In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
1500 Sullivan Rd
Aurora, Illinois, 60506
United States

Brian Trainor

Teacher

Mr. Kearney is in his fifth year as an Instructor at IMSA where he teaches Economics and Social Science. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds Masters degrees in Political Science from Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin where he studied International Relations, Political Economy and Quantitative Political Science.

Elizabeth Soyemi

Student

Liz Soyemi is a proud menstrual advocate who has been using her voice to raise awareness surrounding period inequities for several years. Liz first started getting involved in the menstrual space during the height of the pandemic in 2020. She has since held period fundraisers, volunteered in menstrual equity organizations, interned with a State Representative who has championed for menstrual equity through policy and legislation, and helped start a menstrual equity project group here at IMSA under GEA. Aside for her work with menstrual activism, Liz enjoys advocating for equitable health access and health outcomes for all women regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or other social factors. In her free time, Liz loves hanging out with her family, dancing to Afrobeats with her friends, and keeping up with the newest Netflix shows.

Kevin Qu

Student

Kevin Qu is a senior at IMSA from the vast cornfields of the humble village of Dunlap, Illinois. He has 3 younger siblings, loves swimming and playing hockey, and is most definitely a morning person. He has always been extremely interested in mental health and decided to speak for TEDx because he wanted to spread his thoughts on the topic in an effort to bolster advocacy for mental health awareness. His talk will discuss how mental health in the sports industry has been and is being downplayed, and how this is an issue in regards to mental health as a whole given how it has yet to gain recognition in many parts of the world.

Patrick Kearney

Teacher

Mr. Kearney is in his fifth year as an Instructor at IMSA where he teaches Economics and Social Science. He is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and holds Masters degrees in Political Science from Purdue University and the University of Wisconsin where he studied International Relations, Political Economy and Quantitative Political Science.

Shreya Chakraborty

Student

Shreya Chakraborty is a current junior at IMSA. She considers herself a classic math nerd who loves to sing, binge-eat sugar cookies, and take long, relaxing runs on and off campus. Ever since she was young, she has been known as “the girl who can kick butt,” as her taekwondo dojang has always been her second home. Not only has she grown up learning to break boards and spar in intense combats, but her greatest growth in taekwondo has been through teaching and giving back to her community, especially to special needs students. A project she has been working on for a long time, her talk will explore the benefits of taekwondo on children with autism, developmental coordination disorder, ADHD, and attention deficit disorder through relevant studies and some of Shreya’s own experiences in the dojang. She hopes to create a stronger understanding of the importance of recreational therapy, like martial arts, for special needs students to create more inclusivity and awareness.

Tracy Townsend

Teacher

Tracy Townsend teaches creative writing, science fiction and fantasy literature, British and World literature, and modern rhetoric at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. She's also the author of the Thieves of Fate series (The Nine and The Fall, with the third novel forthcoming) published by Pyr. Tracy is a monthly columnist for the feminist speculative fiction magazine Luna Station Quarterly, a member of the Motherboard of the Broad Universe Women's Science Fiction Collective, and co-host of The Functional Nerds podcast. She holds a master's degree in writing and rhetoric from DePaul University and a bachelor's degree in creative writing from DePauw University, a source of regular consternation when proofreading her credentials. She has been a martial arts instructor, a stage combat and accent coach, and a short-order cook for houses full of tired gamers.