Theme: Impact

This biannual TEDx event is led by CA students Ivy Nangalia ('23) and Angela Zhang ('24). Student speakers will tackle a variety of topics from the intersections of STEM and its numerous life-saving benefits; to the importance of mourning an eating disorder; to the necessity of comprehensive financial literacy skills; to how our wardrobes are a window into the world we live in.

Cary Academy
1500 N HARRISON AVE
Cary, North Carolina, 27513
United States

Audrey Song

Paying Special Attention to Special Education

Audrey Song (CA'26) is an avid artist who loves to create digitally fabricated sculptures and share poetry at the CA poetry slam. She has an Autistic brother with an untapped wealth of talent and knowledge that school systems ignore due to the underfunded special education program. She believes that everyone should be able to share their work and voices regardless of whether they have a learning difference. Students with learning differences are often lumped together without careful lesson plans or a curriculum that is either challenging or focused on helping them learn, and she wants to change that. Her talk explains how schools need to pay special attention to special education.

Ella Gupta

Leveling the Financial Playing Field: The Class Everyone Should Take

Ella (CA '23) is the author of Gen Z Money $ense: A Personal Finance and Investing Guide, a comprehensive introduction to personal finance and investing, covering topics ranging from budgeting to Environmental Social Governance investing to the blockchain. 40,000+ students currently utilize her book as a classroom resource. She is passionate about reaching underserved young women to narrow the gender financial confidence gap. After launching a petition to guarantee access to a personal finance course for all high school students, she is featured in a film documentary on financial education advocacy. She has written for Barron's and Yahoo Finance. At Cary Academy, she is co-editor of the school newspaper, co-leader of the Students for Environmental Education in Developing Sustainability (SEEDS) Club, and leader of the Shifting the Education Paradigm Club. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and hiking.

Emma Zhang

The World to Wardrobe Pipeline

Emma Zhang (CA'25) is a fashion passionate sophomore at Cary Academy from Apex, NC. Ever since she started to look into the ethics behind fast fashion, she realized the dark undertone that clothing could have and the story it could tell about the world. She also does speeches and dances alongside leading the "Fast Fashion Fighters" club.

JR Cobb

1+1>2

JR Cobb (CA' 22) has been fascinated by science since the first day of freshman-year biology. In high school, he was a nationally ranked impromptu speaker in Speech and Debate, a competitive swimmer, and a Science Olympiad participant. Now, a biochemistry (pre-public health) major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he wants to leverage his time in college to research antibiotic-resistant bacteria and other public health issues. At UNC, he is a staff writer for the Carolina Scientific journal, a member of the Carolina Cancer Association, and a swimmer on the club swim team.

Juliana Segal

Mourning Darkness: Life After an Eating Disorder

After having an eating disorder for several years, Juliana Segal (CA '25) began to escape the mold that her ED made for her. Going through the ups and downs of eating disorder recovery, Juliana will take you through the five stages of grief through the lens of identity loss and change. Her goal is to answer the question, "why do I grieve something so bad for me?" a phenomenon often experienced by many but much less often discussed.

Kajal Parmar

Running Heals: One Stride at a Time

Kajal Parmar (CA' 26) loves all things about running. Whether exploring a new trail or going on the weekend team long run, running enables Kajal to find balance in everything she does. In addition to running providing a physical benefit, it benefits her mentally too! In response to the current mental health crisis, Kajal would like to offer an alternative solution: physical activity. Kajal's quest to improve emotional well-being has led to her developing a program called "Running Heals," a non-profit aimed at improving adolescents' mental health. In addition to running, Kajal is an avid Bharatanatyam dancer, a form of Indian classical dance. She enjoys math, science, and the outdoors.