The Student News Site of Elkhorn South High School

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The Student News Site of Elkhorn South High School

Storm Alert

The Student News Site of Elkhorn South High School

Storm Alert

Bridgit Mender: From Disney to Space

The ex-Disney star returns to the public view, not with a song or a show, but with a space company

Bridgit Mendler once starred on Disney Channel’s hit series Good Luck Charlie as the smart and ambitious older sister, but little did the Duncan family know that real life Teddy would become one of the most intelligent and ambitious women the world has seen. Mendler’s career has been the pursuit of many dreams including actor, singer, songwriter, lawyer, and newly announced motherhood and CEO status.

Mendler made very good use of her time after she left the Disney spotlight, earning a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from USC, both a master of science degree and a PhD in media arts and sciences from MIT and her Juris Doctor degree from Harvard. Not only did she earn four degrees while in her hiatus away from the public view she also became a mother as she recently announced on X that she has a four-year-old son.

 

Before her adventures in education and satellites, she had a successful career as the lead roles in Good Luck Charlie and Lemonade Mouth. Good Luck Charlie ran for four years (2010-2014) where Mendler starred as Teddy Duncan, the oldest daughter of a big family making video diaries for her youngest sister Charlie. The show won a multitude of awards and flourished at the 2013 Kids Choice Awards where it won Favorite TV Show and Favorite TV Actress. Mendler also got to utilize her musical talents in the 2011 hit Lemonade Mouth, also produced by Disney.

Lemonade Mouth follows a group of five friends that work to form a band, Mendler playe

d the character of Olivia White. The movie was very well received by both critics and its target audience as it received a rare 80% on Rotten Tomatoes and was the #1 Disney Channel Original Movie of 2011. Not only was the movie successful, but so was the soundtrack as it reached #1 on the ITunes Soundtrack charts. Mendler was the head singer on most of the songs and it laid the foundation for her music career later.

Mendler’s career in singing allowed her to produce two albums (including lemonade mouth), along with two EP’s. She found a lot of success in her debut album “Hello My Name Is…” where her singles “Hurricane” and “Ready or Not” carried the weight of the success. “Ready or Not” was received very well by critics, earning Mendler a comparison to Carly Rae Jepsen. The song also peaked at 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum by the US, UK, Denmark, and Canada. 

Mendler’s most recent career adventure would be the startup of her space company Northwood Space. The company’s goal is to make satellite technology more accessible by mass producing retriever stations on Earth. Northwood Spaces has gained a lot of traction within the space community, earning it a starting fund amount of $6.3 million. Mendler is accompanied by her husband Griffin Cleverly-CTO, and Shaurya Luthra-Head of Software. They strive to make changes to the decades old mechanisms and software that slow down the process of data collection from space to Earth.

With many degrees in her back pocket, and seemingly unstoppable creativity, the world watches closely to find out where Mendler goes next.

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About the Contributor
Abby Miller
Abby Miller, Reporter
Hey!! I’m Abby I’m a junior and this is my first year on Storm Alert. I like writing opinion pieces on new things happening around school and the world, as well as sports stories!

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