Theme: Frontiers Unexplored

TEDxYouth@NCSSM is a program designed to challenge and encourage high school students to engage in some of the big ideas facing them as they move out into the larger world. In the 2020 program, we will coalesce around our theme of "Frontiers Unexplored", looking to be challenged, inspired, and motivated to find our own unexplored frontiers. From brain-mapping to insurance, from Durham to Kenya, TEDxYouth@NCSSM 2020 will continue the long tradition of excellence in programming through the TEDx program at NCSSM!

North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics
1219 Broad St.
Durham, North Carolina, 27705
United States

Bettie Closs

NCSSM Class of 2021

Bettie Closs is a junior at NCSSM, and a previous attendee of Northern High School in her hometown of Durham, North Carolina. She intends to pursue studies in engineering, with interests ranging from architecture to aerospace. However, she harbors another interest: novel writing. As a young adult fiction writer, she firmly believes in the inspiring power of expressive writing and all of its benefits.

Don Hornstein

Aubrey L. Brooks Professor of Law

Don Hornstein is the Aubrey L. Brooks Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. The holder of UNC’s 2019 Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching along with one dozen other teaching awards, he is among the most celebrated instructors in the University’s 230-year history. He studies risk, insurance, and environmental law and for over a decade has served on the Board of Directors of the State’s insurer-of-last-resort at the North Carolina coast.

Katie Wyatt

President and CEO, El Sistema

Katie Wyatt is an accomplished musician, executive and innovator in social change through music. In July 2016, Mrs. Wyatt became the first Executive Director of El Sistema USA, the national network supporting the U.S. movement of El Sistema, and established a new headquarters at Duke University. Mrs. Wyatt is a national leader in creating programs for access and opportunity through the transformative power of music. She enjoys teaching “Social Entrepreneurship and the Arts” as adjunct faculty at Duke University, is a national consultant and speaker in the arts for social change, and as a violist has performed with chamber groups, opera companies, and orchestras around the world. Mrs. Wyatt co-founded the first El Sistema-inspired program in North Carolina, Kidznotes in Raleigh-Durham, and served as the founding Executive Director from 2010-2017. She holds advanced degrees in Political Science and Viola Performance from Indiana University and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

Madelaine Katz

NCSSM Class of 2008

Madelaine Katz (NCSSM ‘12) is an MPH candidate at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. A globally-focused advocate for health equity, Madelaine has worked in a variety of settings on programming and research in the areas of gender equality, HIV/AIDS prevention, access to education, sexual and reproductive health, and patient-provider communication.

Rindha Sudhini

NCSSM Student, Class of 2021

Rindha Sudhini is a junior at NCSSM, and previously attended Green Hope High School in her hometown of Cary, North Carolina. She is interested in pursuing a career in law or international relations and has always been fascinated by getting to share and hear the stories of others. This time she is on the other end, voicing her experiences dealing with colorism and its hidden pain.

Zack Fowler

Executive Director, WISER International

Zack Fowler (NCSSM ‘12) is the Executive Director for WISER International; a holistic girls' health and education nonprofit led by an international team in North Carolina and Kenya. He currently serves as a board member for the NCSSM Foundation and the AMPLIFY Girls collective in East Africa.