the program to Tennessee to perform with Victor Wooten. When she is not playing saxophone or helping others, you can find her cuddling her dog Bo and watching Chopped. This is her first time doing a TEDx talk.

Lauren Albert

Lauren Albert is a sophomore at Pioneer. She's the vice president of DECA, a competition that prepares students for careers in business. During her freshman year, she was the youngest individual from Pioneer to qualify for internationals. She loves swimming with the rest of the varsity team, helping out at student council, and being the Vice President of World Hunger Project.

Mishaal Yazdani

Mishaal Yazdani is a freshman at Skyline High School. She enjoys Skyping every Saturday morning with the girls at the Grace Care Center, an orphanage based in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and hopes to visit them in the near future. She is interested in pursuing a career in the health and medical field so she can help many individuals and touch their lives in different ways.

Morgan Chrisman

Morgan Chrisman is a junior at Pioneer High School who is excited to be sharing her ideas about the ways people interact with the internet. Ever since she was little, she has spent her free time heavily involved in musical theatre, reading (especially Harry Potter!), and traveling with her family. In college, she hopes to study engineering. This is her first TEDx experience.

Mustafa Syed

Mustafa Syed is a sophomore at Skyline High School. Having moved around a lot, he’s seen many different perspectives. Being a muslim, he has experienced the increasingly global islamophobia. He wishes to change people’s views on this matter.

Nikita Bazaj

Nikita Bazaj is a junior at Greenhills School. She has worked with Grace Care Orphanage in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka since her freshman year and was fortunate enough to visit the orphanage last summer. Nikita has Skyped with the girls on a weekly basis to help improve their English and develop a personal connection. This summer, Nikita plans to revisit the orphanage with a better understanding on how to further help the girls. Apart for her work at the orphanage, Nikita is an active participant on her school's Forensics team and has qualified for the state competition each year in high school. If not on the tennis courts, you can often find Nikita singing in the theater or practicing for singing competitions across the state. Nikita hopes to become a lawyer in order to continue helping individuals like the girls at Grace in the future.

Sam Talsma

Sam Talsma is wrapping up his sophomore year at Greenhills High School. When not studying Big History, he spends time playing on the Greenhills tennis and baseball teams, as well as serving on his school’s student government. Outside of school, he is a member of the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation’s Youth Council. Although he loves living in Ann Arbor, he cherishes his summers spent on the beach in Charlevoix, where he sails, plays the guitar, and continues to hone his skills as a master skipper of stones.

Sophia Simon

Sophia Simon is a junior at Community High School who works at Planned Parenthood as a Peer Educator. Her goal is to promote positive, medically accurate information about sexuality in her community. She is very excited to collaborate with TEDx and participate in introducing alternative and more effective ways of approaching social culture around sex and sexuality. Sophia also loves traveling with her family and spending time outdoors.

TEDxYouth@AnnArbor Organizers

Meet our curator, speakers, design, hospitality, tech, public relations and audience committees members.

Zyrah Ashraf

Zyrah Ashraf is a junior at Washtenaw International High School. Last year, she was awarded the regional champion for poetry interpretation, and took top ten in the state competition. This year, she competed in the Muslim Interscholastic Tournament and had taken first in spoken word and second in improvisation, qualifying her for the national tournament at Houston, Texas. She is also a member of Model United Nations, and has recently become president of her school's Junior State of America chapter. Zyrah is involved in many speech and debate teams in efforts to voice out her opinions. She loves to make a difference, and she hopes to study international relations in the near future to work as an international lawyer.