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Faced with a rapidly changing climate, young people could feel hopeless and succumb to “climate anxiety.” Instead, guided by passionate educators like Andy Gluck at Underwood School and Andrew Thompson at Newton South High School, Newton students are energized, empowered, and working to promote change.

Fifth graders and 12th graders will talk about their sustainability projects and plans, including reducing energy use, food insecurity, and plastic waste; and promoting biking, composting, and solar power. Mr. Gluck and Mr. Thompson will discuss how they challenge their students to think through difficult problems and become engaged citizens.

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Raised on a California farm in an unusually self-reliant family with a scientist-father, Sarah Volkman was naturally drawn to the field of biology. She has become a world expert on malaria, a leading cause of death in many countries. She travels widely, often to Senegal, and she collaborates with Senegal scientists and the CDC to gather scientific data that informs international policy through the World Health Organization.

Passionate about experiential learning for both students and faculty, she teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Simmons University School of Nursing. She is also married to a teacher and shepherded two children through Newton Public Schools.

Dr. Volkman will talk about how her life experiences inform her current behaviors and how she works on shared problem solving in cross-cultural settings.

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Marguerite Fletcher is committed to building diverse, equitable and inclusive (DEI) communities in which everyone feels a sense of belonging. She participated in diversity efforts throughout her Boston legal career and formally entered the DEI field in 2006. Through her firm, Fletcher Consulting, LLC, Ms. Fletcher speaks and leads workshops, performs cultural assessments, and advises clients on reducing bias in their systems for hiring, assigning work, and performance evaluation.

Ms. Fletcher will explain the brain science behind unconscious bias, demonstrate how it manifests in our society, and lead a discussion of ways participants can promote inclusion in their own spheres of influence. Participants will leave with some concrete ideas of things they can do.

Ms. Fletcher has been a Newton resident for almost 30 years; her two children are graduates of Cabot, Bigelow and Newton North.

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Tiziana Dearing is the host of Radio Boston on WBUR. She’s been a commentator and contributor to WBUR for more than a decade and has contributed to a number of other regional and national news outlets. Prior to joining the Radio Boston team, Tiziana was a professor at Boston College in the School of Social Work, where she taught social innovation and leadership. A longtime anti-poverty advocate, Tiziana also ran Boston Rising, a startup antipoverty fund to end generational poverty in Boston and was the first woman president of Catholic Charities for the Archdiocese of Boston. She’s won a number of awards in the city, including a Pinnacle Award from the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40.

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With her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures and time spent as an Italian teacher, Andrea Hemment may seem like an unlikely entrepreneur and cake maker. Yet she has turned her lifelong love of baking into a creative local business. After taking a cake decorating class at Newton North High School and spending several months studying baking in the stacks of the Newton Public Library, she launched Tortissima, LLC, a licensed residential bakery, in 2015.

Hear the sweet stories behind a photo gallery of beautiful baked goods whipped up by Ms. Hemment.

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A Newton resident for six decades, Hanni Myers has taught German at Boston College, studied sculpture in Italy and climbed mountains in Nepal. In 1938, she escaped with her family from Austria to the United States at the start of World War II. 

She attended Girls’ Latin School, Radcliffe College and the New England Conservatory of Music. Hanni and her architect husband, Stan Myers, raised four children in Newton, held musical salons in their home and hosted numerous international students. 

As an advocate for social justice, Hanni speaks to young people who have fled their homelands for a better life. This spring, she will share her story as part of the Holocaust Curriculum at middle schools in Newton and Natick. 

CREATING A NEW LIFE 

Hanni Myers will take us on the journey of her family’s escape from Vienna to Boston in 1938 when laws were enacted against Jewish citizens. She will share her experience of creating a life in a new land and speak of her mission to offer encouragement to young immigrants to the United States today as they embark on their new lives.

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Matt Malloy is a marketing, operations and sales executive with over 30 years of experience.  Passionate about creating innovative solutions that satisfy customer needs, Matt spent 8 years as VP of Marketing and Operations at Zipcar creating and expanding the Zipcar brand and car-share category.  He served as VP of Marketing and Communications at edx.org, a Harvard and MIT startup recognized globally for innovation in online career-relevant learning.

Currently co-founder and CEO of Dorchester Brewing Company, Matt and his team provide production resources to both local and national craft brewers and are dedicated to building a supportive and welcoming community for all in Dorchester. He is also an active mentor and advisor throughout the east coast, an official Techstars mentor and an advisor to crushing and screening equipment startup, Machinery Partner.  Matt is a Newton native and Newton North High School alum.

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