Astra Liebowitz

Student

A New York born student at a British boarding school. I am 17 now, and went to boarding school at age 11. Having lived in an extremely close-knit community for over a third of my life my studies and passions have been nurtured, allowing me to spend most of my time with my friends, and focusing on my studies.

I have a real love for Biology, Chemistry, Computing and Math - making up the subjects I am taking for my final two years before university - at which point I hope to study Biomedical Sciences. With wider interests, I have found a niche fascination for Artificial Intelligence. This memorizing cross-over of biology and technology to create our own replication of a 'conscious' human brain is unfathomably intriguing and a greatly exciting area of science.

I set a goal two years ago, age 14, that before I was 20, I wanted to give my own TED talk. To be part of this immense information sharing platform which has been a huge part of my life and knowledge expansion. Since then, I have worked towards suppressing that stomach dropping feeling which comes as a cruel side affect of stage fright. This was (and still is) an uphill battle. I then had a burst of inspiration - stemming in fact, from TED itself in the form of a podcast: Maslow's Human Needs. The speaker Caroline Casey spoke about Looking Past Limits – explaining her experiences of how she fought to overcome her own disability of legal blindness. Under the umbrella of Maslow’s 4th Human need – Esteem, she describes how over coming obstacles is coupled almost inseparably with determination and the extent of which “it is extraordinary how far belief can take you.” I knew I wanted to do something big, but felt glued in the corner to my fear of public speaking and rapidly falling self esteem. Hearing her charismatic voice express these words struck something within me. I decided that if I could be the one to facilitate numerous others to get on stage to use their voices and share ideas, I would be amplifying my own. From that point I began reading. Watching. Understanding. How could I make this happen? How could I bring TED to Wycombe Abbey for the first time? I finally pitched my idea and was met with great enthusiasm and praise, and I can already feel my voice getting louder.