On most days, after packing up his books from his last period, senior Sunjit “Sunny” Jayam (12) heads over to the robotics lab — his “office” of sorts.

“Both my parents have been involved in like the whole Silicon Valley thing,” Sunny said. “My dad started earlier, and he’s just really knowledgeable about computers. So from my dad I learned what he does for a living, and going on trips to the office with him and understanding what he does influences me. He helps me understand what’s going on in Silicon Valley. He sparked my interest in programming early on, and I learned the things I could do with it. I still have a passion for it.”

Sunny joined the robotics team in his freshman year, and even with his extensive knowledge of computers from his father, there was still much to explore.

“I like messing with computers,” he said. “I started with taking stuff apart and then I started actually learning what the things did on the computer because they’re so complex. They’re small, you know, compared to big machinery and stuff and I started learning about how these would work. Then in freshman year, I built one and it was a big learning experience, and I learned that there’s a whole community that lives and breathes computers. I just remember like just going into my dad’s office over the weekends to try and figure out how I get this game to work on my father’s computer. I took like a solid week, just trying to make it work. I finally got it. It was fun.”

Back in the robotics lab, he found that he enjoyed not only the technical aspects of the activity but also the social experience of chatting with his teammates.

“I really got into [robotics], and I started committing a lot more time to it,” he said. “It’s just fun building stuff. All the mechanical hardware, software, it’s all really interesting. I’m always learning new things from mentors, friends, online — it’s always a learning experience. Time management [is the most important thing I learned from robotics]. I used to be pretty bad at it, and I’m still kind of bad, but I’ve gotten to understand what it takes, like what I should be doing. Especially with the six weeks [of the robotics season], there’s a lot to be done and plan and dealt with.”

While he spends his winters and springs laboring on the robot; he spends his falls training for something completely different: football.

“I played football for three years,” Sunny said. “Football taught me to trust my instincts and trust my teammates. I used to have this mentality, either I wouldn’t trust myself, or I wouldn’t trust like someone else doing something, so I’d do it myself. So football helped me to know what to do and try to figure everything out.”

Although football and robotics may seem unrelated at first, Sunny weaves them together with the common thread of teamwork.

“If someone’s struggling, like I’ll just try to step in even if some random person off the street or a classmate,” he said. “I feel like more people should do that instead of just watching someone just rot away and do nothing about it. I want to be remembered for my helpfulness and kindness.”

Sophomore Sanjay Rajasekharan appreciates Sunny’s low key demeanor, which he maintains even in potentially stressful situations.

“I remember we were at the Sacramento Regional for a robotics competition, and the elevator [on the robot] broke,” Sanjay said. “Sunny maintained his composure and his calm and was able to fix it and create a solution so that we could still play in the next match.”