Guest Speakers
Please see below for the guest speakers of The Summit 2025!
Creating a Safe Space: Yeejin
"We live in a conservative society that fails to speak up for and against different social issues- gender inequality, period poverty, mental health stigma, and more. Thousands of people in this world still don't have a strong grasp on what is going on with the world, nor any knowledge to help prevent any future issues, whether they are minor or substantial. It is important for our society to keep up with the news and understand these problems in our world, and help create a safe space for others to talk about and learn about these different social justice issues."
Wear your impact: Hena & Joanna
"Our world is driven by overconsumption, where the constant desire for more fuels environmental degradation and social inequality. From fast fashion to single-use products, our habits are creating a ripple effect of waste and resource depletion. Many people remain unaware of the long-term impact of these practices, both on the planet and on marginalized communities. Through “Wear Your Impact - Clothing Drive and Swap,” we aim to challenge this cycle by encouraging thoughtful consumption and reuse. This event provides a platform for students to reflect on their clothing choices, reduce waste, and contribute to sustainable change. By exchanging and donating clothing, we can collectively shift towards a more conscious and impactful way of living."
Establishing an Interconnected Community: Andrew
"In a world often perceived as cutthroat and competitive, it can feel like the only path to success is through outcompeting and outmanoeuvring others. However, true success doesn't have to come at the expense of others. By embracing empathy, recognizing the unique talents and qualities each individual brings, and addressing the needs of our community, we can foster collective growth and achievement. This presentation explores how collaboration, selflessness, and community involvement can lead to shared success and a more compassionate society."
Importance of connecting with our community: Jooha & Jeana
"Individuals in our society sometimes lack awareness concerning various aspects, particularly concerning inclusivity. For instance, many fail to recognize how their actions, languages, and assumptions may perpetuate exclusion."
Animal welfare for abandoned service animals: Jiwon
"People who care about animal welfare tend to fixate on just the abuse aspect. The part that goes overlooked is the abandonment and neglect of service animals that are deemed no longer useful. Former racehorses, for example, are discarded into pens with no food/water and poor conditions such as uncleaned feces. Most end up dying; those who do survive the abuse leave with lasting psychological trauma."
The Importance of Leadership: Sarah
"Motivation is something that I have seen and have personally struggled with. In reality, this concept of finding an inner passion is harder than simply identifying a problem. You have to find a problem, research the problem, find a solution, entice volunteers, entice students, collaborate with outside resources, and more. But this is all made more difficult as you struggle through your own problems of trying to find the motivation to continue depite the roadblocks that present themselves. In this speech, I would like to explore the main components of my personal experience and what has allowed me to overcome these roadblocks in order to be successful in many different project."
Ocean Pollution: Lucian Uy & Hinata
"We went on a service trip to Bogo city with the goal of cleaning the beach of the trash that gets washed up on its shore. To plan this trip, we initially met with the barangay, or the villages of Bogo city and agreed to do a coastal clean-up, but also leave awareness banners to encourage better garbage disposal for future beach guests. After this event, we went on a scubadiving trip and realised that the ocean was the soruce of pollution of beaches and thus have a higher need for clean-ups. To bring more awareness, we attempted to join an ocean clean-up but realised the lack of opportunities available. Due to our age restrictions, it is difficult to organise an ocean clean-up with its natural risks of injuries. Thus, we planned to get around this by producing a book that spreads awareness on the beauty of Cebu's waters, but also its impending dangers to pollution."
Kythe Foundation: Pristina
"The act of giving holds significance beyond just Christmas. As an active advocate for the happiness and well-being of children for six years, I took the initiative to lead and plan an outreach program: a Christmas party for the Kythe Foundation children who are suffering from chronic illnesses and cancer using the generous donations I received on my 16th birthday primarily by myself. Along with the guidance of those eager to help me, I successfully organized an event that brought joy, hope, and a sense of community to the children and their families. Through this outreach, I aimed to create an environment where these young warriors could momentarily set aside their struggles and simply enjoy the magic of Christmas. In my presentation, I will share insights into the planning process, the challenges I faced, the impact of the event on the children and their families, and the lessons I learned about leadership, compassion, and the true spirit of giving."
Teaching Young Learners: Hugo
"My passion and favorite sport is swimming. As I spent my years in school I noticed how my classmates were not experienced in swimming, drowning every few laps, and I wasn't fond of the idea of kids growing up without learning the essential skill of swimming. I decided to learn how to teach children so that I may educate young learners in the art and important skill of swimming through an after school activity in a form of a club."
Cancer Warriors: Aryan, Prince, Enkyu
"Cancer warriors is an organization helping young students who have unfortunately been diagnosed with cancer. We have been actively been trying to support the organization until we get back with them. This proposal has started last year December as we went to a trip to meet with the organizers of this project. The trip went according to plan, we got intel about their actions and their support on trying to reduce the risks of students with cancer. The have performed genius solutions to solve significant problems. For instance, they realized that students diagnosed with cancer have trouble catching along with school due to the countless amounts of Chemotherapy sessions. From that, they have come up with the idea of introducing a learning system for cancer students who are not able to gain from their previous school becuase of always going to chemotherapy. The leanring follows a simple idea. Support the cancer students with providing with learning skills while taking chemotherapy. This plan has been succesfull so far as they have multiple patients who survived cancer as has been shown to have had a normal life with a sustainable job and family. Cancer warriors aims to help the children to face cancer ranges from mainly ages as young as 5 to around 18. These children have a very hard life that then the other children as what was explained to us."
Caohagan Island Community: Parker, Sophia, Ashna, Steve
"Caohagan Island is an island located in Cebu strait in the Philippines. We grade 10 students explored it through a field trip in December 2024, tasked to observe, examine, and investigate the conditions of the island community in order to detect potential problems and find sustainable, relevant and realistic solutions to help their community. During this investigation, we gained essential information about their livelihood, education, and community lifestyle that we can use for their future benefit.
Although we made countless valuable findings, the most prominent observation we made was the abundance of kindergarten-elementary school students that far outnumbered the middle and highschool students (roughly 3:1). In our field trip, we ended up spending the most time with these small children rather than the other grade levels due to their sheer numbers and playful, sociable nature despite the circumstances. From this experience, we found it would be more beneficial to the island to find a solution that focused on the younger, more prominent population of Caohagan (specifically 1-10 years old). According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, childhood experiences from <1-8 years old heavily influences the brain's development, which affects all future learning, behavior and health. By finding a solution that helps maximize these children’s potential, the island would (ideally) benefit from their increased academic potential which gives them an increase in opportunities for jobs, more education, etc. In this presentation, we aim to share the thought process of developing potential beneficial ideas for the young Caohagan community based on our findings and experiences from our field trip."