Theme: Sapir- Whorf

Sapir- Whorf is a theory that suggests that the idioms and words particular to any language directly affect the way native speakers experience life. In Mayim Bialik's YouTube Posting "Girl Versus Woman" she discusses the effect on women of calling them "girls." Likewise, the careful choice of diction by an author in the first paragraph of a novel can set the mood irrevocably and powerfully. TEDxTheBenjaminSchool invites our speakers this year to consider both the importance of ideas worth spreading and the specific words we use to spread those ideas.

4875 Grandiflora Road
Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, 33418
United States

Alex Bories

Benjamin School Student

Alex is a 7th grader who has been going to The Benjamin School for four years and has done plenty of things outside of school like track and field as well as musical theatre in the summer for six years. But outside of academics and sports, Alex also plays a different type of sport, video games. His TEDx Talk is about the ability to shift between first and third person perspectives in video games and what that can teach us about our own moral accountability in the world.

Alex Fleming Lake

Student and Varsity Swimmer

Alexander Fleming Lake was born in the Caribbean on an island called Anguilla. He has two sisters and goes to The Benjamin School in South Florida. He likes to swim, and he is on a country club swim team. His mom is a lawyer and his dad is a businessman. His Tedx Talk is about African Americans and segregation at swimming pools.

Amanda Nerenberg

Graduating High School Senior and Former Intern for Dr. Angela Duckworth

Amanda Nerenberg is a senior in Pennsylvania where she is President of the Student Council and Captain of the Tennis Team. In her spare time she volunteers for local charities such as the Parkinson’s Council of Philadelphia and has started a Big Sister Little Sister Program at The Institute of Dance Artistry where she has danced as part of an exhibition team for over 7 years. Additionally, she has spent the last year as an intern at Dr. Angela Duckworth's prestigious Character Lab at The University of Pennsylvania studying ways to promote grit, optimism and perseverance in young students. Her interest in particular is developing self esteem in adolescent girls. Amanda is currently deciding to attend either the University of Pennsylvania or the University of California, Los Angeles in the fall. Amanda's TEDx Talk questions how we expect women to join together in the sisterhood of #METOO and #TIME'SUP when they grow up in a world rife with Mean Girls, Dance Moms, and Girl on Girl hate.

Anthony Pace

Benjamin School Student

Anthony is a 7th grade Benjamin student who moved from Connecticut 3 years ago to Juno Beach. A passionate mountain biker, Anthony bikes local trails with his dad and rides on long-distant epic rides. Anthony has three birds, two dogs, a snake, and an interest in water sports and boating. Anthony has been playing the violin since he was four. Anthony’s TEDx Talk is about physical and mental nomadism, the theory of becoming, and how you should lose yourself to find yourself.

Bella Garaj

Benjamin School Student

Bella was born in Aspen, Colorado but grew up in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. She is in the 7th grade and has one sister named Ziva Garaj who is in 3rd grade. She lives with her dad and her dad’s girlfriend named Dawn. She loves traveling to new places and seeing new things. Every summer she goes to sleep away camp in Pennsylvania for 7 weeks. Bella’s talk addresses the pronunciation of her last name, some people‘s unwillingness to learn that pronunciation, and the effects of such an unwillingness in hindering an inclusive culture in our world.

Charlie Spungin

Benjamin School Student

Charlie was born in Jupiter, Florida at Jupiter Medical Center. He has 2 brothers, Jason and Jarrett. Jason is 27, and Jarrett is 24. He has four dogs, Brutus, Deuce, Red and Jackson. Charlie enjoys writing, particularly about sports. He has been playing travel basketball for four years. Charlie's TEDx Talk is about the power of brevity in prose and physical stature.

Colin Stangel

Benjamin School Student

Colin was born and raised in Chicago. Colin is 12 years old and he is in 7th grade at The Benjamin School. He is a Filipino American who speaks English. He moved to Florida in August of 2017. He likes to play basketball and play video games. His favorite class in school is science because he is interested by all the different experiments. Colin’s TEDx Talk is about the potential damage that euphemistic pejoratives such as “Fudge” or “Shut The Front Door” can do and how connotation can be more important than denotation.

Courtney Farrell

Educator

Courtney Farrell is the Founding Director of and a Literacy Consultant with The Journey Project, an inclusion- and educational justice-focused organization supporting gender-expansive and transgender children, families, and educators. She began her career as a classroom teacher in Title 1 public elementary schools in Los Angeles in 2001. After working alongside young people and their families in her classroom for twelve years, she began working with educators in Southern and Northern California on efforts toward schoolwide literacy transformation as a Staff Developer. Inspired by the communities she has served for nearly two decades and by her own transgender child’s transition in 2016, she has been researching anti-oppressive critical literacy pathways that enable elementary and middle schools across the nation to transform into more inclusive, equitable spaces for all students. Courtney, her two young boys, and one barky Yorkie, live in Southern California. .

Darian Salehi

Benjamin School Student

Darian is 12 and lives in Jupiter, Florida. He is a student at The Benjamin School. Darian likes playing sports, hanging out with friends, and has an ambition to learn. Through preparing his TEDx Talk, Darian has learned how powerful words can be and how there is a trickle down effect when ill chosen words are used by our elders. He is happy to share the TEDx stage with others who have great ideas worth spreading.

Eden Doner

Benjamin School Student

Eden was born here in Palm Beach Gardens. She has one older brother. The sports she plays are golf and rowing. When she is older she wants to be a sports reporter. Her Tedx Talk is about movie scores and why everyone should have his or her life set to music.

Emilie Dubiel

Benjamin School Student

Emilie Dubiel is a 7th grader at The Benjamin School in North Palm Beach, Florida. She has two older brothers, and she loves playing with her dogs and baking. In her free time, she plays sports such as lacrosse and tennis. Her TEDx Talk is dedicated to the students and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Eric Levine

Benjamin School Student

Eric is a seventh grade student who has been attending The Benjamin School for nine years! He has a passion for music and has been playing violin for eight years. Eric lives with his mom and his three dogs, Bongo, Jewel, and his new puppy Kirbie. He loves being outdoors, and some activities he enjoys are biking, frisbee, fishing, and when he has a chance, skiing. When Eric was nine years old his dad died suddenly and Eric has persevered. His TEDx Talk is about how important it is to discuss tragedies and how difficult it is to talk genuinely and effectively about one’s own loss. KATIA ORSIC Katia is in the 7th grade. She moved to Florida last year from New York. In school Katia enjoys subjects such as science and french. Katia has been playing the string bass since 4th grade. Katia enjoys playing sports like tennis and soccer. She speaks Croatian and goes to Croatia every summer. Her TEDx Talk is about honoring all the languages

Georgia Heard

Author/Poet/Educational Consultant

Georgia Heard is an internationally recognized author, presenter and consultant. Thousands of educators and writers have listened to Georgia speak of her passion for literacy and writing. She has keynoted hundreds of conferences and given workshops throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. After receiving her MFA from Columbia University, she co-founded the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project in New York City -- a research and staff development organization whose goal is to help young people become avid and skilled readers, writers, and inquirers. She is the author of 18 books including Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School which was cited by Instructor magazine as one of the 12 books every teacher should read. Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and professional journals and she has been interviewed on National Public Radio’s “perspectives.”

Gianna Ajmo

Benjamin School Student

Gianna is a 7th grader at The Benjamin School. She is quite the artist! She loves to dance and create art. Gianna’s TEDx Talk is about how she loves to draw everyday scenes in surreal colors and how, in life, context should never affect our expectation of color.

Jackson Gregory

Benjamin School Student

Jackson is 13 years old and is in the 7th grade at The Benjamin School. He recently moved to Florida from New York City. He has two brothers, Shepard (his twin) and Beckett who is seven. Jackson enjoys playing competitive tennis and playing all sports. His TEDx Talk is about how Dyslexia is his secret code and how, when it comes to decoding language, he is not on the outside looking in, but on a new and different kind of inside.

Jamila Lyiscott

Professor, Spoken Word artist, Community Organizer, Consultant and Motivational Speaker

Jamila Lyiscott is currently a visiting assistant professor of Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Coupled with this appointment, Jamila is a Cultivating New Voices fellow within NCTE’s research foundation and was recently named a Senior Research Fellow of Teachers College, Columbia University’s Institute for Urban and Minority Education (IUME). Across these spaces, her research, teaching, and service focus on the intersections of race, language, and social justice in education. Recently awarded a Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad grant, Jamila also serves a spoken word artist, community organizer, consultant and motivational speaker locally and internationally. Her scholarship and activism work together to prepare educators to sustain diversity in the classroom, empower youth, and explore, assert, and defend the value of Black life. As a testament to her commitment to educational justice for students of color, Jamila is the founder and co-director o

Jasper Wright

Benjamin School Student

Jasper is thirteen years old, lives in Jupiter, Florida, has two dogs, and he attends The Benjamin School. He likes to draw, play soccer, and game. Most importantly, Jasper loves to beatbox. His TEDx Talk mainly revolves around how everybody needs a beat. If you do not have a beat, you are not centered with the universe. He is excited to perform for everybody and share the stage with other peers.

Joie Rodin

Benjamin School Student

Joie is a Benjamin Middle School Student in the 7th grade. She has one brother in Pre-K. She loves to dance and play her three instruments: the alto saxophone, oboe and piano. Her Ted Talk is about the long running series "Grey's Anatomy," and the Platonic Ideal in the age of media. The Platonic Ideal means that nothing in life can ever be the exact way that you plan it to be.

Jonathan Skatoff

Benjamin School Student

Jonathan was born December 30, 2004 in Florida. He has three siblings whose names are Genevieve, Sean and Henry. His hobbies include soccer, video games and football. His TEDx Talk is about the danger of neophobia and the way we hide behind the world “impossible.”

Katia Orsic

Benjamin School Student

Katia is in the 7th grade. She moved to Florida last year from New York. In school Katia enjoys subjects such as science and french. Katia has been playing the string bass since 4th grade. Katia enjoys playing sports like tennis and soccer. She speaks Croatian and goes to Croatia every summer. Her TEDx Talk is about honoring all the languages she speaks equally.

Keri Morrison

President of Live Like Jake

Keri Morrison is a Palm Beach County native and the president of the Live Like Jake Foundation which is focused on ending childhood drowning through the promotion of many initiatives including the Infant Swim Rescue program. 4 years ago she lost her son in a drowning accident. She is married to her husband of 13 years Roarke Morrison and the mother of 3 beautiful children, Jake, Julia and Josie. When she is not working for the Foundation she is enjoying every minute she can with her family doing all the fun things Palm Beach County has to offer. Keri’s children especially love to swim so they spend a lot of time in the water.

Kiran Spencer

Benjamin School Student

Kiran was born in New York City and spent his first couple of days in a room with a view of Yankee Stadium, which may explain his lifelong love of baseball. He moved to South Florida a few years ago with his mother, where he now plays soccer and tennis year-round in sunshine. He also likes economics, problem solving, Star Wars, creative writing, poker, and playing trumpet for his school band. His TEDx Talk is about the impact of arming teachers in classrooms.

Maddie Domnick

Benjamin School Student

Maddie is a 7th grader currently attending The Benjamin School. Maddie has two dogs named Fergie and Ajax. She has a passion for science. She loves to eat and play soccer in her free time. Maddie has two siblings both of whom are in college. Maddie’s Tedx Talk is about silence and how it is better to be actively silent as opposed to passively silent.

Nico Frezin

Benjamin School Student

Nicolas was born on September 23, 2004. Nicolas has a passion for basketball and a passion for education. Nicolas’ TEDx Talk is about some of his past negative experiences being coached on the basketball court and how we normalize anger and sometimes profanity as a means of coaching young men that we would never allow in a classroom. Nicolas no longer plays on such a team. Rather, he is proud to play for Nike Team Florida (NTF).

Nora Raleigh Baskin

Author

Nora Raleigh Baskin is the author of thirteen novels for young readers and a contributor to two story collections. She has been published in WRITER MAGAZINE as well as the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. Her books have won several awards, including the 2010 ALA Schneider Family Book Award for Anything But Typical and a 2016 ILA Notable Books for a Global Society for Ruby on the Outside. Nora has taught creative writing to both children and adults for over fifteen years with such organizations as SCBWI, Gotham Writers Workshop, the Highlights Foundation, and most recently in Westport at The Fairfield Co. Writer’s Studio. Her latest, Nine/Ten: A 9/11 Story was reviewed in the New York Times and has received starred reviews, from both Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

Sai Chigurupati Cameron Salehi

Benjamin Students

Sai and Cameron are 8th graders currently attending The Benjamin School in South Florida. Sai’s favorite subjects are Math and Science, and he has won chess tournaments and is a part of the winning French team at school. Cameron loves to act, play sports, and be a positive role models for others. Cameron works to the best of his abilities in the classroom and endeavors to be a good person in his daily life and a good sportsman on the field. Cameron and Sai’s TEDx Talk speaks to their love of designer fashion from Nike, Adidas, Supreme and Off-White and their wish to coalesce this passion with a desire to give back in the world.

Sarah Darby

Benjamin School Student

Sarah Darby moved to Florida four years ago from New York City. She is the oldest of three siblings, and the only one with straight hair. Sarah has cultivated lifelong passions for art, reading, history and science. She knows every word to the Broadway musical Hamilton. Her TEDx Talk is about how our lives are all connected through fragments.

Sebastian Hell

Benjamin School Student

Sebastian was born in Germany and lived there for twelve years before he moved to Florida. Physics is of great interest to him because his father is a physicist. He loves time spent in the garden looking through a magnifying glass at plants. In 2014, things changed for Sebastian when his father won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Sebastian's TEDx talk is about not living in the shadow of his famous father, but, rather, in his illumination.

Shepard Gregory

Benjamin School Student

Shepard Gregory used to live in New York City until recently when he moved back home to Florida. He loves tennis and is starting to become a competitive player. He is one of three siblings. The thing he loves to do most is be with his family. As his bemused look in his photo would suggest, Shep has absolutely nothing to say in his TEDx Talk---or does he?

Stephanie Levenston

Intuitive Channel/Speech Language Pathologist

Stephanie Banks Levenston wears many hats as an author, intuitive channel, coach, Speech-Language Pathologist, Lactation Counselor, Doula, business owner, environmental protector, animal rights advocate, lover of children/elderly/animals, mentor, wife, mother, daughter...you get the idea. Stephanie helps her readers and clients recognize their own powerful internal voice of wisdom and learn to trust that voice for guidance. Stephanie travels the globe teaching others how to access intuition and use it as a compass to achieve goals, dreams, and desires. Through a practice of meditation, yoga/exercise, time in nature, play, prayer/mantra, healthy eating/lifestyle, and time with her family and friends, Stephanie achieves balance, joy, and inner peace (most days).

Treasure Stein

Benjamin School Student

Treasure was born in Jupiter, FL and started attending The Benjamin School when she was 3 years old. She is now a 10 year old 4th grader. Treasure enjoys music. She plays 4 instruments, piano being her favorite. She loves mathematics, public speaking, gymnastics, and playing with her 3 German Shepherds. Treasure is the oldest of 4 siblings with whom she is very close. Treasure will be speaking about the power of Mnemonics.

William Harris

Benjamin School Student

William is a 13-year-old 7th grader, has been attending The Benjamin School for the last two years. Prior to moving to Florida, he lived in New York City where he attended The Allen-Stevenson School. He enjoys playing tennis and golf and loves to spend time with his friends and family. William's TEDx Talk is about how his little brother Philip's following him around taught him some important lessons about authentic leadership and the dangers of blindly following, particularly on social media.