Theme: Mihi Cura Futuri: The Care of the Future is Mine

TEDxHunterCCS are dynamic and powerful talks, presentations and performances by Hunter College High School and Hunter College Elementary School alums, students, faculty and parents.

Hunter College Campus Schools' Auditorium
71 East 94th Street
New York, New York, 10128
United States

​Abe Gold

Student

Abe is a 14 year-old pianist and composer. He plays in the Hunter Junior Jazz Ensemble, with a chamber group, and is a member of the teen new music group Face the Music. Abe’s compositions have been performed at venues such as Roulette, The Queens Museum, the ASCAP Foundation Awards Gala held at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Five Seasons Chamber Music Festival in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the Heartland Chamber Music Academy’s Stringendo Winter Concert, in Overland Park, Kansas. NewMusicBox described Abe’s 4 NYC Things as “extremely inventive sonic depictions of life in New York City.” His Piano Trio No. 1 was performed in 2015 at the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society’s Young Ensemble Concert with Yuki Kanazawa on violin and Zaul Tavangar on cello, and was selected as a winner in the NYSSMA Young Composer Competition.

Amari Rose Leigh

Student

Amari performed in Tony Award® winning Broadway and Off Broadway productions, television and film. She is member of The Arts Effect All-Girl Theater Company, most recently appearing in the national tour of Slut: The Play (a 2013 NYC Fringe Festival finalist), which addresses the impact of rape culture and the over-sexualization of girls and women on individuals and communities. Amari has studied Shakespeare with the Public Theatre and has been featured in five Shakespeare productions on the Hunter stage. In addition to theatre, Amari is passionate about History and French language/culture, she sits on the Bias & Mediation Panel, is co-Founder/President of Feminist Future, President of the African American Cultural Society and a proud Big Sib. She is a winner of Lincoln Center Theatre’s Joan and Joseph F. Cullman III’s Award for Extraordinary Creativity and represented Hunter at the English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition.

Andrea Gonzales

Student

Andrea, a 17 year old high school student at Hunter College High School, is the co-creator and co-developer of the 8-bit game Tampon Run. She and Bard Early College High School graduate Sophie Houser developed the game for their final project in the Girls Who Code's 2014 summer immersion program. Since its launch in September 2014, they have won a People's Voice Webby Award, a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award, and are working on a picture book to encourage young children to learn about computer science. When Andrea is not working on Tampon Run, she's practicing piano, working with the Hunter robotics team as Build Captain, editing layout for ANNALS and The Observer, or interning at Frederator Studios and DoSomething.org.

Arden Levy

Student

Arden is a junior at Hunter College High School. She is passionate about youth activism and organizing, and is an active member of Hunter's theater community. She has directed, produced, and done backstage crew for numerous Hunter Theater productions. She is an intern at the New York Civil Liberties Union and a member of Growing Youth Organizers (GYO), a youth-led coalition that focuses on urban farming, sustainability and social justice. She is also the co-founder and co-president of the International Conflict Resolution Club (ICRC) at Hunter, which leads discussions and brings in speakers to talk about pressing current events topics. Arden is a teen adviser and blogger for Choices, a Scholastic magazine.

Fred McIntosh

Director of Admissions Prep for Prep

Fred is the Director of Admissions at Prep for Prep. In his role, he is responsible for recruiting and selecting the 200 students (from among 4,000 applicants) who will participate each year in the largest leadership development program of its kind for academically gifted students of color from underserved communities. Fred earned a B.S. in Psychology from Tulane University, and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. After five years as a litigation associate, Fred left the law, briefly for the world of executive recruiting, and then the world of education. Over the last 14 years, Fred has advocated for and worked with underserved youth in underserved communities in New York City and across the country.

HCHS Chamber Choir

Conductor HCHS Student Chorus

Lending their voices to our TEDx conference are students from the high school’s Chamber Choir, a select group of singers chosen by special audition from the members of the Senior Chorus. Their repertoire ranges from early English madrigals to modern jazz, and they perform under the direction of Mr. Robert Randall, a member of the Art and Music Faculty at HCHS. Joining us today are Larissa Archondo, Emma Bauchner, Gabriel Buchdahl, Isabella Cao, Linda Chen, Benjamin Edelman, Anna Farber, Andrea Gonzales, Eric Hu, Nina Hu, Lingyu Kong, Chloe Levine, Dylan Li, Angie Liao, Greg Lipson, Ria Modak, Pau Rius, Safia Southey, and Kenneth Yeung.

I-HELP Liberia

Student Volunteers

The I-HELP Liberia project is a national organization, started at Hunter College High School by a group of students in the late 1990s, with the aim of helping people in Liberia. The I-HELP organization is committed to improving learning opportunities for Liberian teachers and students who crave knowledge but don’t have the resources to pursue it. As students interested in science ourselves, we see science education as a solution for some of the existing problems in Liberia today.

Jean-Phillip Maheu

International Brand & Agency Strategy and global accounts at Twitter

Jean-Philippe (JP) leads the Global Agencies Partnership and Global Brands teams at Twitter. JP was most recently CEO of Bluefin Labs, which was acquired by Twitter in February 2013. Under JP’s leadership, Bluefin achieved remarkable sales traction with leading brands and strengthened its market leading position. Twitter’s acquisition of Bluefin Labs led AdAge to name JP as one of the “eight great digital hires of 2012”. Prior to Bluefin, JP spent six years with Razorfish, where he ascended to the role of CEO for the last two years. Following that, he was the Chief Digital Officer at Ogilvy, responsible for digital growth and innovation across the company's operating units. More recently, JP was Global CEO of Publicis Modem, the digital marketing unit of Publicis Worldwide. JP is on the board of the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau). He taught at Columbia Business School entrepreneurship program as an adjunct professor between 2003 and 2006. He is @jpmaheu on Twitter.

Jonathan Kirshner

Professor of International Political Economy

Jonathan is the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Professor of International Political Economy in the Department of Government at Cornell University, where he teaches on International Relations, Political Economy, and Politics and Film. His most recent books include Hollywood's Last Golden Age: Politics, Society and the Seventies Film in America, and American Power after the Financial Crisis. He is also the author of the novel Urban Flight, which takes place in New York City in 1975. From Cornell University Jonathan is a recipient of the Provost's Award for Distinguished Scholarship, and the Stephen and Margery Russell Distinguished Teaching Award.

Josselyne Herman-Saccio

Personal Manager, Speaker

Josselyne began her career in entertainment, she supervised the production of original programming and produced commercials. She produced several feature films and has been nominated for multiple awards. In the 90s Josselyne pursued her lifelong "dream" of being a songwriter and pop singer. Her group BOY KRAZY won the HINRG award for best vocal performance, the BMI award for most played song on the radio and joined the exclusive club of artists whose first song went to #1 on the charts. She has spent the past 19 years as a personal manager for experts, actors, writers, directors and recording artists. Josselyne is one of the few professionals who have been successful on the business, production and talent sides of the entertainment industry. Josselyne has led programs for Landmark Worldwide, an international training and development company, programs designed to inspire effectiveness and creativity in others enabling them to realize their own dreams and make the world a better place

Judith Sachs

Dance Teacher and Educator

Judith started her professional life as an actor and dancer in the 1960s, then switched gears to author healthcare books and direct copy for pharmaceutical websites at several different ad agencies. When she was laid off at 65, with one hip replacement done and another coming, she decided to return to the world of dance, but in a different role. As she worked her body back to its natural moving state, she wanted to offer the same possibilities to others. She was trained as a Dance for PD® teacher in the techniques developed by the Mark Morris Dance Group and the Brooklyn Parkinson’s Group, but felt that she wanted to take a slightly different direction. Her program, ANYONE CAN DANCE®, serves those with movement restrictions or cognitive impairment, whether they are on their feet, in chairs, wheelchairs or walkers. Judith is a member of the Lifetime Arts Teaching Artist Roster.

Katrina Gonzales

Student

Katrina Gonzales, 16, has been an active participant in the arts community all her life. She began studying cello with Vladimir Panteleyev when she was five years old at the Special Music School, and after transferring to Hunter College High School, continued onto the Young Artist Program at Kaufman Center. She is an Edward and Sally van Lier Arts Fellow and has played in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Concert Hall. With her school chamber groups, she is also a three-time winner of the Young Musicians Competition and two-time winner of Young Ensemble Competition at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. When she isn't playing cello, she works as a Student Producer at the Chamber Music Society and participates in in both the Shakespeare and Musical Repertory productions here at Hunter. This year she will also be one of the Art Editors of Annals, Hunter’s yearbook, as well as actor/director of "Much Ado About Nothing".

Kevin Yu

Student

Kevin is a senior at Hunter College High School. He is a filmmaker that has produced multiple award-winning short films. His short film "Ascend" won first prize at the OCA-NY Hate Crimes Prevention Art Contest, and his short film "Flowers" won the Grand Prize at the AAA Traffic Safety Art Contest. His short film "Amos" is an official selection of the All American High School Film Festival and will be screened at the AMC Theaters in Times Square. "Amos" was crowd funded on Indiegogo and reached it's goal of $3,000. Kevin also enjoys play-writing and his play "Are You Ready?" was produced at Hunter's annual play festival: Brick Prison Playhouse. Kevin aspires to go to film school and hopes to have a career as a writer-director.

Lawrence Amsel

Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychitry

Larry did his undergraduate studies and some graduate work in mathematics, but then switched direction and became a psychiatrist. He has been on the psychiatry faculty of the medical school at Columbia University for over twenty years both as a clinical practitioner and as a researcher. His early research was on suicide prevention which got him very interested in the applications of Decision Science and Game Theory to psychiatry. He organized the first American Psychiatric Association symposium on Game Theory and psychiatry, and has published articles and presented posters on Game Theory modeling of suicide, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Eating Disorders. More recently Larry has been collaborating with the Child Psychiatric Epidemiology Group (CPEG) as Director of Mathematical Psychiatry, creating innovative collaborations involving Decision Science as applied to the psychiatric disorders of children and adolescents.

Lisa Siegmann

Assistant Principal HCHS

Lisa Siegmann was so eager to be a teacher that she cajoled her younger sisters into “playing school” during vacations. Her teaching career began 25 years ago in the first Teach For America corps at I.S. 164 in Washington Heights. She earned her M.S. in Teaching and Curriculum at the University of Rochester, and with her earlier dual BAs in English and Theatre Arts from Drew University, she taught adult literacy in Boston hospitals and First Aid/CPR for the American Red Cross before landing a 9th grade English position in central Massachusetts. In 2002, she moved back to NYC and joined the HCHS English/CT Department. Ever a practitioner of the “shake up your life every few years” approach to career planning, she transitioned to school administration as an Assistant Principal in 2007. She is a frequent Broadway theatergoer, an Aunt who buys ice cream for her 14 (and counting) nieces and nephews, and oddly, for a person with no known math or science talents, a robotics advisor.

Nicholas Goldrosen

Student

Nick’s academic interests lie in international relations and human rights, and this year he is writing a Social Studies Honors thesis on human rights education with Ms. Lindsey Stolarsky. He currently serves as Secretary-General of Hunter’s Model United Nations club, and helps to plan and organize HCHS’ Human Rights Day event, as he has done in past years. When not in the classroom or holding a Model UN gavel, Nick may be found directing plays in the auditorium, editing articles in the What’s What office, playing trumpet or singing in one of Hunter’s musical groups, or hiking into the woods. An Eagle Scout, he usually finds his way out of the woods as well.

Noah Kaminsky

High School Science Teacher

Noah graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in geology and received his masters degree in teaching secondary science from the American Museum of Natural History. This fall, he begins his second year teaching high school at the Urban Assembly School for Global Commerce in East Harlem. In college, he sang in the Cornell University Glee Club and served on the Committee in Support of Teaching and Learning in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Every once in a while, you might catch him on air at WVBR-FM Ithaca, where he received the 2012 Best of Ithaca Award from the Ithaca Times for best local radio show. He maintains contact with several of his teachers and mentors from HCHS and still considers the Brick Prison a familiar home.

Paul Reale

Specialist in Building Sustainability and Educator

Paul started as an engineer at Bell Laboratories. His passion to address climate change led to a dramatic career shift. He trained with Al Gore’s The Climate Project, became a LEED Accredited Professional and launched the startup "Green Allowance". His combined talents of deep technical understanding, passion for the cause and refined communication skills have led to a full career in the NY green building industry. Paul has taught thousands of real estate professionals, architects, engineers and building operators in building energy code, green leasing techniques and energy efficient building operations. He has given scores of talks about climate change to thousands of people. Paul currently works in applied research at CUNY Building Performance Laboratory, supervises students at City College’s graduate program in Sustainability in the Urban Environment, trains and consults in teaching techniques for Urban Green Council and manages energy efficiency projects.

Raymond Tsao

Entrepreneur

Raymond is an Entrepreneur, Investor, and Problem Solver. He recently launched Pour Your Cup, a social enterprise, to solve the problem of how to make it easier for people to invest themselves in others, fostering a culture of generosity, engagement, and purpose.

Yuki Kanazawa

Student

From the age of three, Yuki Kanazawa embarked on her journey with the violin. She has appeared in many concerts held at prestigious concert venues in New York City such as Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Notably, she was selected as one of the performers for the Young Ensemble Concert hosted by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in 2014 and 2015. She is eager to continue pursuing her musical career along with studying and developing her social activities.

Zaul Tavangar

Student

Zaul has been playing the cello for eight years, ever since he was five. He spent three years playing with Inter-school orchestras of New York, which notably performed once at Carnegie Hall. Zaul came from the Anderson School to Hunter in the 7th grade; in the 8th grade, he played with Hunter’s junior orchestra and joined Yuki and Abe to create a chamber music group. This group, playing Abe’s own composition, was chosen last year to play at the Young Ensemble Concert hosted by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Zaul’s other hobbies besides music include playing sports, especially soccer. Over the years, he has found it very enjoyable (whether it’s cello or soccer) to play and work together with others.