Theme: Living Life As A Millenial

We are excited to kickstart TED Talks at Great Valley High School. This will be out first year putting on this event and hope to have a fun and interactive event for our community. The Talks will surround numerous topics and issues that the youth, socially named as "millennials, confront on a daily basis. We hope to get the conversation going on topics that may not be part of normal colloquial conversation.

Great Valley High School
225 Phoenixville Pike
Malvern, Pennsylvania, 19355
United States

Gerry McGrath

Teacher

Gerry McGrath has been teaching Government and Economics at Great Valley High School in Malvern, PA for over 25 years. He began teaching before technology was much of a factor and now does his best to keep pace with the changes, just like the rest of the world. As a Government and Economics teacher, there is very little that can't be the basis of discussion every day. The rise of Millennials is today's topic.

Jennifer Strickland

Author, Speaker, Poet, Founder of U R More

In her earlier days, Jen was a professional model. She appeared in Vogue, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan; was featured in ads for O’lay, Mercedes Benz, Converse, Jordache, and Eddie Bauer; walked the runway for Giorgio Armani, and even appeared as Barbie for the 35th anniversary of the doll. After leaving the modeling industry, Jennifer attained her Master’s Degree in Writing and Literature, and has published seven books and studies, including Girl Perfect, More Beautiful Than You Know, Beautiful Lies, and 21 Myths (Even Good) Girls Believe About Sex. Her books have been impacted countless lives and been translated around the world. Most importantly, Jennifer is a mother of three and makes her home in Dallas, Texas with her husband Shane, who she affectionately calls the “Cowboy.” For more about Jen’s incredible transformation and the work she does to help young women, go to www.URMore.org.

Kesa Bond

Assistant Professor of Instruction in Health Services Administration and Policy

Kesa Bond is currently working towards earning a doctoral degree in human development and organizational systems from Fielding Graduate University in Santa Barbara, California. Mrs. Bond teaches in the undergraduate, graduate and certificate program. Mrs. Bond served as the Director of Health Information Management at Neshaminy Manor from 2000-2004 where she helped to implement an electronic health record (EHR). She served as an independent consultant for a long term care facility from 2001-2012. Prior to coming to Temple University in 2007, Mrs. Bond served as a Clinical Information Specialist at McKesson Corporation, the world’s largest pharmaceutical distribution company. Her research interests include childhood obesity, clinical decision support systems and most importantly patient engagement & empowerment.

Kristen Hamilton

Coordinator of Nutrition and Fitness Programs

Kristen Hamilton is an adjunct faculty member for Villanova's College of Nursing. In addition to her instructor role, she currently works at Villanova University as the Coordinator of Nutrition & Fitness Programs in the Office of Health Promotion and as the Director of Performance Nutrition for SiSu (pronounced SEE-SUE) Systems. Her role as a consultant includes worksite wellness and sports nutrition services for elite, collegiate and high school athletes as well as and weekend warriors. Before working at Villanova, Kristen worked at Georgetown University as the Resident Dietitian in Dining Services and in Brooklyn, NY as a Clinical Nutrition Manager. Kristen also has previous experience as an adjunct instructor.

Logan Cohen

CEO and co-founder of KÜDZOO

Logan Cohen is CEO and Co-founder of KÜDZOO, an application that recognizes and rewards students for their academic achievements, good habits and kindness. On KÜDZOO, students submit their grades, attendance, grade average improvement and answers to daily trivia questions to earn KÜDZOO Cash that can be used for real rewards. Logan drives KÜDZOO from idea to execution from designing the technology, to scaling to monetizing. Logan guides the vision, strategy and ensures the execution of value-creating milestones for KÜDZOO. KÜDZOO has over half a million students on the platform and is in over 46,000 schools. KÜDZOO has just launched KÜDZOOVERIFIED, a web-based app that teachers and admins can use to customize actions to reward their deserving students. Edsurge named KÜDZOO the “grade-based Bitcoin.” Logan has been named to Forbes 30 under 30 in Education 2016, Magic Johnson’s 32 under 32 and 13 Women Globe Changers. She is a proud Great Valley alum, from k-12 class of 2008.

Metin Duran

Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Villanova University

Dr. Metin Duran received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Engineering from Technical University of Istanbul, Turkey. He went to graduate school at Vanderbilt University where he earned a Ph.D. in 1996. Currently he is a professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Villanova University. His research concentrates in application of biological processes for wastewater treatment and microbial water quality control. He has over 65 publications including 34 peer-reviewed journal articles and a book in Turkish. His student working on microbial source tracking received the Best Master’s Thesis Award from the Association of Environmental Engineers and Science Professors. Lately, he has been working on biological waste to energy technologies.

Tyler Boclair

Student

Tyler is a senior at Great Valley High School. In addition to being a two-sport varsity athlete, he is engaged in the Drama Guild, Chamber Singers, Chorale, Future Business Leaders of America, National Honor Society, National Spanish Honor Society-where he services as the Society’s vice-president, and is the current Student Representative to the Great Valley School Board. Outside of school, Tyler is very active with the Boy Scouts of America. He earned his Eagle Scout in 2014, served as his Troop’s Senior Patrol Leader, and currently serves as an Assistant Scoutmaster. He has had the opportunity to attend Keystone Boy-State where he participated in the set-up and operation of a model state and local government, and attended National Youth Leadership Academy where he is currently a Senior Staff member of the Chester County Council’s course.