Saturday Mainstage: Transform

Chris Aviles is a teacher at Knollwood Middle School in Fair Haven, New Jersey, where he runs the FH Innovates program he created in 2015. The program includes the FH Knights, the first middle school esports team in the country. As coach of the FH Knights, Aviles and his players take on all comers from around the country, including other middle schools, high schools and even colleges. Aviles has been involved in esports since 1998, and he’s passionate about growing the esportsedu movement. He authored The Esports In Education Playbook, and runs the North American Scholastic Esports Federation-affiliated nonprofit Garden State Esports to help other educators start teams in their New Jersey schools.

Leader. Visionary. Entrepreneur. Disruptor. Change-maker. Angela Maiers embodies each of these descriptors with passion, commitment and fierce determination. She has been creating and leading change in education and enterprise for 31 years, teaching at every level, from grade school to graduate school, and consulting with companies around the world. Maiers founded Choose2Matter to bring the world hope by helping every individual embrace their value and potential contribution. Initially launched to challenge and inspire students to work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions to social problems, Choose2Matter has evolved into a movement that supports parents, educators and employees around the world. Her work in 60,000 classrooms across 100 countries has rallied more than a million children who have banded together to launch 170 social enterprises and pass 17 laws. Maiers holds a bachelor’s degree in education and master’s degrees in literacy and education leadership. She’s the author of eight books, including Liberating Genius,The Habitudes and The Passion Driven Classroom. Maiers is recognized as an influential voice on social media, and is a regular contributor to the Huffington Post.