Ross Tedder, 16, a junior at Winchester Thurston School, has a very comprehensive scope of interests and accomplishments to his credit.
Among other things, Tedder was the coordinator and overseer of a TEDxYouth talk in Squirrel Hill. Organizers had to form a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to secure funds for the talk. The theme for the event was “Ability”—that everyone should understand their capacity to achieve no matter their circumstance.
Notable local speakers were Emmai Alaquiva, filmmaker and CEO of Ya Momz House Studios, and creator of Hip-Hop on L.O.C.K.; Pittsburgh rapper Jasiri X, founder of 1Hood Media Academy; and Gregg Behr, executive director of the Grable Foundation, to name just a few. This successful effort showed qualities in Ross that garnered him the respect of his peers and instructors at Winchester Thurston.
Tedder entered Winchester Thurston in ninth grade and admits that his first year was extremely difficult. With the help and support of the staff at Winchester Thurston, Tedder was able to turn it around and has been maintaining a high level of academic achievement ever since.
“The leap from the McKeesport School District to the rigorous requirements of WT created quite a challenge,” he says. “Experiencing these struggles was crushing to me. I was not used to failure of any type, and the work I was doing represented failure.”
The bright, confident, articulate young man shared that one of the things he enjoys about Winchester Thurston is the open and encouraging approach they have to learning.
“They encourage independent thinking, and this really works for me,” Ross says. “Even beyond academics, like if you have an idea about a club you want to start or something, they support that.”
Tedder’s involvements in outside activities include organizing protests supporting Black Lives Matter, sustainability issues and participation in the school’s Black Student Union. He shares that his interest in these things may not come from his personal experience, because he’s basically had a privileged childhood, but says, “Still I get afraid, as a Black man, for myself and others.
“My parents have talked to me about the proper protocol if I am ever stopped by the police. I’ve never heard my White friends speak of having to act a certain way with the police. This is troubling to me, and makes me ask the question, where is the equity in this— why do I have to be schooled about being stopped by the police and my White peers do not? This is the reason I stand with those working for change and to create that all important awareness.”
Tedder’s versatility is surpassed only by his determination to be an accomplished leader. In keeping with the open environment at Winchester Thurston, he is the creator of two additional clubs—“Controversy and Coffee,” a forum where professors and students come together weekly to discuss current events, and the World Affairs Club. These activities create a feel of community in the school, he says.
One of the outstanding aspects of Ross’ character is that he loves to be challenged. And being a part of the Winchester Thurston Quiz Bowl is a significant highlight for him.
“I love being a part of this,” Ross says. “It brings out my inner nerd, plus I’ve been able to travel. We recently went to Dallas to compete. We are broken up into two teams—Team A and Team B—I am now the captain of Team B.”
Tedders’ parents share that all of his life they’ve allowed him space to embrace his interests.
“He was speaking in complete sentences at 10 months old,” says his mother, Michele Tedder, program director for Health Profession Opportunity Grants at the Community College of Allegheny County. “We really knew he was going to be special when his sister went off to study in the University of Pittsburgh “Summer at Sea” program. He was only in kindergarten at the time, but asked us to get an atlas for him so he could follow the locations his sister’s ship would be.”
Tedder resides in Edgewood with his mother and his father, Robert, pastor of Union Baptist Church in Swissvale. He is considering continuing his education at Harvard, Johns Hopkins or Tufts University to pursue a degree in bioengineering.
“Whatever I do, I know it will be a blend of my interests that will include policy, because it is policy that changes things.”
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