“When I get on the dance floor, it’s just a whole new world; I don’t think about school, I don’t think about any of my extracurriculars, college, nothing. It’s just a place for me to do what I love.”

For ballroom dancer and DECA CEO Riya Chandra (12), her passion stems from her commitment to dancing since she was four years old.

After doing Bollywood dancing for nearly seven years, Riya started learning jazz and hip-hop styles when she joined Harker in sixth grade. And in tenth grade, she took on ballroom dancing, an activity that she now wishes to continue pursuing in college and even after she graduates.

“Ballroom is just such a unique sport that I didn’t know existed,” she said. “They have it all over, like in college they have ballroom teams, so I’m very excited for college. And what’s even great about it is that when you go to a studio, you see 60- or 70-year-old women dancing, and I’m like, ‘Woah, what if I continue ballroom for the next 50 years in my life? What if I’m that 70-year-old on the dance floor dancing?’ That’s just such a cool thought, and I hope I can do so.”

After competing in five prior ballroom dancing competitions, Riya qualified for the finals in every event she participated in at her most recent competition in December and equally enjoys dancing for herself just for fun.

“While I’m competing in ballroom, it’s very different competing against people you don’t know throughout the US. It’s a place where I feel unique, feel good, like no one knows anything about school there,” she said. “Dance, it’s really cliche to say, is just a destresser. I remember even throughout the lows in my life, even when I’m the most stressed—there’s some days when I have after school Harker dance, then a DECA study session—I still want to go to ballroom and go to my studio at 9 p.m., even if that’s what it takes, because that’s the only thing that keeps me going.”

Apart from dance, Riya’s passion for business has grown as she joined DECA as a member her freshman year and is now co-CEO.

“Throughout DECA, it’s not just only learning about business; but in our actual DECA officer team, I’ve learned how to manage a team [and] lead a team, and my public speaking skills have definitely increased,” she said. “I think the biggest thing is that being co-CEO with one of my friends, we want to leave a really great legacy with Harker DECA; we’re such a big chapter and we want to make sure that we’re helping them, we’re preparing the next officer team as best as they can to take over.”

While Riya has immersed herself in her passions for both dance and business over the past four years, she has also prioritized her friend and family relationships, whether it be via scrapbooking and collage-making or creating a senior year bucket list with activities to accomplish with her friends.

“In my room, I have this photo board where I keep a bunch of photos of my friends, family and I because it’s something that I, when I’m feeling down, like to look at, [thinking] ‘These are the people that are important in my life,’” she said. “I created a second semester bucket list, and I have it on my board, and there’s 30 things on it that I want to do with different friends for each thing. It’s because I learned in the past year that life’s short, and you want to go out and experience the world, so I have things like hiking Mission Peak one day, another day going to SF with my friends, and another day baking with my friends. Those are things I want to do, and I want to remember those moments.”

One of Riya’s best friends, Karina Patel (12), described her dedication towards her friends.

“I think what I love most about Riya is her bubbly personality and how supportive she is as a friend,” Karina said. “I myself am very reserved, but when I’m with her, she will always push me to see the positivity in all situations and in doing so we always have a great time together.”
“When the music turns on, any time music is playing, I can just start dancing, even in the hallways when I’m walking,” and just like that, armed with her passion for business and her strong friendships, Riya is ready to dance her way through the rest of high school, through college and through life.