Our Team

The TEDxRedmond 2012 Planning Committee:

Adora Svitak, TEDxRedmond Curator

After publishing her first book at the age of seven, Adora Svitak started teaching students about the importance of literacy and loving learning. Now thirteen, she video conferences regularly with classrooms around the world on a variety of topics including reading, writing, social studies, and 21st Century skills. After speaking at TED Long Beach in February, Adora decided to organize her own TEDx event–and TEDxRedmond was born.

 

Adesuwa Agbonile

Adesuwa Agbonile is an eleven-year-old seventh grader who enjoys participating in extra-curricular activities like math team and robotics club. She also plays the piano and is her student body president. She loves singing and dancing to any kind of music. She is super excited about being on this year’s planning committee and hopes to bring what she can to this year’s TEDx.

Adrianna Svitak, Entertainment Co-Curator

A skilled musician who plays both piano and violin, fifteen-year-old Adrianna Svitak enjoys listening to bands and artists ranging from Beethoven to the Beatles to Beyonce. She has won awards at numerous piano competitions, and is concertmistress for the Redmond Junior High Honors Orchestra. Last year, she was concertmistress for the All-State Junior Orchestra. Adrianna’s artistic interests extend far beyond piano and violin, however–she also loves to sing, dance, and draw.

 

Apoorva Chowdhary

11-year-old Apoorva Chowdhary attended TEDxRedmond last year; she is very excited to now be on the organizing committee. She likes playing piano, reading, math, and karate. She has recently become a black belt in karate. Apoorva also enjoys writing on her blog, where she covers everything from child obesity to favorite Google doodles.

 

Christina Dias

A thirteen year old who attends Redmond Junior High, Christina is actively involved in ASB Student Leadership, but also indulges in hobbies such as swimming, playing her violin, and chess. Christina also writes poetry and random tidbits regularly on her own blog, “Merry Go Round” and finds writing a great way to express herself. After attending TEDxRedmond last year, and leaving the event highly inspired, Christina hopes to help bring the same magic to this year’s conference as last year.

 

Hannah Yang

Fourteen-year-old Hannah Yang is active in student government (she was recently named the ASB Secretary)as well as academics. She enjoys reading literature and writing poetry and prose. Last year, Hannah participated in the PTSA “Reflections” contest in the Literature division; she was honored with an Award of Excellence from the Redmond Junior High PTSA for her short story, “Absence.” Most recently, she authored the young adult novel Fall of Another.

Hattie Yang, Entertainment Co-Curator

I’m a sophomore at Redmond High School, and my hobbies are playing viola and talking to others about the environment! I’m loud, crazy, and sometimes a little bit overwhelming. I will always speak up for what I believe in, and you’ll never find me backing down from anything. My vision of a ‘perfect’ world is one in which humans have learned to live in harmony with the Earth. Stay awesome

Julian Pradeep

An active athlete, song writer, and mathematician, Julian Pradeep always tries to actively participate in competitions and live with passion. Just recently, he helped represent his math club in a Math Bee, where he was one place off from heading to nationals, and was awarded a medal for his performance at the 8th grade level. Julian is currently at Redmond Junior High and is engaged in the school’s activities and government. He is looking forward to this summer to begin writing short stories and screenplays, which he hopes to later publish!

 

Kelly Jiang

Ever since a young age, Kelly has shown great aptitude in mathematics. In 8th grade, she qualified for the USAJMO (United States of America Junior Math Olympiad), a proof-based competition that selects the top 230 math students under 10th grade in the entire country. She has won countless other awards in other regional and state level math competitions, and seems to have an aptitude for learning languages as well as a surprising obsession with French.

 

Lisa Marie Dias

Lisa Marie is a current 6th grader at Bellevue Children’s Academy. Lisa Marie enjoys playing competitive chess and participates in a lot of State and Local tournaments. Lisa Marie uses her free time to write stories, short skits, and poetry. Her interests also lie in scientific inventions, and was recently awarded for an invention she created for “Toshiba ExploraVision.”

Maya Ganesan

An accomplished writer and poet, thirteen-year-old Maya Ganesan already has a published book (Apologies to an Apple) under her belt. Active in reading and writing long before she released her poetry collection, Maya was reading chapter books at two years old, writing poems at four, and participating in the the Redmond Spokenword competition at age eight. Today, Maya continues writing on her blog Allegro.

 

Priya Ganesan

In contrast to those who consider themselves “right-brained” or “left-brained,” “better at math” or “better at languages,” Priya Ganesan is well-rounded in every sense of the word. The varsity tennis team member and twelve-year piano player is not only skilled in mathematics (she’s received awards at national, state and regional math competitions), but also competes in business competitions and helps fundraise for various charities.

 

Shaan Shridhar

A competitive sailor, Shaan Shridhar is a fourteen-year-old with a passion for sports and fine arts. Her musical experience includes being part of the Redmond Junior High Advanced Orchestra and playing the piano, the violin, and the guitar. Shaan also enjoys soccer and going sailing; she currently has a black belt in Taekwondo.

Victoria Bawn

Victoria is a fourteen-year-old with a passion for art. She designed stationery for her school, helped several teachers with various technological jobs, and created a tee-shirt design that may be used in an upcoming science extravaganza. A member of last year’s TEDxRedmond committee, Victoria contributed to the design of the official TEDxRedmond poster and was official stage manager on the day of the event. When she isn’t digitally coloring her own drawings (ranging in subjects from humans to canines), Victoria enjoys hanging out with friends.

Mahi Elango: Mahi is currently an 8th grade Quest student enrolled at Redmond Junior High. She loves to sing and enjoyed performing for many choirs and competitions. Her passion continues beyond music to helping her local non-profit organization, Redmond Tamil School, by helping younger kids learn and creating each year’s annual yearbook. Hanging out with her friends and listening to lectures on her favorite topics are only a few of her hobbies. After volunteering last year, Mahi is excited to join TedxRedmond and make it even better!  

Lilian Ha: Ever since she picked up her first book, Lilian Ha has been passionate about both reading and writing literature. She’s packed full of fun, and is always willing to try new things. Her adventurous soul has brought her to becoming an avid climber, swimmer, and guitarist. Also a member of many extra-curricular activities at RJH (where she is a seventh-grader), such as yearbook and math team, she can’t wait to bring her skills to the TEDxRedmond team this year.

Ethan Perrin: With an innate curiosity about how things work and an ingenuity to tinker and build, Ethan is a self-learner at heart who spends a lot of his free time at his dad’s electronics table, at a woodworking bench, or browsing the web for new ideas.  Among other projects including model airplanes, catapults, air cannons, helicopters, he spoke at TEDxRedmond2011 about taking pictures from near space for just a few hundred dollars.  Ethan is an 8^th grader at Redmond Junior High.

Rosalyn Leban: At sixteen years old, Rosalyn is a sophomore at Redmond High School. She is involved in academics and the community, taking Honors and AP classes, and participating in school plays. In her spare time, she enjoys writing poetry, reading, and spending time with her adorable bunny. She is excited to be supervising TEDxRedmond set design this year!

Jessica Perrin: Currently a sophomore at the International Community School (ICS), Jessica is a new addition to the TEDxRedmond committee this year and excited to be a part of it. Her creative, artistic and social personality gives her a great work ethic when it comes to projects, and she’s always ready to learn new things and work hard towards her goals. Jessica frequently volunteers through her position as head of the volunteer committee in her school’s FBLA chapter, as well as any other opportunities in her community. She especially enjoys the outdoors, and loves to hike, bike, mountain climb, camp, and simply spend time outside when our Washington weather permits.

Oorja Chowdhary: Oorja is a 13-year-old eighth grader who has attended TEDxRedmond for two years, and has enjoyed the event so much that she wanted to be part of the organizing committee. She enjoys artistic things such as playing her violin, writing short stories, and drawing. She is part of a leadership group at her school, the Indian Association of Western Washington Youth Committee, and Junior Asha. She also does sports like Gymnastics and Karate, where she has a black belt. She can’t wait to see how the next TEDxRedmond event will turn out!