On a cool February afternoon, Karan Gupta (12) sits in a relatively quiet corner of Manzanita. His fingers drum against the table, lips upturned in a thoughtful smile. He runs his fingers through his slightly-overgrown, curly hair as he contemplates himself and his high school career.

He found his niche in the art department, specifically in film-making, although his interest in films bloomed long before he began to create his own.

“Every weekend, at night, I would sit down and just watch a movie. I kind of loved being able to escape in it,” he said. “After a while, I started to want to do it myself. I loved the feeling [watching films] gave me and I wanted to give that to other people, so I started reading up on how to make films.”

His eyes light up and his smile grows wider as he describes the films he is currently working on.

“I noticed in horror movies there are a lot of tropes and cliches which they kind of hit on a lot and so I kind of wanted to unpack them and talk about what the characters do [because] on a very fundamental level it doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “I’m [currently] working on a film about sex in horror films and how they use it to keep the attention of the viewer as if everything else won’t do. They feel like the viewer will get bored so they have to have the obligatory sex scene in it.”

In addition to films, he has explored his passion for art in different forms, such as theater.

“Last year, just kind of on a whim, I decided to audition for every one of the mainstage productions,” he said. “Freshman year, I played football [and] I met this guy Matt Kennedy. We both quit football the next year but he went into acting. I’m pretty sure it was his first time. And so the next year I was like, ‘I’ve been to act for a while and so if this kid can do it, why not?’ So, I just auditioned for everything just to see if something would stick.”

Despite being a novice to the acting scene, he enjoyed the welcoming community and social opportunities.

“I made a lot of really good friends,” he said. “It was just overall a really cool experience, so I think that’s probably going to be the most memorable part of the high school experience which I’ve had.”

He pursued his passion for art outside of school as well, attending an art program at the San Francisco Art Institute over the summer. With this experience, he has found solace in a community of people that share his interests.

“For the first time, I met a bunch of people who are a lot like me who I could really identify with. I became a lot more comfortable with myself and who I am and I feel like that’s carried over [to my life at Harker],” he said. “Knowing that there are other people in the world that are like me has sort of allowed me to be more confident.”

Along with this newfound confidence, he finds personal growth within his art.

“I think who I am is constantly changing and trying to be better than I was yesterday or better than I was a year ago,” he said. “A lot of people will not like to look at their old work; they’ll be like, ‘Oh, that’s so awful. How could I have made that?’ I kind of love looking at [my old work] because I love [looking] back and [thinking], ‘I’m so much better now than I was.’”

In this mission of self-betterment, he aims to continuously change his habits and his techniques to further the progression of his artistic style.

“If I have an idea, [I] just act on it, and worry about the logistics of it later,” he said. “It’s easy to find motivation that way because I’m always motivated to do something. It also makes what I do very sporadic. It’s random outbursts of energy, [but] it keeps me moving. One of my biggest fears is stagnating, getting into the daily grind or the nine-to-five. It’s in reaction to that that I’m always doing things randomly and switching up my rhythm.”

He often finds himself questioning regularized concepts, relying upon himself and his values to determine whether the idea is worth following.

“I don’t like just going with what other people think just because they think it or they say it. I have to reevaluate why someone is saying things, and I have to understand why something is in place for me to go with it,” he said. “If I don’t understand why something is in place I’ll question it until I do. Or until I decide that it’s stupid and don’t want to follow it.”

He sees himself and his character in his art, each piece reflecting a part of his own personality.

“I feel like [my art] sort of reflects me in that it’s really disparate in what it’s about,” he said. “There’s a wide spectrum of things that I enjoy working on. I feel like that sort of reflects me in that I’m not just artsy, edgy, whatever, but I’m also not just carefree and humorous. I have a little bit of both, and so does my art.”