Theme: Ideas Unlimited

On March 27th, 2018, TEDxLAHS will host its second annual TEDx conference in the Eagle Theatre at Los Altos High School from 1st to 6th period. 14 members of the Los Altos community and Los Altos High School students and faculty will be giving talks, sharing their versions of “Ideas Worth Spreading”.

TEDxLAHS aims to share ideas that serve to benefit the community, whether it be through raising awareness of social issues, educating others on unfamiliar topics, or by giving performances that allow the audience to appreciate what their community has to offer. At TEDxLAHS, we work to provide an event that enriches the lives of the audience. We share ideas that challenge common thought, ideas that enlighten our community, and ideas that improve our world. We share Ideas UnlimiTED.

Los Altos High School
201 Almond Avenue
Los Altos, California, 94022
United States

Adam Warmoth

Vehicle Systems Analyst

Adam Warmoth graduated from Stanford University in 2017 with a B.A. in Engineering Physics as well as a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering. During Adam’s time at Stanford he played on the Varsity Water Polo team and captained the team during his senior year. Adam plans on doing his talk about new developments in technology that are leading us toward a future where people will use electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft to move around cities, as well as the impact that this new technology will have on our lives.

Advanced Jazz

Class

Advanced Jazz Dance is an audition-only class that meets 4th period. Students in the class have a wide range of dance experience, some having focused on ballet and others on jazz and contemporary. The class curriculum places an emphasis on the creation of original choreography. The dance they're performing today is the result of a class project: each small group of dancers choreographed one section of the dance and then taught the other students.

Amber Jackson and Emily Callahan

Oceanographer

Amber Jackson graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.A. in Marine Science. She also has a M.A.S. in in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation from Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Emily Callahan graduated from Scripps Institution of Oceanography with a B.A. in Environmental Science and an M.A.S degree in Marine Biodiversity and Conservation. Both Ms. Jackson and Ms. Callahan currently work as oceanographers and divers for Rigs-to-Reefs. There comes a time when the useful life of an oil platform comes to an end, at least when it comes to drilling for oil, and that’s when Amber and Emily dive in. They are marine scientists on a mission to re-purpose offshore oil and gas platforms as artificial reefs around the world.

Andrew Rathjen

Instructional Aide

While in the military Andrew Rathjen reached the rank of the Staff Sergeant, US Air force with TSSI clearance, which is the top security clearance in US military. His main job was the Geospatial Intelligence Analyst. Mr. Rathjen completed his military service working on the Ground Moving Target Indication (GMTI). He currently works as an Instructional Aide at LAHS, while working toward his teaching degree.

Angelina Lue

Student

Bob McFarlane

PE Teacher & Founder of Bald Eagle Sports Camp

Bob McFarlane is the Founder & CEO of Bald Eagle Sports Camps which serves over 1500 campers a year. He has taught Special Ed and PE since 1995, currently at Los Altos HS. “Coach Bob” has over 25 years coaching experience from youth to collegiate, is a Certified Trainer for The Positive Coaching Alliance and holds two teaching Credentials along with a Masters Degree in Special Education. In his 4 years as the Head Varsity Boys Basketball Coach at Los Altos High School he led the Eagles to 2 SCVAL titles ('13,'14) and the schools first ever Central Coast Section Championship (2015). Recently named by PCA as a Development Zone Leadership Fellow, Coach Bob has also won multiple Coach Of The Year awards.

Caley Vahedi

Singer

Caley is currently a senior at LAHS and she has been taking singing and guitar lessons since she was 9. Caley only recently started writing her own music, with her first original song completed around January of this year with her best friend Sara Bares, who goes to Pinewood.

Cristy Dawson

Retired Assistant Principal

What is resilience? Why is it so important to our success as people? Cristy Dawson will talk about the phenomena of bouncing back after facing obstacles. How do we access resources within us and from our community? She will share her story and how she survived adversity in my childhood to achieve success personally and professionally.

Hunter Liu

Student

Hunter is passionate about science, music, and reading. He is a strong believer in science and rational thought and also enjoys a variety of music spanning across many genres.

Jia Seow

Student

Born in Singapore and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jiahui (Jia) Seow is a 17-year-old published poet, neuroscience enthusiast, and aspiring publicist. She is currently a senior at Los Altos High School. When she was 14 years old and a freshman in high school, Jia discovered poetry as an art form, which evolved into a positive outlet for her to express herself freely. One year later, Jia published Return, her first poetry collection. For her poetry, she has earned an Honorable Mention and Silver Key from the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Jia will pursue communications, neuroscience, psychology, and creative writing at Santa Clara University in the fall.

Julie Lythcott-Haims

Author

Julie Lythcott-Haims is a former Dean of Freshmen and Undergraduate Advising for Stanford University, a New York Times bestselling author, and a TED Talk Speaker. Having gotten her BA in American Studies from Stanford, a JD from Harvard Law School, and an MFA from the California College of the Arts, Julie uses her experiences to talk about colleges that tend to undeservingly go under the radar.

Noelle Hanson

Student

Noelle Hanson is a junior at Los Altos High School. She is a contemporary and modern dancer and enjoys international travel and trying new foods from all over the world. She loves political podcasts, NPR and hopes to learn two languages before graduating college.

Ryan Cardona

Student

Ryan Cardona is a top tier memer, who spends a lot of time playing video games, doing tech related things and oh ya and yo-yoing. After learning that there is more to the yoyo than just going up and down and doing walk the dog, he wanted to get more into the Spobby (sport/hobby) of yo-yoing, learning four out of the five styles. Preferring to mostly listen to EDM has shaped his freestyle and trick pool.

Shark Cops

Band

The Shark Cops is a band composed of juniors Dilip Kumar, Owen Mackenzie, and Krishna Tenneti. They have been playing together for 5 years now. Dilip plays bass, Owen Mackenzie is the lead singer and guitarist, and Krishna is on the drums.

Shilpa Rao

Student

As a musician able to play the guitar, flute, and piano, Shilpa Rao is well versed in the arts. She advocates for the incorporation of Art into the educational curriculum of students, believing that nonlinear problem solving is an integral skill to being successful in the complex and multidimensional world.

Slam Poetry Team

Poetry Team

Elena’s poem is called Identity Crisis and it's about her identity as a white Latina and how that has clashed with societal expectations of what a Latina should look like. Cathy will be performing a poem examining a feeling of displacement in the world as an immigrant titled Allegiance. Yalda is performing her poem Rosemilk, which she decided to write after seeing an Iranian talk show in which the hosts legitimized domestic abuse.

Sriram Ramamurthy

Student

Sriram Ramamurthy has been playing piano for 12 years and trombone for 7, has been fencing for 6 years, and is a self-taught home aquarist. He takes care of a variety of exotic aquatic animals, each of which requiring extreme care and difficulty. Through his talk about this hobby, he hopes to enable listeners to garner a greater appreciation for the beauty, fragility, and complexity of nature.

Zanny Zellers

Student

Zanny is a senior at Los Altos High School who enjoys reading, drawing, taking care of plants, and jumping over hurdles on the track. With #minimalism appearing on over 9 million Instagram posts worldwide, it is clear that the world is starting to favor the sparsest, simplest of places. Living in an extremely cluttered home was a proscription on how she defined herself. After many trips to Goodwill, some introspection, and a few difficult conversations, Zanny realized in order to save her relationships she would need to alter the way she saw stuff.