Theme: Unveil the Unseen

A youth-driven TEDx event powered by bold ideas, unfiltered voices, and raw creativity, TEDxBolingbrook Youth is more than just a stage, it’s a platform. Built entirely by teens, for teens, this event brings hidden perspectives into the spotlight. Through powerful talks, striking performances, and a curated student art gallery, we’re creating a space where young people get to lead the conversation, and be heard for exactly who they are.

This year’s theme, Unveil the Unseen, challenges both our speakers and our audience to look deeper. From mental health and cultural identity to climate resilience, tech innovation, personal loss, and community strength, our lineup of talks spans the personal and the political, the visionary and the deeply human. Every story shared reflects the kind of thinking and truth-telling only teens can bring which are bold, vulnerable, and completely their own.

TEDxBolingbrook Youth is about handing the mic to the next generation and listening closely. It’s where creativity meets advocacy, where questions matter more than answers, and where the ideas shaping tomorrow are being voiced today.

Bolingbrook Community Center
201 Canterbury Ln
Suite A
Bolingbrook, Illinois, 60440
United States

Cormac Flanigan

Aspiring Cartoonist

Cormac Flanigan is a freshman at Neuqua Valley. From a young age he’s been obsessed with bugs and has lead this passion into creating an ambitious character with a desire for a voice. Being fairly talkative, Cormac thrilled to be involved in the speech team at his high school. Using these skills, Cormac is interested in sharing his ideas, he will be speaking about fostering creativity in children, how that creativity carries on to later years, and how you can bring creativity in to your own life.

Joshua Mathew

Aspiring Financial Advisor

Joshua Mathew is a sophomore at Neuqua Valley. As a student athlete, he runs cross country and track for Neuqua Valley, and runs year round. In addition to his athletic endeavors, Joshua is also a youth leader at his local church, St. Peters Syriac Orthodox Church. His talk is about the flawed culture and norms in athletic environments, and how they restrict athletes from getting a support system and the mental help they need.

Maya Sharma

Aspiring Computer Scientist + Entrepreneur

Maya Sharma is sophomore at Neuqua Valley High School. She created HAAL, a mental health app that uses mood journaling and AI to help students recognize signs of emotional distress early, which earned national recognition through the Congressional App Challenge. She currently serves on the board of the Youth Advisory Committee for 360 Youth Services, a nonprofit focused on youth mental health and wellness. In her TEDx talk, Maya explores the need for culturally specific and inclusive approaches to mental health. Through technology, advocacy, and her own lived experience, she hopes to reshape how mental health is understood and supported in diverse communities.

Shushan Arora

Computer Engineer

Shushan Arora is a student at Bolingbrook High School with a passion for using technology to enhance public safety and emergency preparedness. After witnessing the destruction of a tornado in his hometown, he developed Prepshield, an emergency preparedness app designed to help families create personalized safety plans. More than just a tool, Prepshield has helped local residents better prepare for natural disasters and reflects an ongoing effort to explore how AI might one day anticipate threats even before official warnings are issued. For this work, Shushan was recognized as the 2024 Congressional App Challenge winner for Illinois’s 11th Congressional District. Shushan will talk on a youth-led innovation in crisis response. At school, he is the junior varsity captain of the Scholastic Bowl team and participates in Model UN, Best Buddies, Mathletes, The Word, SkillsUSA, and boys volleyball. He believes young people can lead change through accessible, purpose-driven technology.

Vismaya Yogesh

Musician + Aspiring Engineer

Vismaya Yogesh is passionate musician, aspiring engineer, and dedicated volunteer for the community as a sophomore at Neuqua Valley High School. She is an Indian Classically trained singer, and believes that music is more than just entertainment—It is a universal language that has the power to influence, heal, inspire, and most importantly, connect people together. In her talk, Vismaya hopes to use her passion as her melody, and purpose as her rhythm to allow others to see how music has impacted her, and explore the wonders that music can offer. Music has a groundbreaking capability of changing our perspective of the universe—One note at a time.