A giggle, and snap!

A moment of friendship, love and laughter, captured with perfect aperture and lighting through the lens of a Nikon DSLR. It’s a beautiful scene, caught and suspended in time forever. 

Lavanya Subramanian (12) adeptly scrolls through the photos on her camera, finding peace in the sound of familiar, gentle clicks. The excitement of sharing those images brings a smile to her face, and her mind already races with ways to place the photo on a page in the TALON yearbook. In everything from photography and design to service, it’s all about community and empathy for Lavanya.

When she was in ninth grade, Lavanya joined the journalism program, with absolutely no idea about what it would come to mean to her. As she navigated through reporting, photographing and designing for TALON, she steadily fell in love with the work she was creating and the family she found through the yearbook. Importantly, she realized that the activity allowed her to meet new people and to gain a larger role in the Harker community.

“Journalism is a way for me to interact with my school community and to learn about the endeavors other students are taking, [which is something] I probably wouldn’t have had the chance to do otherwise,” Lavanya said. “I really like meeting new people and getting to know new things about the campus.”

The excitement of deadline nights and the joy of team-bonding motivated Lavanya to apply for leadership positions in TALON, and she eagerly stepped into her new roles. However, being a rising leader of the yearbook staff also brought challenges, through which Lavanya learned necessary lessons about mentorship and collaboration. 

“A lot of the connections and people I’ve met in journalism have inspired me to take actions in my community and improve how I should be as a person,” Lavanya said. “For example, TALON has taught me a lot about how to be a leader in the real world: a big part of leadership is just being patient, trusting your staff and remembering that everyone is working hard and doing their best to put their full effort in.”

Close friend Eileen Ma (12), who has known Lavanya since fifth grade, has seen her work through those challenges, and she admires Lavanya’s drive to bring change to her community.

“[Lavanya is] definitely a leader in her community,” Eileen said. “She uses her positions in organizations to make a difference, whether it’s tutoring or journalism, and she’s super passionate about the school.”

Beyond the bubbly and supportive TALON family, Lavanya loves the yearbook because of the service it brings to the student and faculty body. A physical item that features all members of the school community and captures the various wonderful moments of the year, the book holds tremendous value to Lavanya. And as this year’s co-editor-in-chief, she hopes to honor TALON’s mission by successfully leading the staff to create a memorable and delightful yearbook. 

“[The yearbook is] a really special object that brings back a lot of nostalgia and good memories,” Lavanya said. “I really want to be able to preserve both the good and bad, and just the story of the school year, in a way that when people look at it in [the future], when they’ve grown up or are in college, they remember that year with fondness. It’s a really valuable thing, and it’s so powerful to be able to tell the story of the school year for the entire student body.”

Lavanya’s love for her community extends to other areas of her life as well, such as her volunteer work. She currently serves as the co-president of the nonprofit organization Connecting Futures Now, which brings tutoring and academic enrichment workshops to young students. Over the past few years, Lavanya has grown relationships with her students, and the empathy she holds has driven her to expand her community service work as much as possible.

“Empathy is really important for both journalism and service, in being able to understand your staff members and work with them, even when their ideas [are] not completely aligned with yours,” Lavanya said. “In service, it’s even bigger. I hope I can build connections with my students and help them get to the best place they can.”

Finally, Lavanya aims to approach each of her relationships and daily interactions at school with care. Upper school mathematics department chair Anthony Silk, who taught Lavanya in her junior year, noted that she always remained positive, even when she faced challenges.

“There is always a bounciness and friendliness to her,” Silk said. “She is just always happy to be here. Even when I see her out and about, she just seems truly happy to be at school, happy to be doing work, and just enjoying the whole process.”

Despite the growth she’s already experienced, Lavanya still hopes to push herself to be a more adventurous and hopeful person. 

“In the future, I want to be better at taking initiative and exploring new things on my own,” Lavanya said. “I’ve had a lot of positive experiences where I tried something new, and it worked out in my favor. So [I want to keep] pushing myself to be more curious and explorative in all aspects of my life, and to keep learning new things.”

Twin sister Vasudha Subramanian (12) looks up to Lavanya because of her unwavering drive and sense of empathy. And she knows that Lavanya’s impact does not end here — she’s confident that Lavanya will continue to inspire change, wherever her future brings her.

“I hope that she does something that she’s proud of, so she can look back and really see the growth that she’s had,” Vasudha said. “Whatever she ends up doing, I know it will be something that she’s worked hard for. She always pushes herself, so I have no doubt that she will do something amazing.”