London Burnham

London Burnham is a Senior at Durham Academy in Durham, North Carolina where she is a Varsity Captain of the Field Hockey and Science Olympiad teams, President of the Honor Council, a leader of both WISER and the Psych & Medicine Club and an alto in DA’s acapella group, XIV Hours. Although London enjoys many subjects, she is fascinated by Psychology and Human Behavior and is driven to understand the psychology and biology beneath why people do what they do. The intersection of Psychology and Political Science is particularly interesting to her, and she has spent the past year studying the Psychology of Power, with specific focus on the psychological dynamics that allow oppressive leaders to hold power over those they oppress. In her study of authoritarian regimes, London has found that the surrender of power and loss of rights by citizens often follows patterns but can happen so subtly that oppressed populations are unaware. This inspired her to raise awareness of the warning signs of a potential authoritarian’s rise to power. London is currently organizing a TEDx Youth event at her school to spread her message and to provide a platform to fellow students who have similar messages to share. She hopes that a tradition of TEDx events will inspire many generations of Durham Academy students to take an active role in shaping our future.

Human Behavior