Theme: True North: A Rural Renaissance

What makes this conference unique is that it is here in Littleton, a small town with a very big presence, we have so much to offer! Littleton has had quite a resurgence in the last handful of years. The arts, sciences and music scenes are flourishing. The folks in this area are making things happen with their talent and creativity and diligence. It is so exciting to live in a community that is blooming so beautifully.

We feel the TEDx talks in Littleton this November will reflect the wonderful Renaissance that we are experiencing in our wonderful small town.

Littleton Opera Bouse
2 Union Street
Littleton, New Hampshire, 03561
United States

Courtney Vashaw

Educator

Born and raised in the North Country, Courtney Vashaw is a lifelong educator and advocate for youth, social justice, and positive community change. She completed her BAs in Sociology and English at the University of New Hampshire, where she specialized and did considerable research in education policy and law, specifically for poor and rural youth. After completing her M.Ed. at UNH, she returned home to teach high school English, Psychology, Sociology, and Community Activism for eight years in area public and private schools. Following the advice of trusted mentors, she got her Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies from Plymouth State University in Education Leadership with a focus on Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. She has spent the last eight years in administration, most recently as the principal of Profile School, where her student-centered approach to school leadership has yielded profound and unexpected positive results.

Douglas Arion

Prof. of Physics and Astronomy

Douglas Arion is the Donald D. Hedberg Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and Director of the Carthage Institute of Astronomy at Carthage College, as well as President of Galileoscope LLC. Arion previously held the position of Assistant Vice President and head of the Applied Physics and Engineering Division at Science Applications International Corporation. He was hired at Carthage to bring his experience in corporate management, product and service development, and business startup to the creation of the country’s first undergraduate technical entrepreneurship program, ScienceWorks. He also helped create the college’s research programs in physics and astronomy, oversaw the building of the Griffin Observatory, and engages students in observational astronomy and instrumentation development projects.

Geoffrey Sewake

Community & Economic Development Field Specialist

As a millennial, married, rural transplant, new parent and first-time homeowner he, and many others, are defying the media’s rather obtuse millennial profile. For millennials, this region has countless assets that make it a very attractive place to live—from farm-to-table, to microbrews, to good schools, to quite simply the dirt between our toes and the trees above our shoulders. Geoff lives in Peacham VT.

Jack McEnany

Author

Jack McEnany is a former Washington reporter and editor, the author of two books; Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun (Random House/Villard) and Brush Cat: On Trees, the Wood Economy, and the Most Dangerous Job in America, (St. Martin’s Press), cited by Mother Jones magazine as “The Best of 2009.” His work has appeared in the The Nation, Men’s Journal, The Humanist, “NBC Online” and many others. He is a graduate of St. Anselm College and The Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Franconia, New Hampshire with his wife and children

Joe Klementovich

Freelance photography. Engineer. Avalanche forecaster.

Joe will be speaking about the evolution of his freelance photography career in the White Mountains, from engineer, to avalanche forecaster to freelance photographer for the NY Times. He’ll talk about how to evolve as a creative individual away from the epicenters of commerce and business. He is from North Conway, NH.

Josh Lawton

Educator

Josh is the co-founder of The Batey Foundation and teaches high school social studies at Profile School in Bethlehem NH. From a young age, he has been fascinated by the human condition. Josh focused his collegiate studies on the enlightenment thinkers and changing ideas of equality, political independence, and personal freedom. Over the years Josh’s interested evolved into how existing economic, political and social structures affect the human condition, specifically in the world’s poorest regions. Josh has worked with high school and college students, teaching courses specifically focused around Latin America development, as well as leading service trips to work in the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. His experience in these communities has affirmed his commitment to sustainable development in the world’s poorest regions and the need for a better understanding of the issues on a global scale. He lives in Sugar Hill with his wife and two children.

Katherine Ferrier

Curator. Poet. Dancer.

Katherine Ferrier is poet, dancer, maker, curator and community activist based in Bethlehem, NH. Her work springs from the intersections of text, movement, material and the collective body. She is the Gallery Coordinator at WREN and runs a residency program at the Little River Studio for movers, writers and fiber artists. Devoted to building art-centered community, she is the founding director of Cultivate, a festival of contemporary dance and the Bethlehem ArtWalk. She is a juried member of the New Hampshire State Council Artist Roster, and offers residencies and experiential workshops in dance, quilt-making, and writing regionally and throughout the US and abroad.

Kevin Reagey

Pastor/Educator

Kevin Hopewell Reagey is a father of four amazing boys, and is married to the most beautiful woman in the world. He has over 10 years of teaching experience, from elementary to high school levels, from inner city to the rural communities, international and at home. Kevin has also been a missionary on the Hopi Indian Reservation, pastor of several churches, and is a published author. He just recently moved to Littleton to serve on the leadership team at Elevate Church. Kevin is super excited about his family’s future here in Littleton, and blessed to part of a community known as the ‘Be Glad’ town.

Matthew Toms

Founder of The Batey Foundation

Matthew began studying, working, and living in Latin America in 1996. He first saw poverty with his own eyes in early experiences in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, and was shocked, saddened, and overwhelmed by what he witnessed. Through his work in Latin America he came to have a better understanding of the human rights abuses and the oppression that occur inherently with these types of poverty, as well as the complexities of development and relief work and the difficulties in changing this reality. Over time, his work became focused predominantly around exposing high school, college, and graduate students to the abysmal living conditions, harsh realities, and severe abuses of human rights that occur on the bateys of the Dominican Republic and ultimately founded The Batey Foundation to help address these challenges. Matthew lives in Bethlehem, NH with his wife and 2 children.

Suzanne Moberly

Educator

Dr. Suzanne Moberly, EdD is a Littleton native whose professional career encompasses being a teacher and director of a pre-school, to being the director of a domestic and sexual violence crisis center and founder of a domestic violence shelter for women and children, to being a high school English teacher, to teaching writing and literature to undergraduates, to now serving as the Director of the Education and Training Partnership at Granite State College, which is the New Hampshire Division of Children, Youth and Families training program for foster and adoptive parents, as well as teaching Theories of Learning and Cognitive Development to graduate students at Plymouth State University. Dr. Moberly conducted research for her doctoral dissertation over a two year period in Scotland, Quebec,and New Hampshire studying intentional permaculture communities to determine how an individual's sense of his/herself within a community influence one's overall sense of well-being.

Tim O'Neil

Owner of O'Neil Racing School

Tim O’Neil is the owner of O’ Neil racing school in Dalton, NH. After doing driver trainings for over 20 years, there are many things North Country families do that if the rest of the US could implement, would save lives. He has won 5 Rally championships and trained thousands of military/government clients on driving wellness. Being born and raised in the North Country has given him a driving background that he has boiled down into key points to help young drivers. He has devoted his retirement to saving lives one driver at a time.