Statistically slim odds of winning did not daunt senior Ashvin Swaminathan. He coolly accessed the list of Intel semifinalists in hopes of seeing his own name amongst the bevy of brilliant student researchers.

“It’s almost more nerve-wracking than the Harvard app,” he said, though his posture betrayed none of his nerves. His eyes were locked to the screen. He saw his name. His composure morphed into relieved ecstasy. He leapt into the air. Ashvin was one of only 300 in the nation experiencing the same reaction.

Ironically, his joy makes one picture the thousands of rejected applicants with dejected shoulders who now have to bear the disappointment of not being selected.

For some students who participate in competitions, like Ashvin, competitions can serve as pressure cookers for creative genius, ripe to be harvested in the pursuit of college, scholarships, and parental or personal glory. To others, however, the double-edged sword of competition also causes excessive anxiety and threatens to stifle creativity and individuality, especially in the classroom.

While our school advertises itself as a college-prep institution, some believe that the denotation threatens its students’ emotional well-being.

“The thing is, we should be a life-prep school,” said Juhi Muthal (10), who judges the submissions for the school’s literary magazine, HELM. “I’m very happy with the way that Harker teaches us how to think, but it makes students feel like they need to measure up.”

The shift to a more competitive mindset may be more recent than expected. Dr. Denise Pope, a senior lecturer at Stanford University, notices a wide generational gap in terms of acceptable coursework.

“When I was in high school, we didn’t have to take the top classes or cheat or slide through classes to get an extra point on our GPA’s,” said Dr. Pope, who co-founded Challenge Success.

This is the second year the Upper School has participated in the program, which informs Bay Area students and their families of the need to lead balanced lives.

“Nowadays, there’s a really hyper-competition about college. More people apply to college, which is great, but elite universities haven’t expanded their offerings,” she said.

On the other hand, student researcher Samyukta Yagati (10) sees college as only a small root of the competitive environment. She admits that comparisons between students sometimes propels them to achieve academic success.

“On a day to day basis, getting into college isn’t really immediate,” said Samyukta, who has won awards at the regional Synopsis science fair. “Day to day competition is more like ‘Oh, I did this well, but how did other people do?’”

In contrast, Ashvin claims to compete with only himself. He got into the competition circuit early when his fourth grade teacher gave him his first math contest, the California Math League (CAML) competition, on which he got a perfect score. The 2012 CAML was returned on January 10 to current third graders who were required to take it, perhaps hooking future mathematicians onto the thrill of competing.

“It’s honestly fun for me to do tough problems in a time constraint,” said Ashvin, who finds inspiration in his mathematician father and engineer mother.

To him, in fact, the Upper School should have a more competitive atmosphere.

“I thrive in competition. I’d actually like my classes to be more competitive, though it ultimately depends on the individual,” he said.

While Ashvin has been successful in terms of achievement, college counselor Martin Walsh does not see a correlation between competition and success, which “everyone defines differently.”

“You can’t define all success in terms of winning and losing. For me, success might be finally finishing Moby Dick, which I’ve been working on for eight months,” he said.

Sophomore Maya Nandakumar agrees with Walsh, believing that competition has a “net negative” effect on a person’s confidence.

“The competitive spirit definitely threatens your self esteem,” she said.

Dr. Pope identifies the stifling nature of the “competitive spirit,” which she credits with suffocating artistic and intellectual creativity as well as curiosity.

“If you look at what you have to do in most classrooms to get the A, you’re going to need to curb that creativity,” she said. “Part of the nature of creativity is risk-taking, and if you’re trying to get that grade or that spot, you’re not going to take that risk. And that continues into adulthood. What Silicon Valley CEO’s say is that people who are concerned about keeping their jobs or pleasing their bosses are less likely to think outside the box. Sometimes you have to be disruptive.”

When we were younger, the motivation to compete often lay in a physical reward. It was the possibility of a gold star, a trip to the local GameStop, or an extra dollar in allowance that propelled some to enter spelling bees and music competitions.

In high school, though, the incentives become far more abstract. The gold star becomes a college acceptance glinting in the future, and the shopping expedition transforms into parental hints and nudges to succeed. In order to procure those rewards, participants sometimes have to stifle their own creativity.

The Students as Content Creators (SACC) project is an ongoing series of articles that relate the process of young people producing their own ideas in various areas of business, science, art, music, theater, and more. Some stories also examine potential conflicts that may arise due to ownership issues.

The SACC symbol used in this article is a derivative of the trademarked Creative Commons logo.