Gunn High School hosted its 15th annual TEDx conference, with the theme “a sea of voices,” which challenged speakers to seek deeper insights into life from past experiences. The conference was hosted by the TEDxGunnHighSchool organization and featured eight student and two adult speakers in addition to performances from the Gunn Improv Troupe, Joy Dance Club and Triquetra Quartet.
Featured below are four speakers from the conference.
Julia Lee
Gunn senior Julia Lee’s TEDx talk centered around her insights on the fragility of life after the sudden death of her 18-year-old brother earlier last fall. Lee touched on the mindset shifts that came with her familial loss, including how grief, anger and gratitude reshaped her perspective on everyday life. She emphasized the importance of living every moment intentionally and valuing one’s time. Even with life’s unpredictable moments, Lee urged the audience to find silver linings.
“Find the beauty in the ordinary because oftentimes we just pass off the things that we take for granted as ordinary,” Lee said. “It’s so important to take the time to notice what’s around us with the time we have left.”
Tara Firenzi
Living a double life as a social studies teacher and tap dance instructor, Tara Firenzi’s TEDx talk concentrated on her love for tap dancing. Despite her 40-plus years of experience in the art, Firenzi chose to focus on what she still has to learn as a way to encourage the audience to stay curious. She gave the audience a walkthrough of her career in tap, describing how she went from performances at clubs in New York City to becoming an instructor at a tap dance academy in Santa Cruz. Additionally, Firenzi highlighted tap dancing’s roots in West Africa and the influence of the dance in American culture.
For Firenzi, tap dancing is a meditative practice — a way to break free from traditional rhythmic music and instead focus on feeling each step. Firenzi emphasized her excitement in sharing her tap dance side with the Gunn community, where it is known as a secret hobby rather than a profession.
“There was not really not a whole lot of remuneration to [tap dancing], so it felt nice to trot out my weird, random hobby,” Firenzi said.
Jessie Han
Speaking from her experience on Gunn’s Student Executive Council, the Palo Alto Teen Advisory Board and the Chick-fil-A Leader Academy, a national high school leadership program run by the Chick-fil-A fast food franchise. Gunn senior Jessie Han’s TEDx talk provided general tips for effective leadership. After listening to numerous TEDx conferences at Gunn, Han wanted the opportunity to present her take on leadership. Throughout the speech, Han recounted her personal experience in leadership scenarios, explaining the positive and negative outcomes of each instance. She did this to remark on the harmful stigma that success is limited to a single “winner.”
“I think there’s a higher standard of leadership and it’s hard to recognize when you don’t meet that standard, and that’s why I want to talk about bad leadership,” Han said. “I want people to know that it’s okay to be a bad leader, because, through that, you’re learning to be a better leader.”
Ashish Aggarwal
Palo Alto-based entrepreneur and Gunn parent Ashish Aggarwal’s TEDx talk revolved around the importance of problem-solving in entrepreneurship. Aggarwal spoke about his background working in big tech companies and as a current angel investor and founder of Productiv – a Series C tech startup aimed at helping businesses manage their software applications.
In his speech, Aggarwal emphasized that 42% of startups fail because they do not address a consumer problem and that being conscious of the consumer separates successful companies from unsuccessful ones. Aggarwal extended that principle to his personal life, encouraging audience members to identify the problem they are trying to solve.
“It’s okay to chase any solution, as long as you ask yourself: ‘Why are you chasing that solution?’” Aggarwal said.
