Theme: "Leading with Hope in a Changing World"

The American dream has always been global. This idea of the American dream has enticed millions of people from all over the world to travel to America in search of prosperity and opportunity. But in this ever-changing landscape, many are questioning if the American dream even exists. We believe it does, it just means we need to rethink our homes, suburbs and communities. In this series of TEDx talks, the American dream isn't lost, it's just being redefined.

Media Innovation Center
62 Morrill Way
4th Floor
Morgantown, West Virginia, 26506
United States

Ann Chester

Community Educator

Ann Chester, Ph.D. is the founder and director of Health Sciences and Technology Academy (HSTA) a campus/community partnership program initiated in 1994 which reaches out to 9th-12th grade under-represented students across West Virginia and supports them towards college and professional school. The program brings under-represented students and their teachers to multiple university campuses during summers for laboratory, classroom training and enrichment activities, and then provides the infrastructure and support for community-based science club projects mentored by teachers, scientists, health professions students and volunteer community leaders during the school year. A distinctive piece of HSTA is its students’ development of research projects that examine and address health issues faced by their communities. These projects form the core of the HSTA experience, drive the academic learning the program promotes, and turn HSTA students into community advocates.

Daniel Brewster

Social Justice and Inclusion Activist

Professor Brewster asserts that he has always been a Mountaineer with a deep love for our state, and university. He is a 14-year member of the faculty in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology where he teaches several courses including Sexuality and Society, and Social Problems in Contemporary America. Brewster also leads a study abroad to rural Latin America each spring with the Global Medical and Dental Brigades student organizations where they facilitate pro-bono medical and dental clinics in cooperation with Nicaraguan medical professionals. Growing up in West Virginia wasn’t always easy, especially for someone living in “the closet” but Brewster never gave up hope and in 2011 after being threatened by a student on campus, he courageously came out publicly in the Daily Athenaeum. His courage inspired the campus to have serious conversations about bullying and homophobia and no doubt gave hope to countless Mountaineers.

Dr. Judith Feinberg

Professor of Medicine/Infectious Diseases

In 2005, Dr. Feinberg was the first physician in metropolitan Cincinnati to recognize that opioid injection drug use (heroin, prescription painkillers) had emerged as a health threat, based on increased admissions for a serious heart infection (“endocarditis”). In 2014, she established Ohio's 1st syringe services program, the Cincinnati Exchange Project (CEP). Conceived as a broad public health initiative, CEP exchanges sterile syringes for used ones, and many other services: clean injection materials to prevent hepatitis C; overdose prevention education and naloxone to reverse overdoses; on-site rapid testing for HIV and hepatitis C; enrolling clients for Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) insurance; referral and linkage to drug treatment programs, medical and mental health care, and social services as desired. Currently Professor of Behavioral Medicine & Psychiatry and Professor of Medicine/Infectious Diseases, she is working hard to turn the tide on opioid-related epidemics.

Emily Calandrelli

Space Girl/Scientist

Calandrelli is the Executive Producer and host of FOX's Xploration Outer Space, which is now in its fourth season. She is also a correspondent for Bill Nye on his new show Bill Nye Saves the World, now in its second season on NETFLIX. Emily is the writer and host of Lockheed Martin’s Spotlight Space, a YouTube series that features the space projects they are involved in. Emily published her first book in 2017 as the author of the Ada Lace Adventures, a chapter book series about a young West Virginia girl who solves problems with robots and technology. The second book in the series, Ada Lace: Sees Red, was included in the National Science Teachers Association’s list of best STEM books for 2018. Emily has given talks about the importance of science literacy, the benefits of space exploration, and the challenges for women in STEM careers for clients like Google, Pixar, MIT, West Virginia University, Texas Instruments as well as dozens of K-12 schools across the nation.

Flynn Pollard

Sustainable Food Advocate

Flynn Pollard is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Bethany College in Bethany, West Virginia. He holds two advanced degrees, a Masters of Public Administration and a Masters of Arts in International Environmental Policy Studies, from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California. He has worked as a data analyst and consultant on multiple social change projects in the United States and abroad. His work, both academically and professionally, has largely focused on the role of food in both sustainability and human security around the world. He is a co-founder and officer at an ag-tech social enterprise called Urbavore, where his team is designing low-cost hydroponic systems to improve sustainable food production and increase household access to healthy foods. Flynn believes that the greatest challenges we face today must be considered holistically, and that the interconnections between them often hold the secrets to their solutions.

George Cicci

Chief Marketing Officer at Impakt Media

George Cicci took his late-in-life ADHD diagnosis as both an answer to his questions about his personal behavior and difficulties, and as an opportunity to hit the "restart" button on his life and make up for lost time. Since his diagnosis thirteen years ago, he has become obsessed with learning to hack “The Superpower” as he calls it and teaches others to do the same. He is currently exercising this superpower as the Chief Marketing Officer at Impakt Media, where he works with brands like NBC Sports, Lucas Oil Pro Motocross and Major League Baseball affiliates. In addition to this, he is finishing his book “ADHD Life Hacker: the Four Rules for Success” and is launching an online course in productivity for people with ADHD.

Ginny Thrasher

2016 Rio Olympic Gold Medalist

Ginny Thrasher won the first Gold Medal at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the Women’s 10 meter Air Rifle event. She achieved this at only 19 years of age. Ginny is currently a Junior at West Virginia University with a 3.90 GPA in Biomedical Engineering. She dedicates many hours to practicing with the reigning National Champion WVU Rifle Team. During her collegiate career, she has won the NCAA Team Title in both 2016 and 2017, as well as becoming the first freshman ever to sweep both Individual Titles in 2016. Ginny credits her athletic achievements to the concept of growth mindset, and is eager to see it benefit others. Ginny’s mission is to transfer her unique experiences changing her mindset into better ways to teach growth mindset on a large scale. Ginny loves to travel and hopes to pursue higher education related to growth mindset, as well as the Olympics in 2020.

John Ebert

West Virginia Businessman

John Ebert is a 1982 graduate of University of Notre Dame with a degree in accounting. He has also attended entrepreneurial classes at MIT. Following college, he began working for Arthur Young & Co in Dallas. His clients included Frito Lay, American Airlines, Haggar Slacks and the Dallas Cowboys. John now owns 41 McDonald’s franchises with 2200 employees. He is the winner of the prestigious Golden Arch Award, and the Al Golin brand trust award which is presented to one operator in the McDonald’s system One of John’s overarching goals is to help others reach their potential. He achieves this goal by teaching a free math ACT prep class which has been attended by over 2200 students. This class has helped many students improve their math ACT score and helped them get the Promise scholarship. It has given them hope that there is a better future for them. John is co-chairman of the local 10k committee, and a board member of MVB Bank.

Sara Berzingi

Muslim American Activist + Aspiring Writer

Sara Berzingi is a Morgantown native and senior in the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences at West Virginia University. She is double majoring in Biology and English with a concentration in Professional Writing and Editing. She spent the last four summers volunteering with aid organizations abroad, working to manage the Internally Displaced Persons crisis emerging from the siege of Mosul, volunteering in a labor and delivery ward in Erbil, Iraq, and teaching English to children in an Iraqi refugee camp. Berzingi has served as president of the Muslim Student Association and is currently a diversity ambassador and student worker in the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. She collaborated with the Reed College of Media on Muslim in Appalachia, a 360° series featured on the multimedia news platform, 100 Days in Appalachia. As a Muslim American activist and an aspiring writer, Berzingi’s work focuses on the politics of identity and belonging in an increasingly exclusive America.