Theme: A New Medium

Here at York, we have many platforms for telling our story ... sophomore speeches, commencement charges, punmeister deliveries. TEDxYorkSchool is a new medium for us to tell it. With students, alumni, and faculty who all have truly unique stories, together they create the ethereal substance that is hard to define, but when it's observed first-hand, the best we can say is, "that is so York."

For the first TEDxYorkSchool we have gathered a range of independent thinkers from the York community who ignite their creative impulse by finding a new medium to solve a timeless problem or express a striking story. These musicians, engineers, painters, athletes, and designers will charge you to rethink the function of conventional instruments and reimagine the possibilities of new ones. Please join us for TEDxYorkSchool: A New Medium.

York School
9501
Monterey, California, 93940-6522
United States

Adam Shapiro

Adam Shapiro is currently old enough to have a glider license but not a powered pilot’s license (a.k.a. a sixteen-year-old junior). From a young age, Adam has always wanted to drive stuff, progressing from construction vehicles to garbage trucks to trains and finally, to airplanes. Today, Adam is studying to become a private pilot. Because flying airplanes doesn’t make enough noise, Adam also plays trumpet in the York Jazz and Concert bands, as well as participating in Youth Music Monterey.

Austin Eaton '15

Austin penned and performed his first rap, “The Taco Bell Rap,” in seventh grade. In the five years since then his words have become more sophisticated as his appreciation for language and linguistics has developed. For Austin, rap is a vehicle to express joy as well as outrage and he often collaborates with fellow rap enthusiasts and has been a guest on CSUMB Radio show Reno’s Most Wanted. He is a fan of many kinds of music and lists rapper Kendrick Lamar, jazz legend John Coltrane and South African trumpeter Hugh Masakela among his favorite artists.

C.J. Paghasian '16

C.J. is the opposite of a starving artist. Art doesn't hinder his well being. Rather, art boosts it. The kid has been making comics ever since he got a hold of a pen and paper (you don't often see bad life choices happen so young), and since then his work has been featured in The Monterey Herald and Foolish Times. His most recent online series, College Un-Prep, will be made into a comic book in collaboration with his mentor, a professional cartoonist.

Constantine Perepelitsa ’06

Constantine "Costya" is a Silicon Valley software engineer currently leading the data infrastructure team at Ellation, Inc.—best known as the parent company of Crunchyroll, the "Netflix for anime." His interests and experience include high-performance computing, machine learning, massively distributed systems, NoSQL databases, programming language theory, and arguing vociferously about utter nonsense on the Internet.

Grace Khieu

Aside from being a full-time student, Grace Khieu is a self-employed Youtuber, blogger, and photographer. Like the typical teenager, she spent a big chunk of her life on the internet - some of that time being wasted, some of that time being productive. However, she eventually attracted a handful of followers online and branded her name as a creator, creating the business of herself. After high school, she wishes to continue down the path of business to get an MBA.

Isabelle Sanford '17

In addition to being a student at York, Isabelle Sanford loves playing the harp, Irish dancing, online roleplaying, writing, and astronomy. She's had a telescope since her 16th birthday, which she takes out regularly to look at both the planets and the distant stars (only on non-school nights, of course). She follows multiple astronomy blogs, and plans to major in Astronomy or Astrophysics in college.

John Daniel

Speaker of French, Spanish, Arabic, and Russian; Army veteran; established Peninsula singer and actor; Wonder Woman enthusiast—John Daniel "JD" is York School’s polyglot dramatis personae. Using his wisdom and empathy, JD mentors, inspires, and challenges his French I-V students, sponsors the French Honors Society, and interviews York hopefuls as part of the Admission Committee. Always keeping his classroom lively and connected, JD has created a relationship with a sister school in Tourcoing, France to give his students authentic insights into the French language and culture, and help them see how similar they can be to teenagers 5,500 miles away.

Joseph Rhee '17

Joseph Rhee loves to spend his summers going on service trips to help other people. He has been to Hopi Indian Reservations, Mexico, and Paraguay to help those in poverty. For Joseph, service to others is something that brings him joy and is what led him to go to the CIEE Cape Town, South Africa program this past summer to learn more about education as a human right. Although Joseph doesn’t know what to pursue as a major after high school, he hopes to find a field where he can impact people in need of support.

Lekha Duvvoori '18

Lekha Duvvoori is deeply regretful that gaining an excellent education prohibits her from reading as much as she would like. She consoles herself by baking lots of desserts and bringing them to everyone she knows. As a junior, she continues to state that she has plenty of time left in which to choose a career path. She deeply believes that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is hidden in a picture book somewhere.

Logan Parsons

Logan Parsons is an art teacher and freelance illustrator. Nature has always been the primary influence in Logan's art; capturing the character of its many odd, funny, and beautiful organisms. Her illustrations have been featured in National Parks and scientific publications across the country including "Scientific American" magazine, "The Scientist" magazine, and "Bay Nature" magazine, to name a few.

Montana Sprague '17

During her five years of homeschool, Montana would visit York School at every opportunity - Open Houses, Science Fairs, sporting events, and theatre productions. Since her first day as an actual York student almost three years ago, Montana has been involved in all aspects and loving it: student government, sports, choir, JSA, Robotics (she’s the welder), and one of the founding members of the Peer Helper Program. She hopes to major in Biomedical Engineering.

Patrick Griffith, MD

Patrick is a Chicago native with over 30 years of experience in medicine and surgery. His pursuits have taken him across the country as he's refined and developed his career. From general surgery at Georgetown, cardiothoracic surgery at UNC Chapel Hill, pediatric and transplant surgery at Emory University, a research fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda to an MBA from UC Irvine focused on healthcare economics, Patrick combines his extensive experience and skill with the most advanced technologies and procedures. Currently, he is the Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Rideout Memorial Hospital and a Clinical Professor of Surgery at UC Davis Hospital.

Samantha Wishnak ’06

Samantha spends her time on land as Digital Media Coordinator for Exploration Vessel Nautilus, sharing her overwhelming excitement for ocean exploration with a global audience as part of a multi-disciplinary pod of scientists, engineers, and educators. Part of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's ecosystem for many years, she returns to the bay often with underwater robots and scuba gear in search of her favorite squid.

Scott Snibbe

Scott Snibbe is an entrepreneur, media artist, and CEO/founder of Eyegroove. His award-winning music apps have featured collaborations with Björk, Beck, Philip Glass, Metric, and Passion Pit. He was one of the early developers of After Effects (acquired by Adobe), and is a pioneer in interactive art, computer vision, and human-computer interaction.

Shana Opperman

As lead producer of the Art, Copy & Code team at Google, Shana connects disparate points in design, technology, and media to pre-imagine the future of advertising. A consummate relisher of "How?" she seeks new ways to bridge physical and digital moments. Avid space enthusiast, amateur wordsmith, and advocate for the unknown, she's happy to return to York as a proud alum.

Teagan Mauck '17

In one word, Teagan is a fighter. Whether on the field, playing defense in both field hockey and lacrosse, or clubs, arguing in Debate Club and standing up for the underprivileged by performing community service in Key Club, she somehow always makes her voice heard in this large world. She wishes every person could express equanimity and open-mindedness in order to make a more accepting world for people who are not always accepted. She hopes to major in international relations with a concentration in either counterterrorism or public health.

Tim Lee

Tim wasn't supposed to be a comedian. A biologist by training, he graduated magna cum laude from UC San Diego with honors in biology. He went on to complete his PhD at UC Davis. He spent years developing simulation and analytical models of population dynamics before he discovered that this bored him to tears. When he tried comedy for the first time the tears stopped.