TEDxFrisco HS Youth

Speakers

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

• Anakha Ajai

  Valuing Creative Expression

  We live in a world that measures success through numbers, titles, and achievements, leaving creativity to feel optional instead of essential. In this talk, Anakha Ajai challenges that mindset by asking: what happens when we stop valuing the people who help us feel, express, and understand ourselves? Through personal stories, she explores why art is far more than a hobby—it is a powerful tool for emotional expression, especially for young people. Drawing from her experiences as a youth leader with 5C, where she helped raise over $21,000 for Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, as well as her work in pageantry, Voices of the Future, and horseback riding, she shows how creativity fuels leadership, communication, confidence, and connection. Ultimately, she argues that creativity is not separate from success—it is what gives success meaning.

• Kayla Woods

  You Have Choice

  Kayla is a devoted student, cheerleader, and nonprofit founder who believes that even life's hardest moments can become a source of purpose. In her talk, *You Have Choice*, she reflects on a deeply personal journey through a time when she struggled to see her own worth and learned just how precious health, strength, and everyday moments truly are. By choosing resilience over fear and purpose over pain, Kayla transformed hardship into healing. Today, she inspires others to recognize the power of their choices, embrace gratitude, and never take life's simplest blessings for granted.

• Liberty Power

  The Youngest Perspective

  Liberty Power, a sophomore here at Frisco, and she is talking today about being the youngest child and having to navigate the difficulties and learning perseverance despite facing adversity.

• Lila and Luke Fahrenwald

  Championing Team Sports

  Lila and Luke Fahrenwald, twins and juniors at FHS, share their experiences balancing competitive soccer with rigorous academics. They argue that everyone can benefit from team sports, and share the many ways that team sports can lead to school and future success.

• Phoebe Wooldridge

  Beyond Finding Passion

  Phoebe Wooldridge is a junior at Frisco High School. Her talk today is about navigating life without a passion in a world that revolves around it and replacing passion with curiosity and exploration.

• Rishaan Ganpath

  Seeing Different Worlds

  Our next speaker invites us to question one of our biggest assumptions—that our perspective is the only correct one. Through humor, storytelling, and the timeless tale of *Gulliver's Travels*, they explore how the way we see the world is shaped by our experiences, biases, and circumstances. From a simple debate over whether a number is a six or a nine to the judgments we make about others every day, this talk challenges us to look beyond our own point of view. By embracing empathy and understanding that every person sees life through a different lens, we can build stronger connections and make wiser decisions.

• Sudeepthi Maddukuri

  Embracing Productive Boredom

  Boredom isn’t a waste of time, in fact it’s where some of our best thinking begins. This talk challenges the idea that we always need to stay busy or entertained, showing how constant stimulation actually limits creativity and self-awareness. When we allow ourselves to be bored, we make room for deeper ideas, curiosity, and more meaningful connections with ourselves. Instead of avoiding boredom, we should start seeing it as a quiet but powerful tool for growth.