Theme: Youth Voices Around the Country

Join us for this exciting online event where young minds from across the country come together to share their ideas and inspire change.

TEDxWest Hartford Youth Online
705 Park Avenue
Bloomfield, Connecticut, 06002
United States

Aditya Gutti

Aditya Gutti is a 17-year-old senior from Frisco, Texas.

Arushima Swaroop

Aru Swaroop is a 16-year-old high school junior. She started the STEM Mentorship Association (STEMMA) at her school pairing high school mentors with elementary schoolers to help kids create their own STEM projects helping over 400 students. The mission is to spread awareness of STEM, cultivate the passion for learning in young minds, and provide high schoolers with skills to prepare them for their future. She is also the VP of Competitions at her school's HOSA chapter where she actively participates in community service events and manages all members' competition data. She has been playing the piano for 10 years and teaches weekly piano lessons to young students. She serves on her District's Superintendent's Council and her school's Principal's Advisory Council. She loves Psychology and worked on a year-long research project with a local professor on Racism and Perceptions of Beauty She presented her research poster at the SWPA Conference to 500+ professionals where they discussed ideas to further her research with undergrad students and professors in this field. She is currently working on a Cognitive Psychology project about color perception. She is committed to making a positive impact on my community.

Ethan Patel

Ethan Patel was born into an immigrant household, thus being a first-generation American, he faced several setbacks trying to share his vision of life beyond borders. Ethan is a 16-year-old boy and a high school junior. He is not only the founder of a school-wide organization that aims to make global reform a reality but is also a published researcher, in which he analyzed foreign policy. Despite the consistent challenges he faced, Ethan is a firm believer in following one’s passion and never giving up.

Jihan Kapur

Jihan is a 16-year-old high school junior. He is the Founder of the non-profit Peak Speak. He has also started Cash Curious, a YouTube channel on personal financial literacy conveyed through fun animations: https://www.youtube.com/@cashcurious. He is the Managing Director at ImpactEcon, and the Business founder Business for Mr Penguin Soap, the first of its kind surprise soap: https://www.instagram.com/mrpenguinsoap/. Jihan is a 2X TEDx Speaker.

Krish Saraff

Krish Saraff is a 17-year-old high school senior from Manhasset Hills, Long Island. He is a research assistant at the Columbia Economics Department, an intern at Swanlaab USA Ventures, and an intern at UN Global Compact Network India.

Mia McDunnah

Mia McDunnah is an 18-year-old CS major student in Seattle, WA.

Paula Onuoha

Paula Onuoha is a 15-year-old Senior living in Nigeria who has a passion for technology. She loves Coding, Content writing, Front-End Development, Manicure, and Python coding. She is a part of organizations such as Qubit by Qubit, Seed of Fortune, The Sunday Diplomat, Biomedizone, Sparked Flow, Data4all Ethics, Unwiring Mind, and Qworld. She wants to share her knowledge with the many youths around Africa who are unaware of technology and its advantages to themselves and society. She has received awards such as the 2022 EM GIRLS Social Corporate Responsibility Awards, Runner of the 2022 EM GIRLS Competition, 2nd place at the Women in Aerospace Blogathon competition, 4th position at the 2021 Technovation celebration ceremony, Best Performance Award at the 2022 Technovation celebration ceremony, GCF Star of the Month, and Best in Gastroenterology at BioMedizone. Her talk is about elevating the development of technology in Africa.

Rashmitha Bathina

She is a 16-year-old high school junior. She has been playing violin since 3rd grade and is the first chair in her High School Orchestra. She was selected to perform violin with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and Grammy Award Winners Gil Shaham and Eric Jacobsen in 9th grade. She is ranked 8th in the National BETA competition for Violin Solo. She is a three-time all-county honors student on Violin. Her volunteer work includes Florida Chapter Leader for the Women's Alliance in STEM and she is the founder and President of the Neuroscience Alliance at her school. She has been awarded the GOLD Presidential Volunteer Service award for her work with Sky is The Limit.

Rhea Krishnan

Rhea Krishnan is a high school senior and the creator of the podcast "Breaking Taboos." Rhea hopes to take her podcast, blog, and Instagram "Breaking Taboos" to the next level as she attends university. Her vision is to shape a brighter, stigma-free future for generations to come.

Shesh Budhabhatti

Shesh is a 17-year-old senior from Connecticut. She is the Founder/Executive Director of Shecancheckmate.org, a nonprofit organization that works to increase female representation in chess. She started playing chess at 3 years old and is a top chess player in her state. She leads the Student Ambassadors and founded an organization, GURLS (Girls United Reaching for Success), She has played a role in starting clubs like the Chess Club, FBLA, and Hack Club. In addition, Her activities include skiing, swimming, FBLA, an International Internship Program, a University of New Haven internship, and participation in Junior Achievement.

Shlok Kinikar

Shlok is an 18-year-old high school senior. He is an experienced academic tutor and has volunteered as a Youth Lead for Sewa International for 11 years. He is the Vice President of his DECA Chapter and the President of his NHS Chapter.