Friends wave to Emma Li (12) as she walks to her car, smiling, at the end of the school day. Wearing her green Harker Athletics jacket, she reaches through the back window of her car to say hello to her dog, Haruto, before responding to all those calling her name. Students show her new memes and videos on their phones and ask her about her new French class.

Emma’s openness and humor bring joy and laughter to those around her. One way she spreads happiness is through an organization that she started, known as “The Big Blue Balloon.”

After seeing a man in a Boston park making balloon animals, Emma started this organization that raises money for autistic children. She uses colorful balloons to make animals, that she sells in local parks, to fundraise for autistic kids. She realized the simpleness in the balloon animals still provided much joy. 

“I get to help autistic kids that I care about, and second of all, I get to bring joy to my community, and kind of use my stand for selling balloons as a place for community members to congregate and converse; I thought that was a really great cause,” Emma said. 

Her cheerful attitude to everything in life is also clear in her interactions with her friends. She enjoys watching new YouTube videos and finding memes to laugh about with others. 

“She loves to make jokes; she’s very quirky. She always knows the right thing to say, and she’s very easy to talk to and laugh with,” Michelle Kwan (12), Emma’s friend said. 

Emma and Michelle spend a lot of time together, like walking their dogs and eating at new restaurants and getting boba. In fact, they share a similar sense of humor. 

“I remember one time in English class in 10th grade, we were in Ms. Manning’s class and we were sitting together, and she told me a really funny joke, and we were both on the floor laughing in the middle of class,” Michelle said. 

Kelly Horan, Emma’s advisor since her junior year, has noticed Emma’s strengths and growths over the time they have known each other. Horan has enjoyed seeing Emma become more outgoing over the last couple years. 

“Making people laugh – that is an Emma strength. Emma Li makes people laugh because she’s just kind of quirky, she’s funny. She says things that are off-handed comments, and she sees the world in a different way. We totally love her,” Horan said. 

Emma thinks that being helpful to others is a valuable quality to have, and she hopes to improve on this in the future. 

“[It’s important to] always make yourself available to others to help them. Whatever you do, always think about others,” Emma said. 

Humor holds a place in Emma’s everyday life because it’s a way for her to de-stress from schoolwork and have a positive effect on her friends. 

“Especially at Harker, where the academic pressure is very high, I think humor is a very good way to help both my friends and me destress ourselves. In fact, making others laugh gives me a sense of satisfaction, that I’ve done something good in the lives of others,” Emma said. 

At school, Emma participates in many sports: in her freshman and sophomore year, Emma was on the tennis team, and her junior year, she was part of the dance show. She also loves to run and participated in cross country as a varsity runner. 

“I really enjoy running, especially in nature. I think I get runner’s high a lot. I think it’s really relaxing, and I get to distract myself from all the stressful stuff from school,” Emma said. 

Her track teammate and friend, Vani Mohindra (12), has had many memorable moments with Emma, like when they missed track practice because they tried to imitate a video they found of a woman walking like a horse.

“[Emma] finds the humor in everything, like people always talk about the silver lining, and I think Emma finds that through humor. Also, when you’re with Emma, you just kind of feel like a fifth grader. It’s just so easy to have fun with her,” Vani said. 

Aside from sports, Emma is a strong supporter of the fight against climate change, which she tries to achieve through technology. 

Emma writes blogs for an organization called “One Blue Earth” to emphasize the impact of climate change and global warming on the world. She’s part of the Green Team, and is interested in how technology could help combat climate change. 

“[I think] we can use technological innovations to help with climate change … I know that earth science or environmental science is not a really mainstream subject here, so I want people to know the change you can bring through engineering,” Emma said.