Preparing for the future requires an understanding of ideas and opportunities emerging now. A single discovery, a novel approach to a challenge can have profound impacts across multiple disciplines. Our ability to harness these opportunities, and to overcome barriers in sharing them with the world will be essential to our advancement as a society. Our program will explore “what’s next” and provide strategies for embracing – or altering – the trends that will shape our lives in the next ten years and beyond.

301 E Montgomery Avenue
Ardmore, Pennsylvania, 19003
United States

Avi Loren Fox

Avi is the dreamer and entrepreneur behind Wild Mantle, an emerging brand of hooded scarves that stand for empowerment, sustainability and adventure. Avi attended Lower Merion High School and went on to graduate Magna Cum Laude from Temple University with a BA in Environmental Studies. She is a Udall Scholar, StartingBloc Fellow and an enthusiastic advocate of manifesting one's dreams.

Colton Jones

Colton Jones is a Lower Merion High School alumnus and a 2015 graduate of Syracuse University, where he received a BS in Psychology with a minor in Food Studies. During his senior year of college, Colton began the journey of full embracing his being and noticing what he could offer to others. Colton was one of the lead organizers of The General Body, a coalition of student organizations and activists that staged an 18-day sit-in in the administration offices of Syracuse University. The coalition convened individuals fighting different injustices.

Daniel Imaizumi

Daniel Imaizumi has taught physics and math for fifteen years in a wide range of schools, from West Africa and Brazil to Philadelphia and the Main Line. Mr. Imaizumi is the recipient of a National Council of Teachers of Mathematics grant, under which he designed a cognitive-based software for struggling math students. He is passionate about and actively engaged in meaningful school reform, and he currently serves on the Lower Merion School District Steering Committee.

Derrick Gay

Derrick Gay is an educator, linguist, musician and nationally-renown consultant, with 18 years working in schools as a teacher and senior administrator. Currently, Mr. Gay serves as a resource to schools and other organizations on issues of cultural competency, global perspective, diversity and inclusion. Mr. Gay is a proud graduate of Oberlin College, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Columbia University. He is currently pursuing a doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania.

Divya Arya

Divya Arya is a senior at Lower Merion High School. She is the founder of the Intercultural Youth Council, a student-run organization that facilitates dialogue in the Philadelphia community. She was interviewed on NPR's "Voices in the Family" and won the Princeton Prize in Race Relations for her work. She will be attending Harvard University in the fall of 2015.

Joseph Pedano

Joseph Pedano is the Vice President of Data Engineering for Evolve IP. He is responsible for the overall data architecture for customer and internal networks, as well as the efficient operation and performance management of those networks. Mr. Pedano most recently served as the Senior Manager of Data Platform Engineering for ATX Communications, Inc. He was the engineering creator behind ATX's FrontLine suite of Managed Services Products. FrontLine was honored as Communications Solutions Magazine's Product of the Year in 2005.

Julie McWilliams

Julie McWilliams is a fourth year PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, pursuing a joint-degree in education and cultural anthropology. Her research lies in areas of urban education reform, race and immigration. She is studying the effects of education reform in Philadelphia on the academic transitions or resettled refugee populations. Her work has been in the "Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies and Workplace: The Journal for Academic Labor."