Examining the cultural processes that prevent so many of us from understanding our own mortality. Inspiration will be found in the stories of those who have survived close proximity to death. Questions will be raised from the current scholarship on death and mortality. Believe it or not, this subject can be quite uplifting!

Scott Odekirk is an award-winning public speaker and teacher at The Harker School. He teaches speech and debate, has coached national champion speakers, and has a long history in education. He is a proud father and husband.

Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist of Canva and the creator of Guy Kawasaki’s Remarkable People podcast. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and adjunct professor of the University of New South Wales. He was the chief evangelist of Apple and a trustee of the Wikimedia Foundation. He has written Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and eleven other books. Kawasaki has a BA from Stanford University, an MBA from UCLA, and an honorary doctorate from Babson College.

Guy Kawasaki explains how to be remarkable based on his interviews with 160 remarkable people including Jane Goodall, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Woz, and Sir Ken Robinson.

Arissa Huda

Why I Hate Mainstream Empath: How to implement the feeling good into doing good.

Arissa Huda is a current senior at the Harker School. She spends her time engaging with her community through speech and debate where she has one multiple awards on the local, state, and national level as well as her school community. Her acquaintances know her as someone always willing to cheer them on and joke around. Volunteering plays a large role in Arissa’s life through her mosque and clubs at school. She is also the vice president of the Women in STEM program at Harker which seeks to address the disparity in the STEM field because of gender and create opportunities for young girls to engage with a male dominated industry.
At the intersection of all her interests is public health, and through her research in public health, she has honed a passion for equity in the healthcare system and plans to dedicate a career to helping anyone from any walk of life receive the healthcare they deserve.