Theme: BECOMING

BEING always felt stressful-wherever I was there was something to do, someone to please, a duty to be complete, a role inadequately fulfilled: something amiss. BECOMING, on the other hand, was a relief."
― Tony Judt

TEDxValenciaHighSchool is proud to present "BECOMING" - an exploration of the evolution of all things, the process of creating something new out of something old. Valencia High School has a history spanning several decades, and as the school itself has expanded, so has the world of our students. Whether it be exploring how our pasts can inform our present, how culture informs who we become, how interests can become passions, exploring the process of how to get to Mars, or examining how a little plastic doll named Barbie can become a cultural icon - we are all BECOMING.

Our speakers have the unique perspective of being teenagers, in a constant state of "becoming" as they explore the world around them and evolve into the next generation.

Valencia High School
500 N. Bradford Ave.
Placentia, California, 92870
United States

Dakota Feltkamp

Student Speaker

Dakota Feldkamp is a senior at Valencia Highschool enrolled in both the International Baccalaureate and Val-Tech programs. Dakota has been playing sports his whole life, playing soccer in elementary and middle school and volleyball in high school. He enjoys the fun team environment which encourages cooperation and unity. In addition to competing for volleyball, he also competes in Science Olympiad, Mock Trial, and Esports. Since junior year, he has competed in all three at the varsity level, becoming captain on both Mock Trial and Esports. Within school, his favorite subject is chemistry, a subject he has taken for three years and plans to pursue in college. Dakota also enjoys volunteering at places such as public libraries to provide fun activities for local teens to enjoy. In the future, Dakota hopes to pursue a career in research, discovering the best ways to help our planet move forward into the future.

David Meza

Student Speaker & Future Marine

David Meza is a senior at Valencia High school and comes from a family of mostly engineers and inspirations. He is currently a USMC Poole. His inspirations are his brother Andres and his mom. His ship date is July 17, 2023, and is the youngest of 5. He faced hardships that dealt more with mental aspects and he's here to tell his story.

Delilah Yick

Student Speaker

Delilah Yick is a freshman at Valencia high school who divides her time between both social sciences and STEM. She dual-enrolled in ValTech and International Baccalaureate, dancing on her high school team, & being an avid member of clubs including Scientella, Grow Your Stem, Girl Up, Booksmart, Biology Club, & FBLA. Finally, throughout her entire life, she has maintained a goal of making an impact on her community and has been a Girl Scout since 1st grade. Constantly looking for new ways to volunteer and get involved, she has provided resources for foster children, participated in and held beach clean-ups, run workshops to teach and involve youth in STEM, helped start a Diversity Club at Kraemer Middle School, and is now working on her Gold Award to combat race/gender/sexuality-based derogatory language in the classroom. Through TEDx, she is hoping to utilize her love for public speaking to share her knowledge about science and how it can be used to make the world a better place.

Eujin (Jini) Kim

Student Speaker & Artist

Jini Kim is a 15 year old sophomore at Valencia highschool and an aspiring future artist looking to change how society views its people and how people view society. She loves to bake and is the club president of Our Generation and is a varsity member of the Track and Field team as well as the Cross Country team.

Gabrielle Decuir

Student Speaker

Gabrielle DeCuir is a junior at Valencia High School enrolled in the International Baccalaureate & Val Tech programs. Though she is focused on pursuing a career in the bioinformatics industry to combine her love for computer science & genetic biology, she is also passionate about the beauty that is the arts & humanities, specifically poetry. Gabrielle enjoys consuming both music & written works as an outlet of relaxation, inspiration, & creativity. As the co-president of the Valencia High School tutoring club “Booksmart” & creator of the initiative "Hoops & Coders" which exposes young women to computer science & basketball, Gabrielle is involved in her community. In her spare time, she enjoys being surrounded by her friends & family as well as occasionally experimenting with paint & canvas. Gabrielle’s ideal vision of the future is to one day use data science to make breakthroughs that will better society, whilst still coming home to a pen & paper to continue her poetic pursuits.

Harshi Sanghani

Student Speaker

Harshi Sanghani is a sophomore involved in the dual International Baccalaureate and ValTech programs at Valencia High School. She is an avid member of Academic Decathlon, earning many medals, and striving to learn about the world in the process. Harshi showcases her leadership skills by participating in FBLA, and even getting selected to compete at the state level. Passionate about preserving her culture, Harshi teaches children Gujarati through the Swadhyaya program and is involved in the TAAL Indian Dance club. In her free time, she enjoys reading fantasy and adventure books, watching movies, and painting. Harshi hopes to pursue a career in medicine to fuel her interest in biology and chemistry, as well as, help people in her community.

Joshua Hockman

VHS Alumni, UCLA Student Regent's Scholar, 2022 Assistant Director/Assistant Coordinator of TEDxValenciaHighSchool 2022 - BELIEVE

Joshua Hockman is a first year Regents Scholar at UCLA studying biochemistry. Outside of class, Joshua is a head coach for Sierra Vista Middle School's Science Olympiad program in Irvine, CA, who were named national champions in 2022. Within the team, Joshua specializes in student performance and development, teaching team members both leadership concepts and general life skills all within the Science Olympiad context. Apart from his academic hobbies, Josh can be found exploring his artistic side through musical theater productions and writing poetry. With aspirations to one day combine his passion for science with threads of leadership and empathy, Josh is working towards pursuing a career in medicine to make tangible change in his community.

Keegan Thomas Sanders

Student Speaker

Keegan is a Senior at Valencia high school, a dual IB diploma & ValTech student, a metalhead, and an avid gamer aspiring to a career in the arts. Keegan's goals are mainly film, screenwriting, and authorial writing. Every moment of every day he is trying to be as productive as he can possibly be - if he has an hour he watches a TV show episode if he has several hours, he watches a movie or reads a book, and all are done analytically/critically as to get as much as he can out of each work of art.

Leila Armand

Student Speaker

Leila Armand is a driven Dual Degree Val Tech and International Baccalaureate candidate at Valencia High School. She is passionate about leveraging technology to raise awareness on women’s issues and encourage engagement on policies that impact their lives. As a Google Code Next Scholar and active member of several organizations including Girl Up, Black Girls Code, Girls Who Code, & Black Student Union, Leila demonstrates her commitment to promoting diversity& inclusion in the tech industry. She was recently awarded an Affiliate Award through the National Center for Women & Information Technology honoring her for her aptitude in computing. Additionally, Leila was featured on Pomona College’s campus radio for her podcast highlighting the need for more support for women in engineering. Not only is Leila a dedicated student, but she is also an accomplished athlete, competing on Valencia’s Varsity Girls' Basketball & Track teams where she was awarded Best Defensive Player of the Year.

Lola (Yikei) Yan

Student Speaker & Lead Artist on TEDx

Lola Yan is a junior at Valencia High School in the ValTech Program and is interested in all things arts-related. She is a Graphic Designer at Diversify Our Narrative Placentia Yorba Linda Chapter, a contributing artist on Synthesis Publications, and president of the Arts and Creations Club at Valencia High School. She also enjoys teaching classes at Dutch Master’s Art Academy, where she discovered her love for arts education. As for art competitions, she has won two Honorable Mentions and a Silver Key in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, along with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for Best in Acrylic. The idea for this TEDx Talk came from Lola’s personal experiences with domestic violence, and its intersectionality with Chinese culture. Through her adversity, she has completed a 40-hour Domestic Violence Advocate Training Certificate, which designates her as a Domestic Violence Advocate under California Evidence Code 1037.1.

Lucy Ann Enomoto

Student Speaker

Lucy Ann Enomoto is a sophomore, enrolled in the International Baccalaureate program at Valencia High School. Lucy Ann’s favorite subjects are AP chemistry, AP environmental science and AP US history. Lucy Ann is a second-year varsity softball player who plays 3rd base. During the summer and fall, Lucy Ann spends her time competing around Southern California with the Bownet travel softball team under Coach Suzy Brazney. She is also an accomplished pianist and recently completed the Certificate of Merit: Level 9, earning State Honors. Lucy Ann serves on the National Ticktockers Advisory Council for the National Charity League and volunteers for Meal on Wheels. Lucy Ann is an avid Los Angeles Dodgers fan whose goal is to visit all 30 major league ballparks with her dad. So far, they have visited 23 stadiums across the country

Nina Kini

Speaker (High School Student), 22 Assistant Director/Assistant Coordinator of this year's event: TEDxValenciaHighSchool 2023 - BECOMING

Nina Kini is a senior at Valencia High School currently enrolled in the International Baccalaureate Program & Valencia Technology Academy. Nina is involved in Science Olympiad (both coaching & competing), the Teens for Teen Health national online newspaper, & STEAMing Time (a nonprofit organization dedicated to exposing young students to the world of Science & Technology). Her main interests lie in Public Health and Epidemiology. She is passionate about studying the intersections between cultural traditions and population wellbeing, and has traveled to the CDC as a student intern to learn more about Public Health education and policy. An avid pursuer of knowledge outside of school boundaries, Nina enjoys taking community college courses to supplement her learning during the summer vacation and often spends hours perusing Khan Academy for fun. In her free time, Nina loves to play basketball & mend broken watches with her favorite watch-repair kit.

Ravali Vallurupalli

Student Speaker

Ravali Vallurupalli is a current sophomore at Valencia High School. Despite having moved to the district this year, she found her place on the Mock Trial, FBLA, and TedX teams. In her non-academic life, Vallurupalli regularly finds ways to advocate for her passion in youth mental health; a topic she feels is profoundly overlooked in family life and communities as a whole. When she is not listening to podcasts or watching TV, she is volunteering her time at a childrens’ mental health service. This extrovert is constantly looking for the next mental health summit or conference to attend. Vallurupalli’s ambition is to someday be a psychiatrist who specializes in children and adolescent psychiatry.

Rebecca Bonet

Living Earth and AP Environmental Science Teacher (Valencia High School)

Rebecca is a Living Earth and AP Environmental Science Teacher here at Valencia high school and has been in the profession for 9 years. She was born and raised in Orange County and after graduating from El Dorado High school she attended UC Davis where she majored in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She received her master's in Environmental Studies last year and for her project, researched the effects of gardening on high schoolers' social, emotional, physical, and academic health. She is passionate about outdoor education and helping students reconnect with nature. She is a teacher leader for the California Global Education Project (CGEP).

Skylar Lee

Speaker (High School Student)

Skylar Lee is currently a senior at Valencia High School, enrolled in the Val Tech Program. She enjoys spending her time volunteering, going to concerts, cooking and baking, exercising, watching sports, and shopping. Skylar has been involved in various academic associations, Christian organizations and clubs, and community service projects. In college, she hopes to utilize her experience when she studies abroad and pursues some of her interests in business, psychology, sociology, English, and foreign language. She is excited that her ideas on the concept of belonging within Asian-American culture are being shared.

Steven Segawa

Student Speaker & Student Assistant Director

Steven is a senior at Valencia High School enrolled in the International Baccalaureate and ValTech Programs. At school, Steven is involved with Valencia’s Varsity Tennis and Mock Trial teams. Outside of school, he serves as a national officer for FBLA and interns for his local Congresswoman. Steven plans to study economics in college and pursue a career in both the corporate and postsecondary world as an executive and professor respectively. In his free time, you’ll find Steven at local bubble tea shops and amusement parks.

Surina Borbor

Student Speaker

Surina Borbor is a student at Valencia high school and a part of the ValTech program offered there. At school, she’s involved in the weekly school news broadcast, TigerTube, and a few clubs, such as 422 Club and French Club. Her favorite class, though, is art, where she gets to do her favorite thing in the world: paint. Outside of school, she enjoys cooking (albeit not very well), exploring the town on her bike, and reading- especially if it’s about anthropology. She’s very excited to have the opportunity to participate in TedEx this year, and is excited to share her talk with everybody!

Tanya Vidhun

Speaker (High School Student) & Activist (Girl Up!)

Tanya Vidhun is a junior at Valencia High School enrolled in the IB and Val Tech programs. She enjoys playing tennis on the varsity team and playing the violin in her school orchestra. Tanya volunteers at PIH Health Whittier Hospital and hopes to pursue a career in science/medicine in the future, which she has explored through her school science olympiad team and research experiences. Tanya co-founded VHS Girl Up on her school campus and is president of the Girl Up Southern California Coalition. Tanya is passionate about gender equality and has organized and led the Girl Up Los Angeles-wide period products drive, girls' education fundraiser, and spoken at the MAKERS Conference representing Girl Up where she addressed issues related to gender justice.

Tiana (Ruotong) Zhang

Student Speaker

Tiana Ruo Tong Zhang is a current freshman at Valencia High School. She is passionate about education policy and is involved in the school robotics team, 4470 Tigears. Out of school, she competes in climbing, sails for fun, and creates short videos. In the future, she aims to travel the world.