2026 SPEAKERS
Embedded Files
Featuring students, teachers, alumni, Alberto Mondi, and performances by Hyegwang Blind Orchestra and visually impaired pianist Geonho Kim.
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Mr. Charlton Jackson
Middle School Principal, Chadwick International
In his talk, he explains that who we are and who we ultimately become is shaped by what we believe and where we direct our attention. The ideas people hold about themselves influence the choices they make and the actions they repeat each day. As Aristotle observed, “You are what you repeatedly do,” reminding us that our habits ultimately define us. Yet the habits we form are guided by our beliefs about what is possible. When students believe their abilities can grow through effort, practice, and learning, they are more likely to persist through challenges and improve over time (a concept known as a growth mindset).
For educators, helping students truly believe this is something of a “holy grail.” When students internalize a growth mindset, they become more resilient, more willing to take risks, and better prepared to turn setbacks into opportunities for learning and growth.
Ms. Elizabeth Young
HIR Associate MS / US Counselor, Chadwick International
How does a child who used a doctor’s note to skip PE grow up to finish the Ironman World Championship and donate a kidney? It wasn’t through grit alone. It was through curiosity. Elizabeth Young spent her childhood avoiding exercise at all costs. Then, in her 20s, one small question changed everything: “What if I just tried?”
In her inspiring talk, Elizabeth takes you on a visual photo journey of her improbable transformation. You’ll see the child who avoided exercise evolve into a life-saving kidney donor and, ultimately, an Ironman World Champion, exploring the power of curiosity and the two simple words: "What if?" She reveals how that same simple shift can help you shatter your deepest self-imposed limits and rewrite your own story into something more incredible than you ever dared to imagine.
Alberto Mondi
Italian Television Personality and Entrepreneur
What do you do when life hands you something you never asked for — an illness, an injustice, a culture you don't understand? The instinct is to fight. To resist. To ask: why me?
After almost twenty years of living in South Korea as an Italian public figure, Alberto Mondi has faced that question more than once — through a life-changing medical diagnosis, the invisible challenges of adapting to a culture radically different from his own, and a sudden and painful public crisis that threatened everything he had built.
His answer, learned the hard way, is not what you might expect.
Geonho Kim
First-Year Student, Seoul Arts High School
Geonho Kim, a visually impaired pianist, reflects on how he has grown as a musician. He looks back on performances, including moments when things did not go as expected, and how those experiences changed the way he approaches music.
Instead of trying to avoid mistakes, he focuses on returning to the same piece, hearing it differently, and listening more carefully over time.
Whi Jung
Chadwick International alumna
Her talk explores the idea that meaningful progress does not always follow the traditional timeline often associated with mastery. Through personal experiences in pursuing classical singing, Whi Jung reflects on what it means to enter a field where many performers begin training at a very young age.
She discusses the challenges of starting later, including technical limitations, moments of self-doubt, and the comparisons that naturally arise when others have had years of prior training. Along the way, she also encountered skepticism from people who questioned whether pursuing classical singing without the conventional background was realistic.
Rather than presenting success as a sudden breakthrough, the talk focuses on the ongoing process of learning: building technique, developing discipline, and continuing despite uncertainty. Progress, her talk argues, depends less on when someone begins and more on the willingness to keep learning and move forward.
Hyegwang Blind Orchestra
The Hyegwang Blind Orchestra is an ensemble composed of visually impaired students and teachers who study and perform music using braille scores and attentive listening. By carefully listening to one another and sharing a sense of rhythm and breath, the musicians create a collaborative sound that reflects both discipline and creativity.
At TEDxChadwick International School, the performance opens with Lighthouse Keeper, a traditional melody symbolizing guidance and light in darkness. The program continues with variations on the Korean children's song Pong Dang Pong Dang and concludes with the well-known Korean song Spring in My Hometown, sharing the warmth and harmony that music can bring when people come together to listen and perform.
Daniel Jeon
Student G5
People always think "beating the odds" looks like a movie scene—winning a big trophy while the music swells. But when he stood on an international stage, the other musicians weren’t the problem. The real fight was happening inside his own head, where a voice kept whispering, "You aren't enough."
In his talk, he shares his journey through the paralyzing fear of competition and what happened after the applause stopped. When the hall went quiet, he had to ask a scary question: Who was he when no one was clapping? He realized that basing his self-worth on a ranking was a trap. By shifting from fighting the notes to telling a story, he discovered that true victory isn’t about being the best. It’s about staring down that scary voice in your head, picking up the bow, and playing anyway. His talk shares how to find courage in the silence, not just the applause.
Rachel Linton
Student G5
Her speech is about identity, exclusion and self-acceptance. Rachel Linton, the speaker, describes growing up between two cultures, American and Korean, feeling that she did not fully belong in either one. At her international school, her appearance and English mistakes made her a target of bullying, which caused deep pain.
However, instead of continuing to hide, she found confidence through Korean class, where she embraced the part of herself she truly understood. By leading a presentation on Korean independence activists, she discovered her own strength and gained respect from others. In the end, the speech shows that belonging should not depend on other people’s approval. Its main message is that being different is not a weakness, and our lives should be shaped by our own choices, not by others’ judgments.
Thalia Ascensio
Student G8
To her, elementary and middle school was like a roller coaster filled with fun friendships and moments of total uncertainty, but that was before all the unpleasant moments started to drive into her area, which was something that was not easy to deal with. Apart from whatever that happened, she started to follow the advice to stay open-minded and try new things, therefore, she was able to discover the brand new her. She is here to tell her story that her "downs" are just important as the "ups", and that the second you decide to step out of your bubble, you'll start leaving a trail of glitter everywhere you go.
Yeri (Elva) Lee
Student G6
Yeri's speech is about her experience about getting a score of 64 in her debate academy. After she got a 64, she was disappointed in herself, and she wanted to quit. However, she stood up and kept trying which brought her to give a TED talk. The talk clearly tells the audience to stand up, even after failure, with courage and bravery.
This talk also gives a cheer to the students that you should not get disappointed by one score, which will not change your story, and this is just information, and a part of your story not a label.
Chowon Park
Student G7
Chowon Park reflects on what it really means to “beat the odds” through the lens of public speaking. Growing up in China, she entered a speech contest by memorizing a Chinese script she didn’t fully understand. Even after winning, she felt more like a machine reciting lines than a person communicating. Years later, preparing for a TEDx talk, she chose a different approach: practicing with keywords instead of memorizing, leaving space for her natural voice, and focusing on connection.
She explores how shifting from performance to sincerity and empathy changed her experience on stage. Drawing on her identity as a third-culture kid, she considers how speaking can move from seeking applause to offering understanding—and why audiences often listen most to what feels honest.
Naeun (Luna) Gu
Student G7
When people think of "the way to success", it usually comes with "persistence." What people don't know is that persistence is only a small aspect of the truth. The path to success lies in knowledge; not on the subject you wish to succeed in, but on when to yield and when to stand firm.
In her talk, she explains how, especially when trying to accomplish a goal with others, together, identifying the right timing to yield or stand still can be hard, but necessary. As the book This Is Our Start got published, all of the authors were stressed with indecision, until they teamed up. It was a problem not even persistence could save.
Minyoung (Minnie) Hwang
Student G7
If a coin lands, was it really 50/50? Her talk directly challenges the idea that our society must accept probabilities. Probabilities never described our world, it described our assumptions on it. So, it probability is more based on assumption, than it is on truth, to what extent can we really depend on "the odds"?
Her talk takes the audience on a journey, to how a coin flip, would become the biggest lie humanity has ever believed. From the biggest world inventors, to the kid at the back of the class. Because, at the end, the people who made history were not the players of the game, but rather the designers of it.
Her talk shows that you cannot beat something you've never questioned.
Seoyun Kim
Student G7
Her talk explores how being labeled as “full of potential” can quietly become a source of fear rather than motivation. It examines how early praise and high expectations can shift a person’s focus from growth to image management, making failure feel like proof of inadequacy instead of part of learning. Through her personal experience, the talk highlights how success can create pressure to maintain a reputation, leading to risk-avoidance and self-doubt. Drawing on psychological research about mindset, it explains why praise centered on ability can limit development.
Ultimately, the talk argues that real growth begins when individuals choose to risk being average, imperfect, or wrong. By redefining failure as a tool rather than a threat, we can step beyond expectations and reclaim the freedom to learn, experiment, and grow.
Yuju Lee
Student G5
Her TED talk will be about how she overcame her challenges. Her main idea is, even if you're not good enough, even if you're not ready, just start! Don't think too much, don't look for too many reasons, START! Just start with the hardest parts! Because starting is what makes you ready.
There's nothing you can't overcome; you just need a way to find it! Her speech will contain what she discovered about herself, her experience of her biggest challenge, the flip-over/turning point, and lastly, the exact message she wants to deliver.
Layla Kim
Student G6
Her speech is about her journey of how she got into her dream school, adjusted to her new environment, and learned a valuable lesson about overcoming challenges.
In her speech, she aimed to emphasize that anybody can overcome their own challenges, and therefore they should never give up.
Rahee Park
Student G8
The main idea of her talk is how she was able to overcome the challenge of learning English when she couldn't understand anything and speak it as well as others. She didn't want that to define her so she decided to work really hard, and they started seeing the real her. She wants the people to know that others don't shape who you are, you do.
Chaeyoon (Bella) Yoon
Student G7
Her talk explores how ethical discussion can change the way we think, learn, and approach the decisions we face in everyday life. Through participating in the Ethics Olympiad, a discussion based competition focused on real world ethical dilemmas, she discovered a different kind of learning that goes beyond traditional academics. Instead of searching for single correct answers, participants explore complex situations and discuss them with others who often hold very different perspectives.
The experience revealed how questioning assumptions can deepen understanding of one another, and why ethics was so important in a global era like today. She invites you to ask questions from multiple perspectives and apply ethics in your daily life to make better, more considerate decisions.
Claire Yoo
Student G8
Ten Seconds of Silence argues that what we call “average” quietly shapes the world around us—from concert halls to social media to classrooms. Through the story of playing violin for a great aunt who was losing her hearing, the talk reveals how spaces designed for the majority can become invisible walls for others.
The same pattern appears online, where algorithms reward what is most typical and slowly pressure people to shrink themselves to fit. But “average” is not a law of nature; it is a habit we built. When we question who a rule serves, we begin redesigning the map of belonging. By choosing curiosity, courage, and kindness toward difference, we can create spaces where no one has to hide who they truly are.
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