Kojo is a student at the University of Connecticut. He believes that student empowerment and advocacy are the bedrock for transformative change in education and the world. He is working to make sure that all youth realize the power of their ideas and experiences, understand how to advocate for themselves, and have their voices embraced in their schools and communities.
Crystal Widado (she/her/hers) is a student journalist, public speaker, and high school junior. After dealing with many personal struggles with suicide and identity in middle school, she became extremely passionate about teen mental health and intersectional approaches to our generation’s conversations surrounding wellness. Crystal has served as the social media facilitator for Mind Out Loud, the co-president of her schools’ NAMI on Campus chapter, the Writing Director of Each Mind, and is a part of the Student Mental Health Policy Workgroup at the California Department of Education.
Addie Lentzner (she/her) is a high school senior from Bennington, Vermont. She founded the Vermont Student Anti-Racism Network and the End Homelessness Vermont Coalition, helped to organize the AEROx Youth Rights Day Conference, and is passionate about uplifting youth voices for social change.
Jerry Mintz has been a leading voice in the alternative school movement since establishing AERO in 1989. In addition to his seventeen years as a public and independent alternative school principal and teacher, he has also helped found more than one hundred public and private alternative schools and organizations. He has lectured and consulted in more than twenty-five countries around the world. In 1989, he founded the Alternative Education Resource Organization and since then has served as it’s Director. Jerry was also a founding member of the International Democratic Education Conference (IDEC) in 2013. In addition to several appearances on national radio and TV shows, Jerry’s essays, commentaries, and reviews have appeared in numerous newspapers, journals, and magazines including The New York Times, Newsday, Paths of Learning, Green Money Journal, Communities, Saturday Review, Holistic Education Review as well as the anthology Creating Learning Communities (Foundation for Educational Renewal, 2000).
Dr. Peter Berg, the founder of Youth Transformations, works with teens and adults as a Mental Health Professional. He is an adjunct instructor at Southern New Hampshire University, in the Doctor of Educational Leadership program. He has been a school leader in democratic schools and has helped many schools get started. The author of the best-selling book The Tao of Teenagers: A Guide to Teen Health, Happiness & Empowerment, his work includes helping teenagers empower themselves so they can take charge of their health and happiness and be the masters of their own lives. His mission is to guide youth and families to create transformations that lead to health, happiness and empowerment. He holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and has written extensively on alternative, holistic, integrated educational theory and integrated health. Peter helps to organize many aspects of the Alternative Education Resource Organization. He has consulted on many school and organizational startups.