Adult Speakers
Steve Lefkovits, Artist, Business Executive, and Public Policy Nerd
Artist
Steve is a professional landscape and nature photographer with a gallery located in Emeryville, CA. His focus is the beauty and geometry of the natural world. He focuses on whales, the night sky and abstract landscapes. His work may be seen at http://www.pacific-landscapes.com. His travels take him throughout the United States and globally, most recently in Namibia, Botswana, Chile, Tonga and the Chaco Culture Site in remote New Mexico.
Business Executive
Steve is a partner in RealtyCom Partners, LLC. RealtyCom is the multifamily housing industry’s largest telecommunications consulting firm; and Owner and executive producer at Joshua Tree Conference Group. JTCG provides content-rich executive education for the multifamily housing industry. Steve previously served as a Senior Vice President for Technology Initiatives for a publicly-traded REIT – BRE Properties and as Vice President for Finance and Technology of the National Multi Housing Council in Washington, DC.
Public Policy Nerd
In 2014, Steve was appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to the San Francisco Region Water Quality Control Board. Steve has served as Vice Chair of the Mid Peninsula Housing Coalition, the leading low income housing developer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Steve has a master’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton, and has an undergraduate economics degree from Yale University.
Atesh Worthington, Stem Cell Researcher
Atesh Worthington is an alumna of Ecole Bilingue (class of 2005). She completed her B.S. in Molecular, Cell and Developmental (MCD) Biology at UC Santa Cruz in 2013. After graduation, she pursued research in Dr. Cagla Eroglu’s lab at Duke University, studying brain development in Hungtinton’s disease. In 2016, she returned to UCSC to begin her doctorate studies. She is currently a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in Dr. Camilla Forsberg’s lab. Her research focuses on understanding the differences in regenerative capacity of fetal and adult blood stem cells. She was the recipient of an National Institute of Health Training Grant Fellowship and was awarded a predocotral fellowship from the California Tobacco Related Disease Research Program. In addition to research, Atesh is interested in teaching and building a community of pedagogy focused on inclusive and equitable teaching practices within her graduate program. She is currently a fellow in the 2019 Graduate Pedagogy Fellows program at UCSC’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning.
Students Speakers
“Search the background of your plate,” Axel Hanley challenges us to think about what we eat and become more aware of our food sources. Give being a flexitarian a try!
Feminism is alive and well at EB middle school where Alexandra Kozlova and some classmates start a feminist club to advocate for equal pay and fair taxation. The club’s mission to go beyond their own school is definitely bigger than us.
What role do you let others play in your life? Who do you let in? Sophie Vollmerhausen shares her personal story of finding self-love because nothing is bigger than you.
Marcus Lefkovits encourages us to become more aware of the unintended consequences of using the internet. What is an essential and helpful tool can also hurt us if we aren’t more conscious of our actions?
The mind is a powerful thing. Is it so powerful that we can control our own deaths? Maelle Griffin shares her hypothesis that we have the willpower to control our own destiny in this bigger than us topic.
Many people may think of drones as just fancy toys, but James Poff sheds light on the many advances drones are making to help improve health, safety and security in our everyday lives.
Clara Chaillou moved to the United States when she was 5 and needed to learn a new language, make friends and figure out her place in her new world. Is it possible to do this without judging her? Clara shares her inspiring story.
How many students have asked their teachers, “when am I ever going to use this?” Tobias Prichard-Bossier has a proposal for adding “Adulting 101” to the high school curriculum so everyone can learn about relevant personal finance topics and get on the path to financial success.
TEDx Youth at EB 