As the pottery wheel spins round and round, Reiya Das (12) runs her hands along the smooth clay. She uses her palms to move the clay into an upside-down cone shape and then flatten it out. Starting with her palms and then switching to her fingertips, she shapes the clay into a bowl and finally releases the pressure of her foot on the lever as the pottery wheel’s spinning comes to a stop.

Beginning in middle school, Reiya found a passion for art. As a hobby, she likes to pursue ceramics in her free time and hopes to continue doing it for fun in the future. 

“I go to a studio next to my house to do ceramic work, but sometimes the art teachers at Harker also let me use the one in their room,” Reiya said. “I like using the wheel because that’s what I started with, and I think it’s the most fun. I like to make plates and bowls on the wheel, but I’ve also learned how to do some sculpting.” 

Aside from pottery, user interface design is what Reiya is most interested in. She works with Cisco through an internship ten hours a week to work on projects involving art and technology.

“I’m really interested in the different facets of interaction and how people can interact with different technologies, such as AR [augmented reality] and VR [virtual reality],” she said.

One of the projects Reiya has been working on is to prevent farmers in India from killing rhinos since rhinos are going extinct. 

“The main reason they’re killing the rhinos is because they destroy their crops, so I’ve been designing this app to help them get insurance compensation when the rhinos attack their crops,” she said.

Reiya explained how her app that promotes a co-existence between the farmers and the rhinos ties into her love for behavioral change interface design.

“You’re essentially changing the behavior of the farmers so that they have an incentive to live peacefully with the rhinos. The internship that I’m a part of gave me this opportunity to make a more efficient process for the farmers and create a sense of community,” Reiya said.

Allison Jia (12), one of Reiya’s friends, also admires Reiya’s dedication and unique hobbies.

“It amazes me how much passion she has for many things and the amount of commitment she is willing to put in. For example, she’s interested in so many different forms of art, such as even thrifting and fashion work, which I think is really interesting because none of my other friends can do something like that,” Allison said. 

Reiya is also interested in the entertainment industry, so she worked on a project for little kids to play with at different movie premiers.

“The one I made is for ‘Wreck It Ralph.’ It’s kind of like a giant Snapchat,” she said. “There’s a giant mirror, but it’s just a projection, so little kids can come up to the mirror and swipe through different virtual costumes to put on. They can also decorate that image and then it prints out as a poster.” 

She hopes to help contribute to the creation of technologies that utilize user interface design that will resonate with younger children.

“At least for me, Disney movies and roller coasters brought so much joy to me in my childhood, and I want to recreate this with new technology that kids will be more interested in in the modern day,” she said. 

Describing herself as having a laid back and humorous personality, Reiya prefers to live spontaneously and in the moment.

“We’re so young, and I only just figured out that this is something I’m passionate about in the past two or three years,” Reiya said. “My future and what I want to do with my life is always subject to change, but [user interface design] is what I really enjoy at least in the moment.”

Nikhita “Niki” Karra (12), Reiya’s friend since freshman year, also admires Reiya’s humor and reliability.

“Reiya is super funny once you get to know her, and she makes me laugh all the time. She’s also really, really sweet. She’s the person I know I can tell if something bad ever happens because she’s always been there for me,” she said.

Niki also noted the growth she has noticed within Reiya over the course of their friendship and some things that will never change.

“When I met her, she seemed really shy, but I think she’s definitely come out of her shell a lot during high school,” Niki said. “Ever since I met her, she’s always been such a sweetheart and is never mean to anybody. I think her kindness and willingness to help others will always be some of my favorite things about her.”