“He’s my son. He’s a funny boy. He likes to compete. When he is committed to something, he tries his best. Sometimes he’s quiet. Sometimes he’s not.”

Anthony Contreras’ (12) mother, Aida Mendivil—tongue-tied—scrambles to perfectly describe her son. Most seniors know Anthony as an athlete; with football, track and wrestling, he plays sports all year round. But his mother knows him as a happy-go-lucky dreamer, affectionate but still utterly teenage boy.

“It has been an adventure,” Mendivil said of watching her son grow up. “[When] he gets into his teenaged age, he says, ‘Mom, leave me alone,’ and ‘Stay away from me.’ Then, he comes back to me, like [he is] being there, loving me and hugging me.”

Anthony “grew up” through dealing with family hardship.

“My brother was a juvenile delinquent,” Anthony said. “To see him struggle and everyone else struggle with him, it made me sad at home. I really didn’t want to be sad outside of home. That’s when it sort of came to me to ‘fake it ’til you make it.’ Fake being happy, and eventually you’ll become happy, rather than staying sad about everything. I tried to not let things like that affect me. I tried to stay calm.”

Over time, he realized that a change in mindset would ease his future difficulties.

“I could have been exactly like my brother, but I chose the path to see my mom as a complete idol,” he said. “She is exactly like me—or I am exactly like her—in terms of being calm and stress-free and relaxed. I am trying to be more like my mom, rather than letting my biological dad or my brother influence me.”

Gardening is Mendivil’s favorite pastime, an outlet for her creativity. Her garden, brimming with diverse species of succulents, encapsulates the Contreras family itself. From the prickly aloe vera to the red-tinted Blue Elf, the succulents symbolize the hardships, love, hope and gratitude involved with human relationships.

“It’s a yard, but it represents everything that goes in her head,” he said. “Everything in my yard, she either made it or planted herself. There is a small ditch with water inside and a bridge going over and it’s in between bushes. There’s a pile of soil littered with plants and trees.”

While Anthony’s demeanor may seem serene and earnest in times of hardship, his peers and teachers know him for his wry jokes. Abel Olivas, his Spanish teacher, remembers receiving a humorous letter of appreciation from him.

“[He has this] wit,” Olivas said. “He said something like, ‘If I could choose one class that I’d spend my whole day in, it would be my free period, but second would be [your] class.’ I love that about him. There is always a little party in his head. He enjoys his interactions with people. He doesn’t relate to people in a boring way. There is always a little twist in there.”

But even more notably than his sense of humor, Olivas appreciates Anthony for his gratitude.

“He [values] all the support he has had,” Olivas said. “It’s very evident. It blends—he’s confident but not a ‘show-off.’ There’s a degree of humility in there… He does not have an ego. I would say he’s thanked me for our connection and our support—it’s a gift for the adult as well when the student [reaches] out to us.”

Through his high school career, Anthony rarely experienced extreme stress or anger. He believes that enjoying the little things, including the show Ozark on Netflix, can remedy school pressures.

“[Staying positive and relaxed] helped me avoid a lot of drama,” he said. “If you approach school calm and stress free, it makes things a lot easier for you. Since it’s Harker, there is already an extra 50 pounds of stress added for every single person. It makes things easier to handle.”

His best friend, senior Angel Cervantes, recalls that Anthony’s encouragement presented him with hope.

“If I ever needed help on something, he would tell me and motivate me,” Angel said. “Especially if I had a bad race, he would tell me, ‘We just have to keep on working,’ and ‘Honestly, just focus on everything we were doing, because it will definitely show up later this season and the years coming.’ And it definitely has.”

Anthony has yet to commit to definite interest, but he is certain that he will discover what he loves in the future.

“I make decisions on the fly,” he said. “I like experiencing and trying new things, eventually I’m going to find that passion, and I’m going to focus on that and do what I love doing.”