A wide smile appears on Leyla Artun’s (12) face as she twists around her fingers the vibrant light blue beads and shining gold chains of her handmade necklaces and bracelets influenced by her Turkish heritage. The local shops of the various Greek and Turkish islands dispersed around the Mediterranean Sea, which she visited with her family one summer, serve as a source of inspiration for Leyla’s jewelry making and a way for her to connect to her ethnic roots.

“I like making jewelry because it lets me express my creativity in a way unlike painting and pottery do,” Leyla said. “The jewelry that I make has some of my culture in it, and I keep that in mind when I make them.”

In Turkey, Leyla and her family would visit markets and small stores that sell necklaces, where she bought the chains and charms for the jewelry she makes now. The charms are often significant symbols in her culture, such as the evil eye amulet, which is believed to guard the wearer against misfortune. Leyla sometimes gifts the necklaces and bracelets she makes to her friends and family.

Apart from jewelry making, Leyla is an avid athlete, competing in gymnastics for 12 years and playing volleyball since she was 8 years old. Jewelry making and sports are two seemingly opposite activities, yet they both require intense concentration and provide Leyla with a break from demands from school activities.

“[Sports] is a good stress reliever,” she said. “It calms me down and gives me a place to not think about anything else. If I’m stressed about school or anything like that, it gives me an outlet.”

She recalls fond memories of playing volleyball with her family friend Tara Özdemir (12) in open gyms and training camps. Leyla joined Harker’s volleyball team in sixth grade and a club volleyball team in eighth grade. Although a back injury in freshman year forced Leyla to take a break from sports for two years, she maintained a positive attitude and discovered an alternate way to stay engaged with the sports she loves.

“When she couldn’t participate in athletics at the level she wanted to participate in, she ended up helping out in other ways and working as an athletic training student aid here in the athletic training room,” head athletic trainer Jaron Olson said. “She was still able to be around her teammates or peers and working with athletics and being a great help to us [by] treating athletic injuries.”

Through helping out with training, Leyla continued to stay involved in athletics, even if she physically was not able to be on the court. Her persistence in helping the athletics program in any way she could reflects her determination to encourage others to succeed, as noted by close friend Nicole Arena (12).

“She really likes sports medicine, she’s always in the trainer’s room, talking to [Mr. Olson] and [Mr. Cardenas], and helping out during football season and soccer season [by] taping ankles [or] even [getting] water,” Nicole said.

Persevering through this obstacle in Leyla’s life taught her resilience. By finding a new avenue to immerse herself in, Leyla encouraged herself to think positively in order to bounce back from setbacks.

“She’s confident,” cousin and close friend Dilara Ezer (‘19) said. “She will make the best of every situation even if she’s told something bad. She won’t let it get to her at least in the moment. She doesn’t try to let other people down with her. She lifts other people up.”

Leyla also brings this optimistic mindset to the court, using her lively personality and enthusiasm to keep up the spirit during volleyball games, often leading cheers to celebrate the team’s victories, no matter the score.

“The contrast between her playing … and off on the side while she’s waiting is really funny,” Dilara said. “When she’s not playing, she’s goofing around, smiling [and] making jokes. [But] when she’s on the court, she’s … really engaged with what she’s doing … she’s always on top of her game, even though she always has at least one injury going on. She’s always really focused.”

Leyla has always been an animated and approachable person, even before she began interacting with athletes in the training room and on the court. Beginning in middle school, Leyla offered her assistance and experience to young children as a babysitter and a camp counselor at Walden West in freshman year.

“I always loved working with kids,” she said. “I always wanted to babysit, and the opportunity arose when my dad’s business partner needed a babysitter. I formed a bond with the kid I was babysitting. It was really nice to be able to have that.”

She echoes the lesson of resilience to the campers and kids she spent time with, acting as an encouraging role model by helping them learn from their mistakes in a positive manner.

“It’s important to keep trying,” Leyla said. “One thing I always say when I make a mistake is, ‘That’s okay. I’ll do it again or I’ll fix it,’ and I taught that to the kid I was babysitting. If he would ever drop something or something would spill, I’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s okay, we’ll clean it up.’”

Taking an obstacle in her way and turning it into a time of discovery serves as an important part of Leyla’s life. She hopes to pursue a future in athletic training, physical therapy or orthopedic surgery based on what she has learned working in the training room and in the kinesiology course.

“I’m passionate about kinesiology and athletic training because I started doing it when I first injured my back so I could still stay in the sports world,” Leyla said. “I could also learn more about injuries because I’ve been injured a lot.”

By using her injury as a method of self-reflection and personal improvement, Leyla improves the lives of others and offers advice to those whom she can help.

“What I do is worth it because of my injury,” Leyla said. “It was hard for me, but I still got something new out of it. I bounced back. It means a lot to me personally that even being injured, I can still help other people and in the process, learn more about myself and what I like to do.”