TEDxBellaire HS Youth

Speakers

Speakers may not be confirmed. Check the event website for the latest lineup.

• Alia Hassan

  President of the Houston Food Bank

  Senior Alia Hassan is a student community leader dedicated to addressing food insecurity through both direct service and systemic change. As President of the Houston Food Bank’s Student Heroes Program, co-founder of the Texas Branch of Feed the Fridge, and president of her school’s Food for Houston club, she has led initiatives focused on expanding food access while also empowering student leadership through rethinking how people and communities respond to hunger. Through debate, she researches policies, economies, and social systems that shape inequality both domestically and globally, analyzing why certain groups are consistently left behind while others are not. As a member of Bellaire High School’s Three Penny Press, she is especially interested in the intersection of journalism and public policy, using storytelling and research to examine issues of inequity.

• Davis Adams

  Theatrical Inquirer

  Junior and Bellaire High Student Davis WB Adams seeks to balance a modern understanding of storytelling (and all its forms) modern media and we gravitate toward short form, highly stimulatory, content -- all while acknowledging the challenges our new communication age poses. Adams, a member of Bellaire's theatre company Red Bird Productions and its student newspaper the Three Penny Press, finds that it is only through both sharing and listening to stories that we can have a true understanding of the world around us in an age that increasingly pushes us apart. Outside of school, Adams enjoys exploring Houston's public parks, sharing a slice of Costco pizza with his friends and fending off attacks from his 18lb mini poodle, Alexis.

• Ishani Kaushik

  Bellaire's Very Own Social Engineer

  Junior and Bellaire High School student Ishani Kaushik aims to craft the intersection of neuroscience and immunology while advocating for healthcare justice and literacy for through the practice of journalism. Kaushik, a public speaking enthusiast, is an avid member of the Bellaire Speech and Debate team, where she competes in Informative Speaking. She also enjoys writing for her school’s newspaper, the Three Penny Press. In her free time, Kaushik loves making pasta, reading outdated Roman literature, or rewatching her favorite Bollywood movie.

• Levend Eski

  Harmonious Innovator

  Sophomore at Harmony School of Innovation - Sugar Land, Levend Eski explores the idea of responsibility through the lens of high expectations, ambition, and personal growth. Growing up, he was surrounded by sports and developed a strong interest that became a major part of his daily life and identity. A serious injury that nearly led to permanent damage forced him to step back and rethink not just his goals, but the way he approached them. Through this experience, Levend developed a deeper understanding of balance, awareness, and the importance of response over circumstance. Outside of school, he works as a tutor and spends his time focused on personal development and family.

• Miranda Wang

  Medical Researcher

  Miranda Wang is the founder and co-president of the Crochet-Knitting Club and a hospital intern at Ben Taub Hospital whose work sits at the unexpected intersection of yarn and patient care. Through volunteering in clinical settings, she has witnessed firsthand how creative practices like crochet can reduce patient anxiety, support motor recovery, and bring moments of calm to difficult hospital visits. Her TEDx talk makes the case that art therapy is a serious and seriously underused, tool in modern medicine.

• Nino Raffaelli

  Prospective Engineer

  Nino Raffaelli speaks 4 languages — Spanish, French, English, Italian — and is the president of the Applied Engineering Club at Bellaire High School. He likes to read and train in his free time.

• Rishabh Thosani

  Cyborg

  Junior and Bellaire High School student Rishabh Thosani has a passion for machine learning and AI research, having built and trained neural networks from scratch using PyTorch. This summer, he will be joining UT Dallas's Multimodal Interactions Lab as a research intern, working on haptics, VR, and human-computer interaction. Alongside his academic pursuits, Rishabh is the founder of Lectere, a startup where he puts his passion for technology into practice. As Co-President of Career Club and Vice President of Bollywood Club, he keeps himself busy both on and off the stage. In his free time, Rishabh enjoys binging K-dramas and finding new Monster Energy cans to add to his collection.

• Samantha Tran

  Just A Chill Dude

  Senior and Bellaire High School student Samantha Tran is passionate about examining the complexities of the justice system while advocating for fairness, accountability, and reform. Through her TEDx talk on wrongful convictions in Texas, Tran sheds light on the systemic flaws, ranging from unreliable forensics to coercive plea bargains, that continue to impact lives and communities. A dedicated debater and aspiring criminal lawyer since the third grade, Tran competes in Congressional Debate and aims to one day become the “Harvey Specter” of criminal law. As president of Student Council, she is committed to giving back to her community through leadership and service, while fostering civic engagement among her peers. In her free time, Tran enjoys binging her favorite shows like Suits, Supernatural, and The 100, or grabbing a bite from Sonic. Whether in the courtroom or on the debate stage, she is driven by a deep commitment to justice and the pursuit of truth.

• Sebastian Camacho

  Student Athlete

  Junior and Bellaire High school student-athlete Sebastian Camacho explores the integration of philosophy to everyday life, focusing on how mindset can affect the outcomes of stressful situations. Speaking from a stoic philosophical standpoint, Camacho is interested in applying ideas to daily modern challenges faced by the common student, particularly in high pressure environments. Camacho, in his free time, enjoys the outdoors, nature, and has a keen interest in wildlife.