Theme: Change The World

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School
801 Glenwood Ave SE
Auditorium
Atlanta, Georgia, 30312
United States

Aidan Hornaday

Change Agent

Aidan, age 13, has been a harmonica jamming boy since he was little. One night he ended up with $80 in tips in his fedora while playing his vintage harp at a restaurant in Atlanta where he was playing because bored at a grownup dinner. That very night, he decided to give that to charity to fight parasites for children in Africa. He read an article about the plight and it was his heart to help buy pills to help stop the suffering. That was the start of AidanCares, with a focus is that giving should be part of children’s lives and parents should make that part of their family mission.

Angela Hurtado

President /Co-ounder, HOPE, Inc.

HoPe, Inc. was founded by German David Araya and Angela Ximena Hurtado, seeking to motivate, inspire and transform the lives of high school students. The mission of HoPe is to increase the graduation rate among Hispanic high school students through leadership, education, and community service. Beginning with 1 high school and 20 students in 2009, HoPe has grown exponentially in 5 years and impacts the lives of over 4,000 young Hispanic high school students and families every year. HoPe! Breathe it! Live it! Love it!

Asha, Caleb, and Ima Christian

Founders, Pinetart, Inc.

Asha, Caleb, and Ima are co-founders of Pinetart, Inc. a mobile application development company in Georgia. They started by learning to build and program the Lego Mindstorm Robots, Scratch, and App Inventor. Their first app, Five-0 Police Rating App, allows citizens to record and store data from every encounter with law enforcement. Rate and review your law enforcement to create a safer and friendlier community. Five-O lets users submit the details of any incident of police abuse and rate the specific officer. The app also has community boards for different counties so that users can communicate and plan responses to any difficulties with local police.

Christina Lee

President/Co-founder Leave A Trace Foundation

Christina is a Senior at Kennesaw Mountain High School and is the president and co-founder of the Leave A Trace Foundation. Leave A Trace is an international organization focused on providing sustainable clean drinking water to people around the globe. Since its official beginning in 2011, Leave A Trace has raised over $30k, providing 2,500+ people with long-term clean water solutions; led multiple teams of students to install water systems in elementary schools, soup kitchens, etc. throughout Peru; and rained teams working in the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala, Peru, Nigeria, and Liberia on pathogen testing and clean water system installation.

Elizabeth Lamar-Pinchback

Creator, The Tamborines Project

Elizabeth created the Tambourines Project to create a scholarship fund for child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention training, she wants her blog and the eBook to serve others in a few ways: encourage adults and equip people with the tools to become stewards of child sexual abuse prevention in their local community; show others what a CSA survivor looks like - a teenager who binges on K-Pop music and YouTube, a high school orchestra concertmaster, a black girl nerd, the girl next door, me; inspire hope. When she asked her mother what was it like for her when Elizabeth told her about my abuse, she said it was like a thousand tambourines ringing. That perfectly describes how it feels to break through the wall of isolation and silence, to look in the mirror and realize you are normal and that past trauma does not have to define you.

Holle Black

Founder, Centering Youth

Centering Youth is a yoga service initiative that brings Yoga and Mindfulness to young people in juvenile justice system, and to those who have been sexually exploited, abused or are homeless. Yoga and mindfulness training have proven effective in providing young people and adults with tools for gaining self-confidence, focusing their attention, and controlling their emotions and conduct, while engaging in a positive physical and mental activity. It is the goal of Centering Youth to give participants tools to help them function in their families, in schools and in their communities, so they can succeed in reaching their positive goals and avoid future contact with the criminal justice system.

Jackson Park Farm

Youth Organized Roof Top Garden

The Jackson Park Farm is on the roof of our host Maynard Holbrook Jackson High School. The Jack Park Farm club will share their efforts and their future journey to bring fresh food to their school, get to know the soil, and watch it grow into a legacy in honor of the late former Atlanta mayor Maynard Holbrook Jackson.

Kayla Evans

Biotechnology Researcher

Kayla is a senior at Douglas County High School and the 2014 Georgia BioGENEius finalist that competed in the international BioGenius Competition. Kayla's research project "TIP150: A Possible Microtubule-Actin Linker and Mediator of Breast Cancer Cell Migration" which examined cell movement that is an integral part in breast cancer cell migration. The results of Kayla's experiments have the potential to be applied to developing new cancer treatments and/or technologies. She has also received the UGA Department of Cellular Biology Award and the Walter C. McCrone Student Science Award. In addition to a lab coat, Kayla also wears track shoes as a member of the Varsity Track team.

Nicolas Badilla

Game Designer, STEMville

Nicolas is a home-schooled student that created his own STEM-themed virtual world, STEMville, where students can pick a character, play challenging games, and improve their STEM skills. Nicolas spends much of his free time captaining a Robotics team - the 100 Scholars Robotics Alliance - with the 100 Black Men of Atlanta Initiative. He also leads a computer science and robotics program - Steampunk Robotics - within his homeschooling community. STEMville earned Nicolas the title of Middle School Open Platform Winner at the National STEM Video Game Challenge.

Remington Youngblood

Founder, Change for Georgia

When 10 years old Remington founded CHANGE 4 GEORGIA (C4G) as a community service program for students to show appreciation and compassion for our soldiers and veterans dedication and sacrifice in protecting our freedom and keeping our country secure. C4G benefits our brave troops by collecting items from their “Wish List” which are items that are not readily available or provided, but that add comfort and fit in their backpacks. The program also benefits veterans and their families by providing food, clothing and other supplies to those who need a hand up.