TED Community

I’m passionate about empowering students to discover their potential through the lens of their gifted abilities and learning differences. I had the privilege of founding and coaching a robotics team for students with learning differences, and for the past nine years, our team has been invited to present at the FIRST World Championship Robotics Conference. There, we have shared our students’ success stories and advocated for more inclusive STEAM education in robotics, technology, and innovation. Watching students transform what were once perceived as weaknesses into some of their greatest strengths continues to inspire me every day. Over the past three years, my work with students and our school community has contributed to two U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon School recognitions and seven national awards, celebrating student-led innovation in sustainability, STEAM, robotics, environmental science, and emerging technologies. My work with students has also been recognized by Forbes Magazine, the Chicago Sun-Times, WGN, CBS, FIRST, Star Wars including Daisy Ridley TEDx, Amazon Future Engineer, the U.S. Department of Education, the Illinois State Board of Education, the National Science Foundation, and others. I believe students should not simply prepare for the future they should have the opportunity to create it, lead it, and make it better.