Theme: Embracing Change

Speakers at the TEDxHoodCollege event will talk about embracing leadership, making your way through the maze of problem-solving, maintaining the mental health of counselors, quenching the thirst of nations without water, and how changing educators will change the aspirations of students.

Hood College
401 Rosemont Avenue
Frederick, Maryland, 21701
United States

Adam Cubbage

Adjunct Professor at Hood College, Managing Director of CenterPoint Leadership Development

With decades of experience leading people and organizations, Adam Cubbage is a teacher and mentor of emergent leaders. After graduating from Penn State University, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He served in elite units, including the 173rd Airborne Brigade and received numerous awards including the Combat Action Badge, the Combat Senior Parachutist Badge, two bronze star medals for valor and gallantry in battle, and a Meritorious Service Medal. After leaving the military, he earned a master’s from the University of Maryland, worked for the Gallup Organization and started CenterPoint Leadership Development. As an organizational development expert, he delivers workshops, including a nationally accredited foundational leadership program. He uses his authenticity, vulnerability, and energy to coach executives in government and the private sector, is an adjunct professor of organizational behavior and leadership, and hosts two leadership podcasts.

Chris Sparks

CEO at Game Overlords, L.L.C.

Chris Sparks is the owner, puzzle designer, and "Game Overlord" of Surelocked In Escape Games. Winner of the coveted "International Game Master of the Year 2021" award by EscapeTheRoomers, Chris' award-winning escape rooms have delighted Frederick since 2016! Winner of the "Best of Frederick" award for 5 years running, one of Frederick Magazine's "People to Watch", and named one of the "Top 50 Under 40" by Frederick's Office of Economic Development. Sparks discovered his love of games while earning his bachelor’s degree at Carnegie Mellon University. He worked briefly as a leadership consultant to Fortune 500 companies before returning home to serve as a Catholic Youth Minister. His time mentoring corporate America and the next generation taught him the power of playing and how to unlock leadership through gamification. Chris Sparks enjoys long games of Risk, short games of Monopoly, and never says no to a good game of chess.

Ja'Bette Lozupone

Director of Student Affairs, Montgomery College

Dr. Lozupone is an academic and student affairs administrator at Montgomery College where she has created and fostered student programming and founded the Achieving the Promise Academy, and the Ascend Student Parent Initiative. She has led and developed employee programming and serves the Montgomery County community as a mentor and board member of local organizations benefitting at-promise youth from underrepresented populations. These groups include, Future Link, and the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Washington in Montgomery County. She regularly mentors women and girls through programs like the American Association of University Women’s Goals for Girls, and is committed to empowering her community through civic organizations such as the Latin American Advisory Group to the County Executive and the Germantown Alliance. Dr. Lozupone earned a doctorate in organizational leadership, an MBA, and a bachelor's degree in communications and Hispanic American philology from Hood College.

Jacob Abuhamada

Graduate Student Hood College

Jacob Abuhamada is student in the Interdisciplinary Studies of Human Behavior graduate program at Hood College. He has worked for years on a four-dimensional unifying framework of the mind, the focus of his master's thesis. He is currently conducting a study using an original experience sampling website (cifdb.org) to test his novel framework. Of particular interest has been the nature of consciousness/the mind/subjective experience. Originally, this was through a comparative study of religion, inspired by his multiethnic multi-religious background. Jacob is also a guitarist with more than a decade of experience professionally performing, writing, recording, and teaching guitar. He is refining a freely improvised instrumental acoustic progressive percussive fingerstyle that uses flow states to be effective. Inspired by all of these life elements, he has used his experiences to develop his Common Integrative Framework.

Joel Beidleman

Principal, William H. Farquhar Middle School

Dr. Joel Beidleman serves as principal of William H. Farquhar Middle School in Olney, MD. His varied experiences over the past 20 years as a leader and educator provide value to the diverse community he serves. He is professionally and personally focused on ensuring that his school has a clear understanding and vision to provide a warm learning environment that welcomes students from all backgrounds. He works diligently to create high functioning teams, systems for observing and analyzing teaching, and has stressed the importance of continuous innovation in the area of adolescent mental health and trauma. His doctoral research focused on Psychologically Safe School Environments and was published in 2021. This work analyzed 230 Maryland Middle Schools to determine if there is an association between psychological safe school environments and student literacy achievement.

Lily Tanner

Lily Tanner, originally from North Carolina now resides in Frederick, MD. While at Hood College she majored in Early Childhood Education and developed a deep investment in the health of children. Central to this was her dedication to helping end the global water crisis through her work with the Thirst Project. Her work focused on the Kingdom of Eswatini in Africa building freshwater wells so that communities can gain access to safe and clean drinking water. She says, "My purpose is to spread information about how to stop the global water crisis and to share the stories of children and families who must use unsafe water on a day-to-day basis. I hope to bring people together to solve this critical problem that harms so many."

Stephanie Miller

Stephanie is a proud Hood College alum, earning her Bachelor's in English in 2011 and her Master's in Human Sciences in 2013. She continued her education at Johns Hopkins University where she earned a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Stephanie currently practices as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and a Registered Play Therapist at a private practice where she helps children, adolescents, and families navigate anything from past trauma to the struggles of everyday life. She hopes to continue to raise community awareness about the importance of mental health care while breaking down the stigma of therapy and mental health struggles.