Dancing fingers, she and her friends call them, and they do dance. As Anuva Mittal (12) speaks, her fingers never cease to move, hands flipping and gesturing with every phrase.

“I think that’s a really big thing that describes me because I talk with my friends a lot and I feel like that’s the way I express my emotions—dancing fingers,” she said.

Another expressive outlet for Anuva, a newfound one that she began exploring this school year, is cooking. Although she began primarily with sandwiches, she soon diversified into vegetable-based dishes, including quinoa and stir-fry.

“I like cooking healthy food especially because I like knowing what goes into my food, and it’s also a creative outlet for me after a long day at school,” Anuva said.

“This summer, I did a six-week program, and that was like the first time I stayed away from home, and it was really fun because in the dining hall they had so many different foods and I made my own dishes by mixing different things and that’s the creativity I like in food—that you can just create anything you want with a set of ingredients instead of just taking what’s given to you,” she said.

Anuva’s interests expand beyond the culinary: she has been playing soccer for over a decade, previously participating in an outside club program and now on Harker’s Girls Varsity team, which she captained last year

“[Being captain] was a really big growing  moment for me, because that was the first time I was given a leadership position, and that has just helped me grow as a person,” she said. “I think my journey through soccer has really shaped me into the person I am.

Anuva found not only soccer but also her entire high school experience transformative in shaping both her identity and perspective.

“[In freshman year], I joined [clubs] passively, and I had a really passive outlook because I wasn’t confident in myself and I didn’t want to put myself out there,” she said. “Now, I realize you have to take initiative to get the things you want. Before, I thought things were just going to fall in my lap or they were going to be handed to me, and I know that that’s definitely not true.

She enjoys recollecting her transformation and changes in personality, especially using physical mementos, like the pale blue mechanical pencil she’s been using since middle school.

“Even though I’ve grown up and I’m a completely different person than I am since middle school, it’s just nice having some mementos of me, and that’s why I also collect all my IDs,” she said. “I just like seeing my transition over time because I can attribute that I had this personality at this point, and it’s just nice to see how I grew into the person I am today.”

The pencil, besides being a memento and a reminder, is also the only one she’s used in years, for all of her written work.

“If I don’t use this pencil during a test or if it jams or something, I get so upset,” she said.

In addition to remembering her past self, Anuva also believes in embracing her identity and personality and values honesty as her defining and most important characteristic.
“There’s no point in being fake because you want the world to perceive you the way you are and if you put effort into trying to create a false persona of yourself, that’s just going to follow you,” she said. “People won’t appreciate you and respect you if you aren’t honest and forthcoming with your emotions and thoughts.”