Theme: Call to Adventure

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).

Eric Ledgerwood
780 Arastradero Rd.
Palo Alto, California, 94306
United States

Abigail Joseph

Dr. Abigail Joseph (she/her), The Innovation Doctor, has an extensive career as an educator in the California Bay Area as a teacher, coach, facilitator, and speaker. Her passion as an innovation strategist is helping professionals spark their creative confidence so that they can design home and professional lives filled with joy and purpose. Her commitment to education includes establishing, developing, and supporting STEM programs in numerous schools and organizations. Abigail currently works as the MS Director of Learning, Innovation, and Design at The Harker School in San Jose, CA. She is a member of the inaugural cohort of CSTA Equity Fellows and serves on the Board of Directors. Born in Toronto, raised in New Jersey, Dr. Joseph resides in Sunnyvale, California with her husband innovating the possibilities of tomorrow.

Agastya Goel

Agastya Goel is a freshman at Gunn High School. He’s a platinum-level competitive programmer and budding mathematician, currently writing a research paper on the RS correspondence. He loves music and playing board games with his friends. He also heads Code 4 Change, an initiative to raise awareness about social issues. He’s a data geek by day and stargazer by night, and he’s excited to take you all on an adventure with data.

Amelia Kopp

Amelia Kopp is a junior at Mountain View High School. In March of 2020, Amelia started her own sustainable online vintage resale company, The Innocent Shop. Within four months, she became a top seller on the Depop platform. In 2020, Amelia started working with the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop in downtown Los Altos. She created a section for youth customers and organized monthly $10-and-under clothing sales to promote sustainable and affordable fashion to teens. Over the course of a year she organized six events, increasing overall sales by 70% and tripling the number of youth volunteers in the process. Amelia has also played club and high school volleyball for the past five years. This past season she was MVHS’s kill leader and earned all-league. She also enjoys working at local restaurant Cafe Vitale, along with interning at Los Altos-based sustainable fashion company Aurora & Lolo, and Santa Monica film production company Farm League. Amelia is passionate about TEDx and serves on the board of TEDxMountainView as the Head of Logistics.

Basil Lera

One of Basil’s goals is to show other young people the power of coding, and to inspire others to get into programming. She has won many awards with her skill in programming and enjoys giving back to the community with her friends Juno and Justin with SVTTT.

Jim Shelby

Jim Shelby just retired as director of the Gunn High School Theatre department after happily teaching and directing there for 38 years since 1983. He was born in San Francisco, grew up in Portola Valley, and graduated from Woodside High School in 1973. After attaining his BA in Politics from UC Santa Cruz in 1978, Jim was a volunteer English teacher in Indonesia with Volunteers in Asia for two years, and subsequently worked as a paralegal at Heller Ehrman White and McCauliffe in San Francisco from 1980-1982. He then returned to school and earned his Master’s in Education from Stanford University 1983 before starting his teaching career at Gunn, where he's been ever since! Jim met his Italian wife in Paris while on sabbatical in 2000, got married in 2004, and had a daughter in 2006, who is currently a Sophomore at Gunn! He loves playing piano, acting, directing, singing, skiing, riding his bike, and playing charades, Pictionary and celebrity bowl.

Juno Kim

Student

Juno is currently a junior at Gunn High School and a co-founder of SVTTT. He hopes to inspire youth in the intersections of various fields with tech and foster an empowering community for those wanting to discover their passion.

Justin Hou

Justin Hou is a junior at Gunn High School and cofounder of SVTTT. Through the organization known as Silicon Valley Teen Tech Talk (SVTTT), Justin has also found a love for working in a team, organizing events, and having a positive impact on his community.

Kristen Podulka

Kristen Podulka (she/her) is a former marketing executive turned Reiki Master, Energy Healing Practitioner, and Intuitive Guide. Kristen opened Palo Alto Reiki as a sacred space for self healing, offering Reiki and intuitive guidance to women and those who identify as women. Specializing in energetic release, rebalancing, and restoration, Kristen has helped hundreds of stressed, struggling, or otherwise suffering clients feel better by aligning their physical, emotional, and mental energy to its natural state of harmony. Born and raised in Michigan, Kristen now lives in Palo Alto, California with her husband, two kids, and Bob the cat.

Paul Kramer

Paul Kramer, a High School Junior currently serves the Institute for Youth in Policy as Executive Director. Prior to founding and running the Institute, Kramer served in numerous senior leadership positions across party lines - notably as Deputy Campaign Director with the Libertarian presidential campaign and Senior Field Manager with a local Democratic Campaign for Congress. As Kramer served in these positions, he was also active on social media, where he connected tens of millions of viewers to politics utilizing a neoteric policy lens. He thoroughly enjoys applying his analytical skills and exploring solutions to complex issues at hand.

William Yu

Will Yu is a 1st year BioEngineering Ph.D. Student at Stanford University researching tissue engineering strategies for treating diseases of cartilage and bone. On the side, Will enjoys content creation as a partnered streamer at twitch.tv/WillYuTV where he streams a variety of podcasts, co-working sessions, and games.