TEDx in photos: the 2022 event featured students and community members who are Parts of a Whole

Katie Tsang
Jan 8, 2022

Student and guest speakers presented during TEDxMountainViewHighSchool, a day-long event full of activities, videos, and talks that were connected the 2022 theme, “Parts of a Whole.” Presentations covered topics including the fear of going first, finding strength in community, and ethnocentrism in America. The event took place on Friday, Jan. 7 in the theater.

Period 2 and tutorial speakers

  • Photos by Carly Heltzel and Katharine Tsang
  • Juniors Sawyer Gavira and Brent Bennion announce the next TEDx speaker. The pair emceed the all-day event.
  • Senior Esin Demiray talks about the fear of going first and how we can overcome the cycle of social cues and talk to one another.
  • Guest Speaker Svasti Patel talks about the untapped energy of trust
  • Sophomore Rohan Shankar talks about being a change maker
  • Guest Speaker Tim Lynch talks about authenticity in work and life
  • Sophomore Citlani Orellana talks about the diversity of stories of people from Mexico despite being stereotyped as a monolithic culture.
  • Students solve the MVHS riddle of who set off the fire alarm
  • The clues for the riddle are displayed on the screen

Period 4 and 6 speakers

  • Audience members compete in a game of MVHS Jeopardy
  • Juniors play a game of rock-paper-scissors to decide the winning team in Jeopardy
  • Junior Billy Peir talks about bringing energy to a team like baseball player Munenori Kawasaki
  • Guest Speaker Margaret Abe Koga talks about individualism versus collectivism in politics
  • Senior Lorenzo Varlaro talks about finding strength in community after undergoing a 10 surgery to remove a benign brain tumor that was deteriorating his vision.
  • Junior Blythe Powaga talks about her relationship with her late mother in a spoken word poem
  • Senior Allie Nguyen talks about ethnocentrism in American history curriculum
  • Guest Speaker Christa Gannon talks about living a life of leadership and her non-profit for incarcerated juveniles
  • Senior David Fomin talks about his lessons from his medical internship in Kenya
  • Student and guest speakers answer questions from the audience at the end of the day