“I thought high school would have just been me in front of a book, listening to the teacher lecture and going through problem sets, but what I found was that [Bellaire] really wants to promote its student body to go explore different clubs and extracurriculars and take different classes. [High school] starts trying to hone in on every single student’s identity and make them realize they have potential.

I’ve definitely grown to love music and art and appreciate [the] artistic side of life. [Bellaire] strives to emphasize that the more artsy [subjects] are always an option. You can really diversify yourself by taking those classes. For guitar, Bellaire put me into [that] class, and I decided to stick with it because I found it fun to learn an instrument.

[Guitar and Latin] have really expanded my viewpoint on the humanities side of studying and academia when I used to be more of a STEM kid. [Both have] made my whole experience at Bellaire much more rounded.

The thing that is unique about [Latin] is that it lets me explore the realm of linguistics. I can speak English, Spanish and Italian. I’m learning Japanese, Chinese [and] a little bit of German right now. Houston is so [diverse] with different kinds of people. Whenever you talk to somebody [new], you’re never going to have the same conversation. Being at [Bellaire], I got exposed to different languages, and [that] inspired me to self study. I felt I’ve really grown 10 times [more] as a person than I would have going to any other high school.

The one thing I have been the most involved here with [is] robotics. I started out as a member, just trying to learn to make a robot. One of the biggest things I learned with robotics [is] seeing things [through] a new lens, learning how to picture [a robot in] a 2D space [and then make it] 3D and [learning] all of the concepts of dimensions and framing [that were] all new to me.

I know I’m not the smartest person out there, nor am I the dumbest. For some [aspects], my [robotics] members are actually better than me simply because they have more experience. Being willing to admit that I’m not the best person for everything is difficult as president [of robotics] because usually everybody looks up to me, [but] for robotics, we emphasize that everybody has to play [their] certain part.

It was not until recently in senior year that I found balance between work and leisure. Especially with the changes in curriculum and the district, every year has been new. Whenever I have any troubles in terms of time [management], I always ask my teachers. I’ve learned how to ask for help from others, teachers and fellow students. I used to think [high school] was a competition and I had to be number one, but looking back, it’s really about helping each other. Not trying to be at the top alone, but trying to reach the peak together.

I’ve had a lot of people calling me ‘MIT-bound’ and it feels awkward because people that I didn’t know all of a sudden knew my name. One of the things I’m more excited about is the fact that [MIT is a] private institution that has money. I want to see how far I could go with the resources.

My senior year has been calmer than previous years, like the falling action in literature. I’ve gotten to spend more time with my extracurriculars, [and] that’s the coolest part about senior year and about Bellaire: the fact that I can do what I love.”