N-CUBED - Speaker Bios

Aeden is an autistic teenager who loves music and commits mostly to music like learning doubles like bass clarinet and flute. He is part of the leadership in the band and has helped the tiger regiment succeed in multiple festivals and field tournaments. Aeden is a part of the VHS marching band, concert band, symphonic band, and jazz band. He has multiple of my hobbies - favorites include spinning vinyl records and listening to music - mainly jazz, jazz fusion, and prog. Aeden would like to thank his parents and his assistant band director, Rudy Arevalos.

Annika Christy is a senior at Valencia High School. Annika is a talented artist and budding scientist who has committed her time in high school to further her quest for knowledge in both aspects. She is the President of Theater and the Vice President of the Improv Team. She has dedicated countless hours toward the betterment of the program. Due to her dedication to theater, she is one of two International Honor Thespians to graduate from VHS. She also serves her community and school as Vice President of NHS, President of Lending Paws, and a six-year choir member. In addition to these extracurriculars, Annika is an honors, AP, and ValTech student during class hours. Even with the extreme rigor of her courses, she still strives for excellence both in and out of campus. Annika received her Girl Scout Gold Award this past year - a feat for which she was honored at Angels Stadium and is set to talk about as a panelist at the Voices for Girls conference. She loves music and has performed at many events as a featured singer and independent graphic designer; her work has been used by peers and companies alike. Annika plans to major in biomedical engineering and minor in theater in college so that she may pursue her dreams as both a synthetic organ researcher and a performer.

Elliot Frields is a Junior enrolled in both the International Baccalaureate program as well as the Val Tech Program. Elliot’s favorite subjects are AP Macroeconomics, AP Statistics, and IBHLY 1 English. Elliot Frields is a third year member of Valencia's Mock Trial Team acting as a lawyer for 2 of the 3. Elliot also participates within our school’s Future Business Leaders of America team and just placed for states in the category of Economics. Elliot also has a passion for supporting his local community serving as vice president for PYL Parks, a club dedicated to keeping our local parks clean and their best. In his free time you can catch Elliot reading comics, watching movies, and indulging in anything Science Fiction.

Owen Lee is a junior in the Val Tech program at Valencia High School. He is a member of the track and field team through which he has created unforgettable memories and developed his passion for running. Outside of school, Owen enjoys spending time with his family, friends, and dog. On the weekends, if he is not catching up on sleep, he is serving his community. Volunteering for organizations such as Olive Crest and Liberty in North Korea, he has attended a myriad of fundraising galas and assisted various communities in need. This upcoming summer, Owen plans to explore the business world as he works as an intern for the tech digital invitation company, Evite. In the future, Owen hopes to pursue a career related to his strong interests in both Asian-American studies and business.

Leila Armand is a Junior Dual Degree Val Tech and International Baccalaureate candidate at Valencia High School.  Passionate about utilizing technology to raise awareness on women’s issues and drive engagement on impactful policies, she stands as a dedicated force for positive change.  In her role as President of the Black Student Union, Leila actively fosters inclusivity and empowerment.   Leila is an active participant in Girl Up, Black Girls Code, and Girls Who Code, where she promotes diversity in tech. Her commitment to inclusive innovation is evident in her position as a Student Advisory Board Intern at CK-12, where she spearheaded initiatives to enhance the learning community's experience through testing Flexi, the AI Chatbot platform.  Leila's impact extends to her summer internship with Black Women for Wellness, where she led social media efforts for the "Get Smart Before You Get Sexy" Campaign, focusing on educating teens of color in Los Angeles about their health. Her dedication and insights are further exemplified in her TED Talk on the adultification of Black teens, shedding light on societal biases and challenging stereotypes.  With a track record of academic excellence, impactful leadership, and a distinctive perspective, Leila Armand emerges as a rising force, poised to drive positive change in the realms of diversity, technology, and societal perceptions.

Maia Orejudos is a junior at Valencia High School and a candidate in the International Baccalaureate Program. Along with TEDx, she is active on campus as a violinist in the orchestra and a co-president of the Impact Christian Club. Off campus, she is active as a mentor for elementary-aged students and a member of her church. When she has spare time, Maia enjoys reading historical fiction, experimenting in the kitchen, and spending quality time with family friends, and nature. Her favorite pizza topping is pesto.  

Mazatli Martinez is a Junior at Valencia High School. She is part of the IB and ValTech programs offered there. She is a varsity flag football player and also plays for the flag football club OC Elite. Not only that but outside of school, she also plays piano and dances ballet folklorico. In her free time, she likes to volunteer at El Sol Academy and help with the music classes there, using her music background to give students the fundamentals they need when it comes to music. When not working on school or her extracurriculars, she loves to spend time with her family, traveling to different parts of Mexico and learning more about her culture. Overall, she is culture-oriented and loves to follow and learn more about where her culture came from and do more with it.

Harshi Sanghani is a junior 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. Harshi plans events for Girl Up, a club that advocates for the equity of girls around the world. Passionate about preserving her culture, Harshi teaches children Gujarati through the Swadhyaya program. 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.

Gabrielle DeCuir is a senior at Valencia High School enrolled in the International Baccalaureate and Val Tech programs. She is passionate about bioinformatics, which gives her a platform to combine her love for computer science and genetic biology to evolve modern healthcare. Inspired by the power of machine learning and data science, she plans to one day conduct research on Dementia of Alzheimers, a condition that runs in her family and impacts millions. Being active in her local community is very important to Gabrielle, which is why she is the co-president of the tutoring club “Booksmart”, which she co-founded freshman year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic to support struggling elementary students. She also developed the "Hoops & Coders" initiative which has exposed over 100 young women in underrepresented communities to computer science and basketball. Gabrielle was recently awarded the National Center for Women & Information Technology’s “Aspirations in Computing” Award and she is a Girl Scout Ambassador who earned her Bronze, Silver, and Gold Awards. Appreciating the beauty that is the arts and humanities, Gabrielle enjoys writing poetry as an outlet of relaxation, inspiration, and creativity. She was interested in exploring how compositions relate to human nature and human connection, leading her to compile her TEDx Talk "Compositional Bliss" in 2023; this year, her 2024 Talk “Transformative Algorithms” builds upon themes of neuroscience she previously explored. In her spare time, she enjoys being surrounded by her friends and family as well as embracing the unknown through travel. Gabrielle’s ideal vision of the future is to make breakthroughs in bioinformatics and genetic engineering that will better society, whilst still being able to continue her poetic pursuits and actively serve underrepresented communities to catalyze generational change in STEM industries.

Seth Chang is a Valencia High School junior enrolled in the Val Tech program. He enjoys playing video games, programming, and hanging out with friends. He has a deep passion for programming and participates in the Future Business Leaders of America competition. He loves to explore all aspects of programming, from building websites to dabbling in machine learning. He also volunteers near his local church to give food to needy families. Additionally, he knows how to figure skate, play the piano, and participate in public forums and parliamentary speeches and debates, among other things. In the future, Seth plans to become a software engineer but still wants to enjoy all aspects of programming.

Lola Yan is a Senior 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.

Bill Meng is a Junior at Valencia High School and enrolled in the Val Tech program. Ever since he took his first art class at the age of 4, Bill fell in love with the craft and has been pursuing it ever since. He is the Vice President of the Arts and Creations Club on campus, courtroom artist and Pre-Trial Attorney for Mock Trial and graphic designer for TigerTube. Bill helped paint/design both the Mural in the Girls Locker Room and the background panels for the Oregon Trail Play. Over the years, Bill has participated in and won numerous art competitions. Notably, in recent years, Bill won 1st place in the PYLUSD 150th Anniversary Logo Design Contest, Save the Frogs! Art Contest (U.S.), Seal of Civic Engagement Logo Design Contest, Yorba Linda Library's "Ancient Future" Art and Writing Contest, and the Mock Trial Courtroom Artist Competition. Off campus, Bill has taken classes at ArtCenter and Otis College of Art and Design, helped teach aspiring artists by volunteering at U.S. Arts and Design, and is looking to go into the entertainment design field as a concept artist for video games and movies. One day you may see his characters, environments, props, anything you can name, on the big screen, so look out!