Theme: Ideas and Impact

This TEDx event is jointly sponsored by the Cary Academy Alumni Office and current Cary Academy students.

Click on the speakers name to watch their TEDx talk.

Cary Academy
1500 N HARRISON AVE
Cary, North Carolina, 27513
United States

Alisa Herr

How Living Open Source Makes You More Human

Alisa Herr (Class of 2002) is a creative thinker, maker, and doer with a passion for everything open source. As the founder of Unity Digital Agency, she uses design and technology to elevate organizations driven to serve the common good. Free and open source software have been a part of her life for as long as she can remember, and the principles of the movement are as intrinsic to her as her DNA.

Cade Spector

Using Technology to Incentivize Safety in Athletics

Cade Spector (Class of 2019) is an innovator, social activist, and student athlete wrestler/lacrosse player, who is committed to improving the world through invention and public outreach.

Corey Lerch

Karma Is Real

Corey Lerch (Class of 2008) believes in solving problems, building relationships, and above all, relentless learning. He owns and operates his own independent financial planning practice where his success depends on all three of those habits. Corey also tutors in his spare time across a wide range of ages and subjects. Through Toastmasters and now TEDx, Corey speaks to millennials about attitudes critical to success in the new economy.

Eesha Sachdeva

You Snooze, They Lose

Eesha Sachdeva (Class of 2018) is a current high school junior from Raleigh, NC. Her role as a squad leader on the Cary Academy Speech and Debate team has allowed her to express her thoughts and ideas through persuasive, effective communication. In between episodes of Grey's Anatomy, Zumba classes and speech and debate, Eesha is passionate about social justice and understanding the cultures of people from around the world.

Evan Ehrhardt

The Power of Story

Evan Ehrhardt (Class of 2018) is a junior at Cary Academy who loves the communicative arts, track and field, and pizza. As a Squad Leader on the CA Speech and Debate Team, Evan has been able to hone his communication skills. Evan's specialty is adapting the books, poems, and plays of others to tell stories, however he will use the TEDx event to tell his own story.

Joshua Rowsey

The World Is Yours: The Importance of Hip Hop Culture

Joshua “Rowdy” Rowsey (Class of 2009) is an underground North Carolina recording artist, actor/improviser, and writer featured on NPR, DJ Booth, Indy Week, and various national publications–most recently performing at the Del Close Marathon alongside improvisers such as Amy Poehler (Parks and Recreation). Rowdy is a founding member of the national hip hop collective No9to5 Music. He initiated the UNC-Chapel Hill cypher, which was nominated for an Indy Week award for best place to listen to Hip Hop in the Triangle.

Julia Gong

Shoot for Pluto, Land on the Moon: The Importance of Setting Seemingly Unattainable Goals

A tinkerer at heart, Julia Gong (Class of 2017) is a Senior at Cary Academy who loves interdisciplinary fields, particularly in technology, the sciences, and the arts. Her lifelong goals include combining public speaking and research, meeting one stranger every day, becoming a polyglot, making people laugh, and fighting against ending sentences with prepositions.

Kathryn Pothier

Musical Diplomacy: Practice Makes Power

Kathryn Pothier (Class of 2005) is a classical pianist and composer who believes that the key to succeeding in any endeavor is effective communication. Kathryn received a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from the University of Cambridge, and holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition/Theory, Piano Performance, East Asian Studies, and Chinese from Vanderbilt University. She is currently Vice President of Business Development at Silver Oak Services Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm in Evanston, IL.

Taylor Meyer

Take Risks. Nothing Can Substitute For Experience.

Taylor Meyer (Class of 2008) is a young entrepreneur and technology enthusiast with a special interest in software development. He is the Co-Founder of UConnection, the largest food and drinks app for college students in America. He started his business in a dorm room as an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina. The company was recently acquired by a private equity firm. He is also currently enrolled in the M.B.A. program at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School. Taylor encourages young people to take risks and extol the value of experience, whether they succeed or fail.

Teresa Porter

Life After Near Death: How Our Worst Moments Become Our Biggest Successes

Teresa Porter (Class of 2002) is a portrait photographer from Cary, NC specializing in senior portrait, pre-teen, child, and family portraiture. Her work has been recognized by Rolling Stone Magazine and published on The Huffington Post. Her blog post “So You’re Feeling Too Fat to be Photographed” has reached over 5 million people (and counting!). Whether it is for a photoshoot or in everyday life, Teresa is enthusiastic about showing others how to embrace life's blemishes and showing them in their best light. In her talk, Teresa will revisit the scene of her worst moment and talk us through how we can all walk away from our biggest crashes as scarred but stronger.

Will Scott

City Water: Connecting Urban Areas to their Watersheds in North Carolina

Will Scott (Class of 2003) is the Yadkin Riverkeeper. In that role he is responsible for protecting and improving water quality throughout the Yadkin Pee Dee River basin, North Carolina's second largest after the Cape Fear.