Theme: Serendipity

Our fourth TEDx event will explore the theme of “Serendipity” and what that idea entails—the seemingly random yet life-changing encounters, the spontaneous opportunities that present themselves, the stumbling across of something better than what is expected. It is the catalyst for great ideas—world-changing ideas—and yet there is no definite set of words that can fully explain “Serendipity” except for that fact that everyone has the opportunity to experience it during their lifetime.

3324 Ranch Road 620 South
Austin, Texas, 78738
United States

Aidan McGoldrick

Student

Aidan McGoldrick is a freshman at Lake Travis High School. He's also a self-proclaimed nerd, with interests spanning from playing cello to gaming to science fiction. Aidan believes that everyone has a voice and the ability to make an impact, and promotes awareness of the importance of diversity and inclusion, in addition to the conservation of the environment.

Amanda Jones

Student

Amanda Jones is a Senior at Lake Travis High School. One of 8 children in her family, Amanda's curiosity about psychology and authentic relationships comes from being a part of a boisterous and uniquely close family. Inspired by her own story, Amanda believes in constantly striving to love others wholly, accompanied by a big dose of forgiveness for the self and others for the inevitable failures. She will be attending Liberty University in the fall and is looking forward to the infinite possibility.

Andre Bradford

Performer and Activist

Aniket Naravane

Student

Aniket Naravane is a world citizen. An avid traveler and cricket fanatic, Aniket was born in India and has lived in Singapore, Malaysia, and Austin, Texas. He takes keen interest in physics and history while learning tabla, an Indian percussion instrument. Aniket is an 8th grader in Lake Travis Middle School and enjoys playing tennis. He aspires to complete the holy trinity of treks which include the Annapurna circuit, Camino De Santiago and the Haute route. He hopes you would be inspired from his talk.

Anirudh Utagikar

Student

Anirudh Utagikar is a freshman at Lake Travis High School. Born in Minneapolis, Anirudh faced many health hardships in his early life such as CDH and Dengue Fever. Now healthy and happy, he has been living in Lakeway for almost two years. His interests include technology, sports, and music.

Blake Ochoa

Student

Blake is a junior at LTHS, an NHS member, debate captain, and President of the FFA. When he's not working on school activities, he is most likely googling pictures of dogs. This is his first time speaking at a TED event, but one of many public speaking events he's enjoyed being a part of. He looks forward using the TEDx stage to speak about what he is passionate about.

Caitlin Waugh

Student

Caitlin is a senior at Lake Travis High School who is passionate about psychology and art. Since the beginning of TEDxLakeTravisHigh in 2014, she has enjoyed being a part of the graphic design team. Though currently her only job consists of surviving the last few weeks of high school, she plans on being a psychologist in the future. Next year she will go to Clark University to follow this dream.

Carson Hammock

Student

Carson Hammock is a freshman here at Lake Travis High. He enjoys spending his time being a part of the tech theatre crew here at the Performing Arts Center. He is very excited to give a TED talk about the deep and interesting topic of serendipity. He hopes you enjoy his talk as well as the other presenters today!

Elise Wells

Student

Elise Wells is a ninth grader at Lake Travis High School with a knack for art, photography, and writing. Her favorite elective is debate because it allows her to explore and argue the different points of view of important controversies in our world. Elise is a hardworking student who wholeheartedly believes that our culture will only be able to progress as long as we become more open-minded and accepting of the diverse individuals that comprise it. She feels that in order to better our society, it is imperative that we try to better understand the people within it.

Iggy Mwela

Performer and Activist

COMETRY is a blend of stand up comedy and slam poetry and they use these art forms to dissect tough topics and facilitate rich dialogue. Their programs range from diversity appreciation, to mental health awareness, to leadership development and empathy training. Their team is made up of national championship slam poets and touring stand up comedians. They educate through entertainment, and their classroom just happens to be the stage.

Jenny Mashburn

Teacher

Jenny is a 7th grade math teacher at LTMS. She is an avid runner, having run 16 marathons. When she isn't teaching or running she enjoys fishing, reading, and sitting on the counter watching her husband of 31 years cook dinner.

Katherine West

Student

Katherine West is a freshman at Lake Travis High School. She enjoys reading, traveling, and hanging out with her friends. She focuses on academics and wants to attend a business school.

Lauren Bauer

Student

Lauren Bauer is a junior here at lake Travis high school who has grown up here her whole life. She is involved in many activities in school, such as PALs, a mentorship program, she participates, speaks and encourages other young men and women in the engineering fields, works within the math and science communities such as the chemistry and specialty sciences department and more. She values her family and relationships more than anything in the world, and cannot wait to share with you some of her favorite people to connect with!

Matthew Kenny

Student

Matthew Kenny is a senior at Lake Travis High school and a member of the LT Speech and Debate team as well as a Senior officer in the PALs program. He will be attending the University of Texas Austin to purse a degree in government or political science with a minor in psychology. On the weekends Matthew likes to play golf, eat out with friends, and spend time listening to music or podcasts. Matthew is the youngest of two siblings and the second Longhorn in the family.

Satvik Kumar

Student

Satvik Kumar is a fun, math loving sixth grader. He enjoys chess, and other strategy games. Satvik also loves playing tennis. Satvik is proficient in 3 instruments, and intends to learn more. Satvik hopes that in the future, he can grow up to be a neurologist.

Suzanne Stone

Non-profit Fundraiser; Executive Director for Susan G. Komen Austin

Suzanne is a graduate of Texas Christian University, a native of Louisiana and grew up in the shadow of Washington, D.C. Her career began in television production in Dallas and Chicago, then morphed into a lifetime of teaching, telling stories, and raising money for non-profits around the country. Today she is the Executive Director for Susan G. Komen Austin where she connects the community to a cause and continues to tell stories of amazing men and women battling breast cancer.

Taylor Uremovich

Student

Taylor Uremovich is a freshman and varsity cheerleader at LT. Besides cheer, she is very passionate about art, pageants, and dinosaurs. Her dream is to attend the University of Texas to pursue a career in graphic design and illustration, and to one day illustrate her own children’s book. Taylor hopes that her talk can inform you on the stigmas surrounding autism, and inspire you to change the way you treat them.