Theme: Thrive

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized (subject to certain rules and regulations).

Sister Caroline Collins, DC, Theater
Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory
1055 Ellis Street
San Francisco, California, 94109
United States

Akeyla Tanksley

Student

Akeyla Tanksley is a junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral. She’s always had a passion for using her public speaking skills to spread awareness on various important and relevant topics. She plans to be a Psychology or Design major in college and hopes to be in a creative field someday. She chose the topic of code-switching because it is near and dear to her heart. Growing up bi-racial, she always felt like she had to change who she was on the daily to fit in with a certain part of her identity. And while being bi-racial is not relatable to just everyone, she knows that there are so many people who feel like they need to fit in somewhere. She hopes that people can relate to the topic of her talk and take away something important.

Atessa Anoshiravani

Student

Atessa Anoshiravani is a junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral. She cares deeply about the environment and endeavors to contribute to a global response to climate change. In her talk, she discusses how education can be used to create a more productive discourse around climate change. She loves spending time in the natural world, including swimming, paddle boarding on the San Francisco Bay, and hiking in the Sierras, and hopes to preserve these experiences for future generations.

Cosimo Noravian

Student

Two years ago when preparing for his first Speech tournament, Cosimo was faced with a challenging task: how to memorize a ten minute speech without losing his place and losing his mind. He stumbled upon a technique that has existed for over 3,000 years: the memory palace. Cosimo Noravian is now a Junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral, and the goal of his TEDx talk is to show how each and every one of us can harness the power within our brains. When Cosimo isn’t dreaming up wacky images to place within his own memory palace, he enjoys spinning vinyl, playing drums, and appreciating the natural beauty of the world.

Eleanor Mullen

Student

Ellie is a junior at Sacred Heart Cathedral. At SHC, she runs a program teaching STEM lesson plans to middle-schoolers, and is also on the editing team for The Oracle, Sacred Heart Cathedral's student art publication. Outside of school, she runs a San Francisco based international film festival for girls 15 and under. Her experience with the success of the festival, specifically the impact of limiting it to only young girls, inspired her TEDx talk on the importance of limited forums for skill and confidence building.

Gavin Bermudez

Student

Gavin Bermudez is a junior DePaul Scholar at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory involved in Visual and Performing Arts, including Choir, Theater, and Instrumental Music. As a self-taught musician, music is an integral aspect of his life that he passionately shares with others. He was inspired to write this talk by his fortuitous experience of discovering he could play piano by ear when he was 11 years old. That event launched a passion for music that has expanded to other areas of performance. Reflecting on this discovery, Gavin wishes to highlight the importance of pushing past socially influenced yet self-established limitations of perceived aptitude in order to unlock the inner gifts that each and every one of us possesses, not only for individual enrichment but more importantly as a contribution to others.

Gianni Valentine

Student

Gianni Valentine is a student at Sacred Heart Cathedral in San Francisco. At school, Gianni is a member of the DePaul Scholar Program and has an interest in history and geography. In his talk, Gianni aims to define the negativity bias, provide a short history of it, and determine its repercussions in order to fully grasp why humans have a propensity for dwelling on negative thoughts. Although he is just 17 years old, Gianni hopes that his talk will resonate with people of all ages.

Isabella Rinaldi

Student

Isabella Rinaldi is a sophomore at Sacred Heart Cathedral. At 10 years old, she was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder. She is now a mental health advocate and has worked her way up to the school's Varsity Speech and Debate team. Isabella’s experience with her own mental health and the social stigma surrounding it affected the way she saw herself. Her talk explores how mental disorders are perceived, emphasizes the difference between mental health and mental illness, and discusses societal stigma and the misconceptions about mental illnesses and how we can combat the general assumptions.

Leighton McCamy-Miller

Student

Leighton Miller is a senior at the Branson school in Marin. Deeply disturbed by the January 6th riots, Leighton embarked on a fellowship project funded by his school to study what makes up responsible citizenship and how schools can better prepare students for their civic lives. Leighton interviewed a dozen national experts and investigated leading organizations in the civic education space and shared his findings with his school in a report.

Meleana Suarez

Student

Meleana is a senior at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory. She is proud of her heritage of mixed ethnicities including Mexican, Filipino, Guatemalan, Native American, and Irish. Meleana grew up in San Francisco. Her dream is to one day make a difference in the world around her, whether by starting a nonprofit organization or becoming a broadcaster. She has big dreams and is excited to embark on a new journey in life.

Rebecca Joseph

Student

Rebecca Joseph is a junior at Las Lomas high school in Walnut Creek. Her true joy can be found while serving her local community, whether it be working with youth from across Walnut Creek in the Youth Commission, making Walnut Creek a belonging space through the Diversity, Equity, and inclusion task force, or even just volunteering at her cities local events. However, Rebecca has noticed that in the past two years, community service has become increasingly tense due to racial and political divisions. In her talk, Rebecca explores the importance of breaking binary thinking in order to achieve stronger relationships, as well as greater economic and social equality.

Sophia Qin

Student

Sophia is a passionate seventeen-year-old whose mission is to boost environmental literacy and empower youth from all socioeconomic backgrounds to be stewards of Earth. Her writing has been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and she has attended several rigorous environmental science research programs. She runs her own environmental nonprofit organization, Light Earth’s Destiny (earth-v2.org) and spearheaded hands-on projects like the Eco Art Contest, Trashion Fashion Craft-A-Thon, and Saving Earth 2.0 app game development. She is also the author of the science fiction book Becoming Earth 2.0, which covers the need-to-know environmental issues, introduces futuristic green solutions, and features multi-cultural characters. Sophia has also delivered presentations to more than 500 students in the Bay Area in the hope of enhancing environmental education. Sophia hopes her TEDx Talk will further inspire others to join her on building a greener, more sustainable future.