Theme: What's Next?

stress, Stress, STRESS!!! Bad for us? Good for us?!? Join us for a 360 degree look on a word that has captured the attention of the press, the medical profession, and communities.

Mira Costa High School
1401 Artesia Blvd
Manhattan Beach, California, 90266
United States

Andy Weir

Andy Weir was first hired as a programmer for a national laboratory at age fifteen and has worked as a software engineer ever since. He is also a lifelong space nerd and a devoted hobbyist of subjects like relativistic physics, orbital mechanics, and the history of manned spaceflight. The Martian is his first novel.

Angela Bennett and Michael Stadvec Fit On Studios

As owners of FitOn Studios, Angela and Michael are committed to invigorating and revitalizing body, mind, and spirit. Offering Indoor Cycling, Barre, and TRX, FitOn offers personal attention and a customized experience.

Brett Doar

Brett Doar is a multi-disciplinary artist known for his work building Rube Goldberg machines and other interactive and kinetic devices for a wide range of clients. He was a chief designer and builder of viral video hits, such as OK Go’s groundbreaking “This Too Shall Pass” music video and Red Bull “Kluge”, as well as Goldiblox’s “Princess Machine”. In 2015 he was named to Adweek’s list of “10 Artists That Are Changing The Way We Look At Advertising And The World”.

Ellen Sloan

As CEO/COO of Social Rhythm, a mobile phone app start-up focused on social collaboration to support and care for people with mental illness, teens and young adults with developmental disabilities and the elderly, Ellen Sloan realized she had a problem: she didn’t know the first thing about coding. Recently, she took time off to learn to code at Sabio.la, a software development boot camp akin to Marine boot camp for the mind. While her career sequencing was a bit backwards, she realized it's never too late to start coding!

George Esquivel

From his beginnings making shoes in his garage in the mid-1990’s, George Esquivel is the founder, president, and design director of Esquivel, a modern American workshop specializing in unique handcrafted leather shoes and accessories. A California-based designer and craftsman located in Orange County, George takes inspiration from art, design and architecture, and has based some of his previous collections on classic automobiles, the Empire State Building, and the works of Frank Gehry and Egon Schiele.

Julia Greer

Julia Greer likes small stuff, really really small stuff. Greer creates 3-dimensional nano-architectures and designs experiments to assess their properties. These “meta-materials” have multiple applications, for example, as biomedical devices, battery electrodes, and lightweight structural materials. They provide a rich “playground” for fundamental scientific pursuits. After graduating with an S.B. in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Advanced Music Performance from MIT in 1997, Greer studied at Stanford and received her Ph.D. in Materials Science. She worked at Intel and was a post-doc at PARC before joining the faculty of Caltech in 2007, where she has appointments in Materials Science, Mechanical Engineering, and Medical Engineering.

Khilea Douglass

Khilea Douglass is a versitile dancer-actress with extensive performaning experience. She danced for Alvin Ailey and The Lion King, played as a featured extra in the movie Something New, and studies at the David Kagen's school of Film Acting.

Mark Lengsfeld

Mark Lengsfeld founded Build It Workspace in 2014 as a place for innovators to test their ideas and turn them into products. As an open workspace and learning center, Mark developed programs for elementary students that have been introduced in 4 school districts around Southern California. These programs engage students to explore the fundamentals of design using technology and hands-on creativity, building an early foundation for innovation in children.

McKenna Wells

McKenna is a singer, songwriter, actress, paddle board enthusiast, and high school student. The youngest of three children, born and raised in California, McKenna attends a performing arts high school where she studies singing, acting, and piano, in addition to the traditional high school courses.

Nidhi Kalra

Nidhi Kalra is a senior information scientist at RAND Corporation, codirector of RAND's Center for Decision Making Under Uncertainty, and a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Kalra’s research at RAND Corporation addresses energy, environment, and science and technology policy. She recently led projects to ensure long-term water security in Lima, Peru and to provide policy guidance on autonomous vehicle technologies. Her clients include the State of California, the World Bank, the U.S. National Cooperative Highway Research Program, the Government of Qatar, the Federal Highway Administration, and the Department of Defense. In 2013, she served as a senior decision scientist in the Office of the Chief Economist of Sustainable Development at the World Bank. She has also developed educational technology tools to promote literacy among blind children in developing countries. Kalra received her Ph.D. in robotics from Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

Pooja Nagpal

Pooja Nagpal is a 17 year-old student who attends Mira Costa High School. Pooja is very passionate about gender equality and women empowerment, both mentally and physically. As a second degree black belt in Taekwondo and trained in various other forms of martial arts as well as street fighting, Pooja has created a curriculum of self-defense maneuvers and women empowerment activities for women and girls.

Ted Schilowitz

Currently the “Futurist” at 20th Century Fox, Ted works directly with senior leadership on the constantly evolving art and science of advanced motion picture creation. He advises and creates strategy on future technology and a vision of cinema for the next generation of movie entertainment.

Teo Alfero

Originally from Argentina, Teo moved to California in 1999. He comes from a family of educators and legislators with a tradition of supporting youth development in his native country. Embracing those values, Teo developed a passion of reaching out to young people in need of mentoring and guidance. Through rock climbing and mountaineering adventures, he gave many young people a rite of passage experience that helped them and their families gain a sense of confidence and accomplishment.

Tess Vigeland

Tess Vigeland is a veteran journalist, and a well-known voice to millions of American radio listeners. She is the CEO of Tess Vigeland Productions, a Los Angeles-based multi-media company. Her first book, “Leap: Leaving A Job With No Plan B to Find the Career and Life You Really Want,” was published by Random House in August of 2015. When she’s not locked away writing, Tess can be heard as a backup anchor for NPR’s “All Things Considered,” as well as KCRW’s “To The Point” and KPCC’s “Take Two.” She also serves as a professional emcee, speaker, panel moderator, and interviewer for conferences and other events. She has written for The New York Times and The Guardian, among numerous other publications.