Ever since she created her first video compilation in her sophomore year of high school, Cassandra “Cas” Ruedy (12) has carved a potential career path for herself in both the business and computer science realms, while simultaneously doing what she loves. Cas’s explorative nature and outgoing personality have enabled her to be a natural leader in whatever she has chosen to pursue, such as creating her own business and obtaining leadership positions in water polo and the Spirit Council.

Since sixth grade, Cas has been a dedicated member of the Harker Girls’ Water Polo team and a few outside teams as well. 

“I started water polo in sixth grade, and I ended up really liking it because the middle school coach was so supportive. One of the things I liked about it was that not a lot of people knew about it, so if somebody asked me what it was, I got to tell them about it and explain it to them,” Cas said.

In addition to admiring how unique the sport is, she also enjoys the competitive environment of water polo and is appreciative of all the friends she has made through the sport.

“A lot of my friend groups are from water polo itself, and I’ve met a lot of people through club teams as well. I also think that the competition in water polo fuels and motivates me,” she said. “My friends have told me that I’m very competitive about a lot of random things, so [for example], if our coach tells us to swim slow, I’ll try to swim the slowest.”

As the captain and set defensive player on Harker’s water polo team, Cas has taken on a challenging but vital role in supporting her team in and out of practice. 

“I think captains are really good at hiding all the stuff they go through to guide the team, so it was surprising to me when I became one. I had to intervene sometimes and mend people together to get rid of tension, but I think in the end, it made me a better leader and communicator,” Cas said.

In addition to water polo, Cas also enjoys video editing, which began when she first made an Instagram account, but the only thing she liked to watch were video edits.

“After watching a few of the edits on Instagram, I started trying to make some of my own. I went on iMovie and made a really quick video and posted it. It was so satisfying to see something I worked on to become a product that I enjoyed to watch,” she said.

Cas took her interest in video editing a step further by making a freelancing account where artists and companies can send video footage and music, and she’ll create a promotional video for them.

“The first client I got was a band, and they wanted me to promote their concert at a local bar, which was pretty exciting,” she said. “Those videos are harder to make because I have to follow someone else’s restrictions, but I try to keep the fun side of it present so that I don’t lose my faith or interest in video editing.”

In her junior year, Cas also started taking economics classes which helped her profit more from her freelancing gigs.

“I could use what my teachers taught me to manipulate my business and make more money than I expected,” Cas said. “Mr. Lizardo taught us that if you have three packages, you should make the medium package a lot more than the small but the large package just a little bit more than the medium. This causes people to lean more towards the large package, so I was able to raise my prices but keep the same amount of customers.”

Economics teacher Dean Lizardo shared how it has been a gratifying experience to see Cas apply her knowledge from his Behavioral Economics and AP Economics classes to her business and life outside of school.

“From an academic standpoint, Cas is in a relatively small Behavioral Econ class, so she has been able to contribute regularly, and it’s awesome to see how everything she’s learning in class applies to her own life,” Lizardo said. “I’m appreciative to have had her in my classes for the past one and a half years because I’ve gotten to see her grow and start using economics in her life, which is pretty rewarding for me as a teacher.”

Cas’s interest in video editing has not only allowed her to create her own business at a young age but has also opened up a door to what she may possibly pursue as a career later in life.

“In a lot of my videos, I like to write lines of code called expressions to make the animations easier to create. I figured out that the same code I use to make those expressions is the code Adobe uses to write their software with,” she said. “After finding this out, I’ve wanted to work at Adobe for a long time.”

Cas is also very invested in her community and has helped to bring spirit to the high school all four years that she has been attending. She started out as a member of the spirit club and then joined the spirit leadership team in sophomore year as a Community Director. In junior year, she was promoted to Vice President of Public Relations and is now the Secretary in her senior year.

“As I was working in PR last year, I realized I actually liked planning the events a lot, so I’m currently the Secretary of spirit. I organize the team itself and get people on track with what they have to be doing, but I also try to be as invested in the community events as possible because they’re really fun,” Cas said.

When asked what she has been most proud of, Cas replied that she is proud of herself simply for making it through high school even despite all of its hardships.

“I think socially high school can be especially difficult because everyone is changing and trying to figure out who they are. Everything feels like it’s constantly moving, and sometimes it was hard to keep up with that,” she said.

Cas’s good friend since elementary school Rani Sheth (12) commended Cas for always being able to form genuine friendships with others and never losing her sense of identity despite the hectic environment of high school.

“She’s very unique and has always remained true to herself, and I think in that way, she’s confident. She’s also very explorative and is always willing to try something new,” Rani said. “Going forward, I would say that she should just keep being who she is and stay authentic because I think that’s a really good way [for her] to live her life.”

Cas’s ability to always brighten up another’s day and her loyalty to her friends is something that Charlotte Blanc (12), Cas’s close friend since sophomore year, has noticed.

“I like that Cas is hardworking and ambitious. Not only am I always smiling with Cas, but I also know that she is a true friend [who is] so thoughtful and caring,” Charlotte said. “In psych, we learned about this altered state of mind called flow. When I’m with Cas I feel like I’m in flow, fully engrossed in a random conversation without a sense of time around me.”