Theme: 20/20 Vision

The TEDxYouth@ChocolateAve virtual event will feature talented speakers of various backgrounds and age groups from our community. They will present topics they are passionate about to encourage us to embrace our differences and promote a deeper understanding of the world around us. We hope our theme, 20/20 Vision, helps to build a stronger and more cohesive community by committing ourselves to great storytelling and revolutionary ideas.

Virtual Event
550. Homestead Road
Hershey, Pennsylvania, 17033
United States

Ally Brown

Student

Ally Brown is a junior in high school. Her support team is her mom, dad, brother, sister, and dog Tilly. Ally is on the lacrosse team and she is doing this speech to educate people on bullying and how it can affect people.

Ananya Kurup

Student

Ananya Kurup is a rising junior at Cumberland Valley High School. Alongside volunteering as an assistant dance teacher, she pursues Indian Classical singing and dancing. She enjoys volunteering in her free time and is involved in activities such as the Junior Leadership Program and MiniTHON.

Ananya Narayanan

Student

Ananya Narayanan is a rising senior at Hershey High School. She is the school and Regional President for the Future Business Leaders of America organization and plans to attend higher education to seek out a degree in Business Administrations. In her free time, Ananya enjoys painting and spending time with her friends. As the world came to experience the hardship of a pandemic, Ananya was curious to find out what her fellow teens think about the impact of the coronavirus. In this talk, Ananya will be diving into what she found in her study.

Andreas Wingert

Student

Andreas Wingert is an incoming senior at Hershey High School. Having been at his grandmother’s side throughout her journey with Alzheimer’s disease, Andreas learned first-hand about the impact of this disease on afflicted patients and their families. This experience led Andreas to become a passionate advocate for the elderly and he has served as an eldercare volunteer for several years. This evening, Andreas would like to share with you what his experience caring for his grandmother taught him about Alzheimer’s disease, life, and love.

Chinmayi Balusu

Columbia University Student

Chinmayi Balusu is a 17-year old undergraduate sophomore at Columbia University who is involved in interdisciplinary neuroscience outreach and research. She is passionate about youth science communication, mentorship, and women in STEM advocacy. In her free time, she enjoys practicing taekwondo, playing soccer, writing poetry, and exploring nature trails. After being exposed to the field of medical humanities in college, Chinmayi came to realize the importance of reflection in the pre-medical journey, which is what she will be discussing in her speech.

Gabriel Pyszka

Student

Gabriel Pyszka is a teen entrepreneur born and raised in Hershey, PA. He plays 4 instruments, has been to 5 continents, and this year, is a senior at Hershey high school. He’s doing this talk because he likes to stretch himself and do things that make him uncomfortable.

Isabella White

Student

Isabella White is currently an incoming senior at Hershey High school and she hopes to further her education by seeking a degree in political science. Outside of school, Isabella enjoys thrift shopping, gardening, and learning all about current events. Isabella has always been incredibly passionate about issues regarding human rights and today she hopes she can teach you a little bit about “period poverty.”

Jack Wang

Student

Jack Wang is a 14-year-old freshmen at Hershey high school. He’s interested in music and programming. Some hobbies of his include learning new songs to play on the saxophone and the melodica. The reason that he is doing the speech is to share what he knows about music in general.

Jen Ruiz

Travel Blogger

Jen Ruiz is a lawyer turned travel blogger and author. In 2017, she set out to take 12 trips in 12 months while employed full-time before her 30th birthday. She ended up taking 20 trips, finding deals like a $38 flight to New Zealand, and $16 flight to Ecuador. She wrote a book about her cheap flight secrets, which became a #1 Amazon bestseller, before deciding to pursue a new career path. Jen is an award-winning travel journalist and founder of People of Puerto Rico, a nonprofit organization to help locals establish online income streams. She believes anyone can work online, and hopefully after this talk, so will you!

Leo Liu

Student

Leo Liu is a young aviation enthusiast. He travels by air very often and has a total of 200,000 frequent flier miles for a major U. S. based airline. He collects die-cast plane models and participates in an online virtual air traffic community as a controller. He aspires to get a pilot license and fly for a career.

Morgan King

Student

Morgan King is a rising senior this year at Hershey High. She loves to participate in the musicals, youth and government, and do volunteer work. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine and accomplish her goal of visiting all 7 continents before she turns 27.

Rishika Singh

Student

Rishika Singh is a rising junior at Cumberland Valley High School. In her free time, she likes to bake, play the piano, listen to music, and spend time with her friends. To extend her knowledge and leadership skills, she enjoys participating in Odyssey of the Mind and Brain Bee. Additionally, she volunteers to connect with the community and help others.

Sara Pagnis

Student

Sara Pagnis is a senior at Hershey High School and is involved in Youth and Government, FBLA, the school concert orchestra, and the tennis team. She loves to travel and has been to 22 countries. Sara aspires to be a woman in STEM, which inspired her TEDx talk on technology.