In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Upper St. Clair High School
1825 McLaughlin Run Road
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15241
United States

Anya Ekbote

Anya is a junior at USC High School. Like others, she is growing up in the prime era of social media. Kids and teens like Anya are evidently attached to their phones, spending most of their time scrolling through social media sites. From the perspective of a teenager, Anya expresses both information and concerns for how Influencers might affect the growth of both her own generation and the future youth. While prior generations looked up to celebrities in film and music, today’s youth primarily admire Youtube and Instagram leaders. This recent shift can either be beneficial or detrimental, rising conversations for how this might affect our visions moving forward.

Ashley Eichberg

Ashley Eichberg, who has experienced these effects for herself, discusses the long term harms that media exposure is causing her peers. Rather than hearing about it from adults who are foreign to the issue, Eichberg hopes that spreading the message of media harm directly to her peers will encourage a student-led change. Ashley is a rising senior at Upper St. Clair high school, and she hopes to raise awareness of this issue to those in her community.

Ashvita Saxena

Ever since seventh grade, Ashvita has recognized instances of gender inequality, in her world and the world around her. Both her grandmothers were examples of this: One, getting married instead of finishing school, and the other not being recognized for her accomplishments. Then, her parents showed her a TED Talk by Courtney Ferrell. Watching this made the issue clear to Ashvita, and she realized she could do so many things to help the cause even though she was still only in middle school. Ashvita started a Girl Up Club at her middle school, and they raised over $3,000. Flash forward to high school, and she is still supporting this issue and raising awareness for these girls and staying active in organizations such as the UN and Girl Up. She believes this is an issue that not many talk about or are aware of, but that many should be. The more people that know about this issue, the more people that will be inclined to help- just like Ashvita.

Maanasa Reddy

As a young girl, Maanasa noticed the grave disparities between the opportunities she received and the opportunities her mother who went to school in India received. Further, she realized this disparity carried on even in America. As a current high school student, she’s tried her hardest to make up for all the opportunities her female relatives before her never had. In the process, she’s learned the immense stress placed upon students and inequalities within the system itself. Since Maanasa was younger, she could not follow the structure of standard American schooling (built for groups), and had to teach herself much of the content as a result.

Naiya Livingston

Social media is growing exponentially not only in the United States, but worldwide. Today, social media plays a major role in our society. Recently over quarantine, Naiya has struggled with a social media addiction. Distancing herself from life, she soon came to the realization that her phone addiction “lifestyle” was not ideal. Naiya implemented changes and soon recognized that without the distraction of social media, there was potential for her to once again feel connected with reality. Soon after her personal experiment, the Social Dilemma Documentary was released on Netflix. Her eyes were wide open in disbelief for she now realized why she was addicted to social media and how it directly affected her mental health. Naiya is a recent graduate of Upper St. Clair high school, and she will be heading to Indiana University (Bloomington Honors) to study Business Management in the fall.

Reshma Gudla

Reshma interacts closely with people of all ages—elementary schoolers as Founder of Spark Girls into STEM, high schoolers as Speech and Debate treasurer, and senior residents as a volunteer at her local retirement home—and has learned that this practice is not uncommon. As a recent graduate from Upper St. Clair high school, she will be attending Georgia Tech this coming fall to study Computer Science.

Shay McDowell

Shay McDowell is a recent graduate of Upper St. Clair high school. She is passionate about crocheting and runs an Etsy shop to sell handmade crochet stuffed animals. She plans to study computer science at Villanova University in the fall and has dreams of traveling the world. She was inspired to speak about FOMO because she had always been immune to it until the COVID-19 pandemic, and she was interested in the psychology behind feeling left out.

Tyler Paras

From a young age, Tyler struggled with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and auditory processing disorder. After sub-par performances on standardized exams throughout high school, he scored in the 99th percentile on the MCAT, the entrance exam for medical school. He later graduated Summa Cum Laude from Westmont College, became a research scholar at Harvard Medical School, received his MD from the University of Pittsburgh, and is now an orthopaedic surgery resident at the University of California San Diego. Tyler is passionate about medical education. He started an academic advising company for undergraduates and was a leader for the medical board exam test preparation program at the University of Pittsburgh.