Theme: IDEAL

Please join the students of Challenge Early College High School for our 2nd annual TEDxChallengeEarlyCollegeHighSchool event! This year's theme is:IDEAL. The reason is we have a wide array of students who have wonderful ideas, and as young people they see all their ideas as possible - because they are! These students all have a bright future ahead of them and they will share what their world will look like after their high school days are over.

HCC Southwest Auditorium
5601 West Loop South
Houston, Texas, 77081
United States

Chianti Price

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Chianti Price is the Valedictorian of his class at Challenge Early College High School who is planning on attending the UT Health School of Nursing in hopes of becoming a Registered Nurse. After watching his grandmother suffer through two strokes, blindness, hospitalization and hospice stays – leading up to her death – Chianti questioned if there was a way to find a better organization for hospitals in order to improve patient care. Chianti has only begun on his venture into making a healthier hospital system but he has already learned that “efficient hospital organization is vital for the hospital’s functionality and patient’s health.” He is very excited at the opportunity to spread his idea about how to impact patient treatment through redesigning hospitals for optimal efficiency.

Haide Rafael

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Haide Rafael is a senior at Challenge Early College High School and is planning to attend college in order to pursue Deaf Studies as a major. Her interest in American Sign Language and the deaf community began when she saw interpreters at the bottom of the television screen and she wondered what they were doing. It is from this that she decided to pursue her learning of ASL and a deeper interest in the culture of the deaf community. She was excited at the prospect of getting to speak on the TEDx stage – mostly to share her idea about how the deaf community can be included more into the communities in which they live.

Heydi Acosta

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Heydi Acosta is a senior at Challenge Early College High School who is currently deciding between multiple universities in order to pursue her dream of being an Anesthesiologist. As someone who always pursues challenges, Heydi is excited to get on the TEDx stage and share her idea about changing the conversation about deportation. After watching her own father be deported from the United States, she wants to be the voice for the children who are left behind once a parent is sent back to their home country.

Jocelyn Segura

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Jocelyn Segura is a senior at Challenge Early College High School and will be attending Wake Forest University in order to pursue a degree in Health and Exercise Science. It is this passion which has driven her to the TEDx stage – her dream is to become a doctor who specializes in physical medicine and rehabilitation. Jocelyn, as many teenagers do, is also often distracted by Netflix. In her talk, she finds a way to combine her two passions and finds a positive influence that Netflix can have in the pursuit of someone’s career path.

Jose Dolores

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Jose Dolores is a senior at Challenge Early College High School who will attend Union College after graduation. His journey, which includes coming to the United States from Mexico at the age of seven and not gaining citizenship until he was 13, gave Jose an interest in stories – both his own and the stories of others. The genuine happiness Jose finds in stories is a passion which has led him to the TEDx stage. He wants to share his idea and passion for storytelling as an essential quality of life and the power a single story can hold.

Kortlahn Ballard

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Kortlahn Ballard is a senior at Challenge Early College High School who is going to attend Texas Tech University to major in chemistry. After considering the current lifestyle of her peers and recognized the need to put down their cell phones and have a conversation with one another. She is excited about her talk and feels it is a great place to share her ideas about communication in hope that through her idea, the content of conversations between peers will more profound.

Michael Diaz-Dominguez

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Michael Diaz-Dominguez is a senior at Challenge Early College High School and is planning to attend the University of St. Thomas. In spite of having a background in both theatre and debate, Michael has had a problem with public speaking for most of his life. In his talk, Michael talks about the motivation to speak publicly and although he feels that having the opportunity to speak on the TEDx stage is “slightly terrifying, but exciting as well” he is looking forward to sharing his ideas about public speaking and showing everyone why their words matter.

Nina Valdez

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Nina Valdez is a senior at Challenge Early College High School who is planning to attend the University of Houston. Throughout her life, Nina has wanted to know more about herself and her background and how it has made her the person she is today. Nina believes that “success does not come without failure” and is excited to have the opportunity to share her idea about self-identity through multiple lenses in a spoken word performance and talk with the TEDx community.

Vanessa Serrano

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Vanessa Serrano is a senior at Challenge Early College High School and will be the first member of her family to attend college when she goes to the University of St. Thomas where she plans to major in Biology. After a family member decided to sponsor a child in an underdeveloped country, she decided that path was for her. Vanessa’s talk focuses upon the power of a relationship when close proximity is not an option. Through a heartwarming story, she hopes to “shine a light to this little girl that has impacted my life for the past year.”

Yohebeth Castro

Senior at Challenge Early College High School

Yohebeth Castro is a senior at Challenge Early College High School and she will be attending Texas Woman’s University School for Nursing in hopes of one day working for Texas Children’s Hospital as a nurse. Yohebeth, in her teen years was excluded from the community she had known for her entire life and felt similar to a literary character whose book she was assigned to read in her English class. In her talk, Yohebeth examines how humiliation, shame and self-compassion can lead someone to feeling empowered through their personal growth. She is excited to have her opportunity to share this idea with the world.