Theme: Advancement and Discovery

From literal advancements in a field, such as vital research or studies, to internal advancement and finding yourself, guiding someone else down a path to discovery, and the importance of advancement in a specific field, what led you to “make a discovery?"

Virtual Event
Evergreen Valley High School
San Jose, California, 95148
United States

Anna Escobedo

Anna Lisa Escobedo is a visual artist, muralist, artivist, event producer, cultural worker, and networker. Born and raised in Central Los Angeles, CA. and resides in San Francisco since 2008. Co-founded the Latino Cultural District and chaired the Cultural Arts Committee. Her purpose in life is to persevere to make art and culture accessible, sociable and part of everyone’s livelihood.

Arnay Agarwal

Writer, Journalist, Podcaster, Reporter, Youth Entrepreneur

[Talk: Mantras of Life] Arnay shared the stage with Ms P.V. Sindhu), author, writer, journalist, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, Podcaster, and philanthropist at a young age of 12. He is also a regular invitee at Tedx, Schools, Colleges, Organizations. He has given two Ted Talks and more are lined up in upcoming months. Arnay has been featured in various mainstream newspapers and magazines for his achievements. Featured in Hindu, Indian Express, Times of India, Brainfeed, Education World, CFN, Mad4India, Indykids USA and many more for his work.

Arshmeet Kaur

Arshmeet Kaur is a high schooler. As a student and an artist, she gained insight into how perfectionism was stopping her from applying her full potential to school. "How Perfectionism Ruins Your Productivity" uses the example of how Arshmeet's past perfectionistic self would have approached writing a paper to explore how perfectionism led to disappointment in herself. In this talk, she talks about the long term effects of this constant disappointment, including refusing opportunities that she was qualified for, and becoming a procrastinator. She concludes that getting rid of perfectionistic tendencies can help improve productivity.

Jeremy George

Co-Founder of Flex Living

[Talk: If you were to die tomorrow, what would you regret?] Jeremy George describes himself as "an ordinary person who had an opportunity to do something very out of the ordinary": On September 1, 2020, in an effort to rediscover his lost enthusiasm for life, he embarked on a mission to cross off 52 goals from his bucket list in 52 weeks. He dubbed it "the What A Year project" and created a website (www.whatayearproject.com) to track his progress. Although he had plenty of doubts at first, the journey turned out to be absolutely transformational. Sure, he crossed off a number of goals on his list, like skydiving, biking from San Francisco to San Diego, and seeing the Northern Lights. But more importantly, he reconnected with friends he hadn’t seen in years and created memories that will last a lifetime. Jeremy's discovered that if you just get started, share your aspirations with others, and embrace being vulnerable, you’ll be amazed by how the world responds.

Julian Toha

CEO and Co-Founder of Oclef

[Talk: Becoming You: A Career-Building Framework] Julian Toha is the CEO and Co-Founder of Oclef. Oclef started as a software company in 2015 with the mission of solving systemic problems in piano education which cause the majority of students to drop out in the first three years of study. Today, Oclef has schools teaching hundreds of students throughout the United States, it has a subsidiary, Diaghilev, that creates hours of music and voiceover for animated films and shows every month. This talk is about how the founder started his path into music that eventually led to a career as a touring concert pianist.

Pushpinder Kaur

An Educator, an Author and Punjabi as a Second Language Curriculum Developer

[Talk: From Nowhere to Somewhere] Pushpinder is one of the founding members of Guru Nanak Khalsa School San Jose, the biggest Sunday school with close to 700 students, established in 1989. She designed Stepping Stones PSL Instructional Resources to teach Punjabi as a second language as well as Sikh history books for this school. Thousands of children have become bilingual and bicultural as a result of interacting with these resources. Her curriculum is used in more than 70 Gurdwara Schools in US, Canada and Australia. Pushpinder also wrote a book named The Boy with Long Hair, and helped produce the Cultural Safari video with Kaur Foundation. Both these resources are included in the California History and Social Studies Framework. Pushpinder has been honored as one of the 50 Prominent Sikhs of USA and she is also featured in Jutti Kasoori, a PBS documentary about the 100 year History of Sikh Women in California for her contributions.

Riya Shukla

CEO and Co-Founder of futureofus

[Talk: We'd Love a Seat at the Table] Riya Shukla is one of two CEO's and a co-founder at futureofus, a student-led company that has bound international success. futureofus is a crowd-sourced online platform that allows youth to engage in discourse regarding the future through literature. Today, with hundreds of contributors from around the world, Riya's talk centers around the youth's impact on the future and the power of a voice. She explains the value behind a youthful perspective at every institution in society, and it's significance in our rapidly changing world through her journey thus far.

Sam Morgan

Dean of Enrollment Services, Evergreen Valley College

[Talk: Work, Life, and Balance ] Sam Morgan is the Dean of Enrollment Services at Evergreen College and has worked in higher education for 9 years. Sam will discuss important lessons in self-discovery as it relates to career advancement. Additionally, he will describe how: adventure, purpose, identity, self-care, and passion have lead to achieving work-life balance.

Yashika Batra

Computer Science Student at Carnegie Mellon University

[Talk: Expand Your Box] Yashika Batra is a first-year student at Carnegie Mellon. As a leader, a computer nerd, a space enthusiast, and a past debater, she gained many perspectives about the nature of both competition-driven and understanding-driven learning in high school. "Expand Your Box" discusses the struggles and barriers that students often face because of the introduction of competition in learning – whether that's through extracurriculars like Speech and Debate, or through the overwhelming college process. Through the idea of a metaphorical box, this talk evaluates the differences between accumulating knowledge and truly understanding and applying a topic, therefore calling for a shift in mindset about the idea of learning as a whole.