Hundreds of students packed into the theater to see their peers present at the 2026 MVHS TedX event on Friday, Jan. 9. This year’s theme, “Take the Mask Off,” encouraged students to focus on less widely-known subjects.
The event was led by executive producers and juniors Natalie Chen and Veda Mungara, and featured a mixture of games, performances, and speeches by 11 students and 2 guest presenters.
This year’s speakers included juniors Anoushka Dugar, Kapil Kamran, Arthur Muller, Addie Hanna, and Nikolai Hernandez, seniors Joaquin Garcia Bueno, Connor Kao, Jane Liou, Ethan Louie, Isabella Margain, and Landon Qizilbash, as well as adult guests Cynthia Lee and Shane Anderson.
Within the event, there were two performances — a dance performed by seniors Karen Chien and Kaitlin Cho, as well as a musical performance by sophomores Sarah Kumayama, Olivia Nam, and Oliver Jiang, along with seniors Max Huang and Jason Chien.
Speech topics ranged from the impact of architectural design, presented by Liou, to Bay Area burnout culture, by Hernandez.
In his speech, Hernandez references his experiences moving around the country as a military child, analyzing the unique “crunch culture” of the Bay in order to find accessible solutions for students.
“I had a classmate who committed suicide. I didn’t know him very well,” Hernandez said. “…Then I came here, and it’s even worse here … I just see it, and I have to at least try my best [to help].”
As a result, Hernandez’s speech emphasizes taking time for oneself as an important part of avoiding burnout.
Similarly, in his speech, Kamran speaks about his struggles with feeling invisible, recounting his stories of finding his voice.
“When I was younger, my parents and sister were always the ones who were talking,” Kamran said. “…Between the three of them … it was pretty hard to get my two cents in there.”
Through these speeches, students were allowed not only to build speaking and presentation skills, but also to deepen their knowledge of their subjects, Liou said.
“It was a lot of learning and just synthesizing different sources together,” Liou said.
Most of her learning took place through the development and editing of the script, added Liou, where each original concept was expanded upon with new research.
For aid in these revisions, each speaker was assigned a coach from the student-led TedX board.
On the board, committees were created to design and manage the event as a whole as well.
“We have four committees,” Chen said. “There’s [the executive board] … and then there’s fundraising, public relations, logistics, and the speakers team.”
Together, the teams worked to manage finances, produce marketing material, organize event design, mentor presenters, and more.
Planning for the committees began early, Chen added. Board applications begin the school year before the event. Once positions are filled, initial design meetings are held in the summer.
“It isn’t until you’re actually behind the scenes that you understand how much time goes into it,” Chen said. “…At the end of the day, it’s just a one day event, but behind that one day event is months of work.”
