Theme: Beyond Hello

Beyond Hello was scheduled for April 11, 2020 at JUMP Boise. In late March, COVID shutdowns forced the event to be postponed. The event pivoted to a small, socially distanced, outdoor event at one of Boise's most scenic venues. To meet current health guidelines, only a small group of attendees were allowed to attend, but all are invited to a release party once the videos are shared on YouTube.

Idaho Shakespeare Festival
56657 E Warm Springs Ave
Boise, Idaho, 83716
United States

Aaron Westcott

Data Professional

A philosopher at heart. A mathematician by training. A manager by profession. Aaron works with data, how data impacts the activities of organizations, and how to engage people with data. He is devoted to his family of three wonderful children and his wife, and enjoys reading on a wide range of subjects including history, philosophy, psychology, and technical topics.

Ali Rabe

Executive Director + State Senator

Ali is the Executive Director of Jesse Tree, a nonprofit preventing eviction and homelessness for low-income families in the Treasure Valley. Prior to joining Jesse Tree Ali was a Staff Attorney at HomeBase, headquartered in San Francisco, where she supported local governments and service providers in their efforts to end homelessness. In 2012 Ali received the Boren Fellowship, through which she supported indigenous communities in rural Cambodia fighting to keep their land. She continued the same work in Sierra Leone. Ali also spent some years working for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as an adjudicator, processing refugees from all over the world. Ali is an Idaho native and holds a B.A. from The College of Idaho and a J.D. from William & Mary Law School.

Amelia Jobe

Amelia Jobe is a senior at Boise High School, who’s heavily involved with the community through volunteering around the city and her work at the YMCA. She’s a part of her school’s theater and helps to train EMTs by acting in various medical simulations. Amelia came out at age 13 to her best friend Sophia. She hopes to show a realistic portrayal of the coming out process in contrast to the overly optimistic or pessimistic views that are often perpetuated in mainstream media and culture.

Dave Gomez

School resource officer

Officer Dave Gomez has been at the forefront of educating parents and kids about the many perils of social media on electronic devices. Dave has been a school resource officer (SRO) for seven years and works with the age groups most affected by digital devices. His years of experience offer insight into ways parents and kids can stay safe in the new world of digital citizenship.

David Anderson

Tree Climber + researcher

David is a research and conservation biologist specializing in birds of prey and forest canopies. He has also spent the past 25 years climbing trees for research, exploration, and education. He credits tree-climbing in tropical rainforests with awakening a deeper awareness of himself and a better appreciation for the world and people around him.

Katya Baxter

Foodie + Mom

Born and raised in Russia, Katya spent her youth on the tennis courts of St. Petersburg. After studying nutrition in Toronto, she has employed her passion for food to create nutritional programs for both individual clients and an international luxury hotel chain. As a life-long explorer of world cuisines, a wife, and a mom, Katya believes eating real food connects our physical and emotional well-being with our cultural backgrounds and traditions.

Lily Colson

Inventor

Fifth grader Lily Colson won the Stanley Black and Decker Sustainability Award at the 2019 National Invention Convention. Her Solar Lines concept displays the innovative thinking that is needed to address problems like climate change, demonstrating how the imagination of our youth can play a role in helping solve the problems their generation will face.

Salome Mwangi

Culteral Broker

Kenyan-born American Salome resettled in Boise, Idaho in 2004 as a refugee, where she lives with her teenage daughter, Deborah. In the years they have called the Treasure Valley home, she has learned to embrace some hidden skills she had not previously acknowledged having. Through these and other life changing events, Salome emerged as a “cultural broker,” helping others—whether US-born or not—tease out some of the “hows” and “whys” of living life with multicultural relevance. Salome is currently the Social Integration Coordinator at the Idaho Office for Refugees, where she coordinates the refugee speakers’ bureau and the community social integration activities, collaborating with the city of Boise, and other community partners.

Sophia Mullin

Sophia Mullin is also a senior at Boise High who’s engaged with multiple extracurricular curricular activities, including Varsity Tennis, Debate, and Art. She’s a published artist with the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence. Through her friendship Amelia, she’s become a passionate ally of the LGBT community. She especially wants to highlight the person receiving the news from a friend who’s coming out; she believes that person is often overlooked, which can make the situation harder for both people.

Troy Rohn

Researcher

Troy Rohn has been a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences for the past 20 years where he both teaches and has an active research program involving Alzheimer's disease. For the past 10 years, his research program has focused on understanding how inheritance of the APOE4 gene enhances dementia risk at the molecular level.