Leisurely reclining on a cushioned chair in Manzanita, hands clasped behind his head, Andrew “Andy” Koonmen (12) smiles subtly as he pulls to mind the relaxing atmosphere he experiences when building model kits. He describes blasting a top 100 pop playlist through headphones while he focuses intently on the pieces spread out in front of him on a table in his room. Each cut is made precisely and accurately, each part glued together with utmost care.

Andy has been building model kits for around five years now, but even before that, he had an affinity for construction.

“Starting from a young age, I was doing Lego kits and stuff like that, and [model kits] was just the next logical step, since it’s increasing difficulty and greater part count,” Andy said.

Each week, Andy spends ten hours putting together his impeccable plastic replicas of military vehicles, not including the ample amount of time the painting takes. Long-time friend Henry Wong (12) recognizes Andy’s dedication to his hobby.

“He’s very interested in military kits. I always see him on Amazon buying parts or looking at different models or something,” Henry said.

Building military kits helps Andy unwind after a tense week at school, and he enjoys having an outlet to release his worries through.

“I mainly build model kits because it’s pretty relaxing. I can just listen to music and kind of decompress after the week’s over, and I’m not doing the thing that’s stressing me out. I think a lot of us are stressed out by school and stuff, but it’s nice to get away from it all,” Andy said.

But the journey in mastering the art of model kits did not always go smoothly. Andy recalls never finishing his first attempt at building a model kit and injuring himself in the process.

“[My first kits] weren’t any good … I broke a lot of kits back then. On my very first kit, I cut myself, and I made some wrong cuts that I wasn’t supposed to. So I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll just drop that and start another one,’” Andy said.

Despite the initial setbacks, Andy continued to press forward. When he first began this hobby, he would often accidentally apply too much glue and melt the plastic, or spend half an hour searching for a small piece he knocked off the table. However, now, he has learned how to use an airbrush to quickly and easily apply paint, and nothing feels more rewarding to Andy than seeing the finished product of his hard work.

“[After I finish the model kits], I put ‘em on my desk so I can just look at them all smug,” Andy said, laughing. “It’s amazing when it’s completely done after two months of work and I can just look at it and think, ‘Yeah, I did that.’”

Andy’s passion for building models also carries into the classroom; upper school mathematics teacher Dana Lieberman, who taught Andy when he was a sophomore and junior, appreciates his authentic interest in a modeling project that his peers found challenging and his willingness to help.

“One of my favorite memories and one of the things that is really prominent in my mind is that one of the things most students find the most miserable project of all, he really loved, which was a Mathematica projectile motion modeling assignment,” Lieberman said. “He really liked the math, but he also liked the Mathematica modeling, and he ended up helping his classmates get their projects done.”

Close friend David Melisso (12) acknowledges Andy’s contagious enthusiasm toward various activities and his vast intelligence.

“He has a lot of hobbies, and when he finds something he’s interested in, he can tell you so many things about it,” David said. “The most amazing thing about Andy is that he has so much knowledge, and when he lets it out, I learn so many different things that I didn’t know he even knew about.”

While others may feel inclined to post their model kits on social media or show their work to peers, Andy chooses not to openly display his hobby. In fact, none of Andy’s friends have seen his collection. For Andy, simply enjoying the end product of his efforts is enough to make him content.

“[Building model kits] is definitely a daunting hobby to get into,” Andy said. “On Reddit and Instagram’s model pages, [you might think] all of this stuff this guy did is really good, but that guy probably has ten years of experience doing it. There isn’t any objective quality. If you like how it looks, then it’s good.”