Theme: Weathering the Storm

TEDxBonitaVistaHS is a fully student-run conference by students of Bonita Vista High, a public high school in Chula Vista, California. Chula Vista is a border town with rich diversity, and we are passionate about bringing to light the unique perspectives of different members of our community. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we plan to host our conference online through YouTube Premier. The theme for our conference is “Weathering the Storm,” which represents successfully overcoming difficulties and adapting to change. We chose this theme because it is contemporary, as everyone has faced obstacles due to the pandemic, and because it leaves room for talks about diverse issues. We hope to leave our audience empowered to improve themselves and the world around them.

Digital
751 Otay Lakes Rd
Chula Vista, California, 91913-2004
United States

Anna Maya

High School Student

The daughter of a diverse multi-ethnic home, Anna dreams of a day her heritage is fully represented in the classroom. In pursuit of the American dream, her ancestors fled persecution in the Middle East, resettled in Mexico, and eventually crossed the border to the United States. As a Latina and Sephardic Jew, Anna is no stranger to discrimination and antisemitism. From seeing swastikas engraved on bathroom stalls, hearing the news of shootings at local San Diego synagogues, and never being truly understood as a minority within a minority, Anna has found strength in fighting for adequate representation of all students in and out of the classroom.

Brianna Murphy

CEO of the Quin Murphy Foundation

At the age of nine Brianna was met with the untimely death of her sixteen year old brother Quin due to medical malpractice. Thrown into a whirlpool of tragedy she was expected to deal with emotions and experiences some adults still haven’t encountered. She began an unexpected journey of grief and hope. Today she runs a nonprofit that her family created just five months after Quin’s death. The Quin Murphy Foundation spreads hope through tragedy.

Jayden Pacheco

High School Student

Jayden Pacheco is a popular social media influencer and motivational speaker. When he was just fifteen years old, he experienced many hardships. Jayden and his family had lived in Eastlake, Chula Vista, all his life. Growing up, Jayden was expelled from multiple high schools for wrongdoings and committing various crimes. Jayden was going down a bad path with the wrong crowd. As Jayden has begun to turn a new leaf he is now a social media influencer with over one million followers. He is also a youth leader at his local church, and is an up-and-coming motivational speaker. Jayden looks forward to growing as a person and changing the minds of millions with his story about overcoming difficulties and adapting to change.

Rushikesh Pande

USC Trustee Scholar

Rushikesh Pande, a Trustee Scholar at the University of Southern California, argues that we critically analyze the true benefits of the support systems we have put into place around us. As an aspiring physician, Rushikesh understands the importance of the impact that who we surround ourselves with has on our wellbeing, especially during tough times. To give back to the world, Rushikesh runs his own nonprofit organization, Rush Foundation, dedicated to distributing technological and other basic necessities to underdeveloped schools in third world countries. His academic interests include the intersection of technological advancements and medicine, as he is passionate about learning how to use today's advancing technology to help better the lives of others.

Shelby Gordon

Marketing Manager San Diego History Center

Shelby, a native San Diegan, has built much of her professional career around her hometown. She has worked in communication roles at Sea World, the San Diego Museum of Art, the San Diego Housing Commission, United Way/CHAD, the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the Salvation Army Kroc Center and now the San Diego History Center. The only time she left San Diego was to fulfill a professional dream byworking as a Disneyland Resort Cast Member for 14 years. In addition to her work at the San Diego History Center, she is an adjunct professor at two local universities and an anti-racism consultant within the dietitian/nutrition sectors. Shelby will present at this year’s TEDxBonitaVistaHS Conference. She is an active daughter , prolific social media anti-racism disrupter aspiring Burlesque dancer and future puppy owner.

Snigdha Nandipati

Yale Graduate; BS in Neuroscience

Snigdha Nandipati is a first-generation Telugu-American who has spent much of her life learning to embrace the hyphen in her dual identity. Having grown up with both a strong curiosity for the sciences and a deep appreciation for the traditions of her Hindu culture, she often grappled with questions from family, friends, and teachers about how she could possibly reconcile these two seemingly incompatible sides of herself. Now, Snigdha is a patient advocate, author, and aspiring physician who explores the intersections of these disciplines and encourages individuals in similar positions of crisis to embrace their dual identities. Join us for a conversation with Snigdha as she draws on personal stories and historical evidence to explore the long-held debate between science and tradition.

Victoria Gonzalez-Rivera

Associate Professor, Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, SDSU

The daughter of a Nicaraguan man and a white U.S.-American woman, Dr. González-Rivera grew up in north-central Nicaragua during the last years of the right-wing Somoza dictatorship, the leftist insurrection of 1978, the early years of the Sandinista revolution of 1979, and the Contra War of the early 1980s. Professor González-Rivera is the first woman of Nicaraguan ancestry to obtain a Ph.D. in Latin American History from a U.S. university and is a pioneer in the fields of western Nicaraguan women’s history and western Nicaraguan LGBTQIA+ history. In 2001 she co-edited the book Radical Women in Latin America: Left and Right. Her second book, Before the Revolution: Women’s Rights and Right-Wing Politics in Nicaragua, 1821-1979, was published in 2011. She is completing a third book, titled 500 Years of LGBTQIA+ history in Western Nicaragua. Dr. González-Rivera is an Associate Professor at San Diego State University, where she has taught for 15 years.