She takes a breath, claims a step forward and enters a new world as Samvita Gautham (12) prepares to dazzle the audience. With a click and a flash, the hazy darkness slowly lifts from the stage, and light glows bright as Samvita captures the audience’s attention, preparing to launch into the opening lines of the song “Say You Won’t Let Go”. Her voice sounds powerfully, traveling through the audience like how she traveled through her journey at Harker.

Growing up with a musical family, Samvita debuted as a fish in “The Little Mermaid” in kindergarten, and acting and singing soon became her hobbies. An avid performer for 13 years, she has immersed herself in the world of music, dance and theater for the majority of her lifetime. Now, Samvita lights up the stage with the upper school show choir Downbeat. Even when she was younger, Samvita’s attention-grabbing performances entranced her audiences.

“I first saw Samvita for the first time in middle school on stage and was so taken with her sparkle and stage presence,” upper school Director of Performing Arts and Samvita’s acting teacher Laura Lang-Ree said. “It was huge, even at that young age. She really knows her voice. Her voice type is really unusual, and it really pings through the audience and is very captivating.”

Samvita’s friends admire her for her unyielding passion, talent and love for performing. Her dedication to music and acting contributes to her growth everyday, as her hard work pays off and continues to bring more opportunities to her.

“[Samvita] mentioned that joining Downbeat was such a good choice on her part because it helped her grow to be a more confident soloist,” fellow Downbeat member Shareen Chahal (11) said. “I’ve definitely seen that, especially between last year and this year. She got a solo last year in one of our songs, and over the course of learning that song, she really honed her skill as a soloist. I’m very proud that she was able to do that.”

A large part of why Samvita loves theater is the novelty of performing. One of the principles that she lives by is the determination to continue trying new things and to always take something away from whatever she tries, and theater provides her with the opportunity to do just that.

“There’s always a little bit of wonder,” Samvita said, describing the feeling of performing. “Every single moment on stage, no matter how many times you’ve done it, you always have little butterflies right before you go on stage. Then you’re on stage and it takes a second to adjust to the lights, and you see everyone in the audience, but it’s something new every time and that’s what I love about it.”

This year, Samvita directed the Student Directed Showcase (SDS) musical “Working” as one of the four senior directors. Trying something so new and having a completely different role in the performance allowed her to see the process through a novel perspective.

“Being a director, one of the biggest things it taught me was how to look at the whole picture,” Samvita said. “As an actor, we’re always told about how important being a part of the scene is, but as a director, I was really forced to look at everybody.”

Samvita treasures her deep connection to the performing arts community, her second family. She met many of her friends through the arts and described them as extremely supportive. Every time she performs on stage, she knows that there’s always at least one person cheering for her, filling her with a sense of energy and confidence.

Yet, the performing arts community is not the only family Samvita belongs to: her own personal mantra is to try everything at least once, and to discover new things from these experiences. With an open mind, Samvita finds herself dabbling in many diverse topics, and one subject that has particularly captivated her is biology. 

“The reason I like biology is because it’s so prevalent in our day to day lives,” Samvita said. “In biology, there’s an answer that I get to chase towards and something that I get to discover. I’m big on helping people, and biology is a really good way to do that. It’s very grounded in helping this patient or trying to figure out how a part would work if you took it out. It’s more of a puzzle I’m trying to solve. I always found that slightly more enjoyable.”

Last summer, Samvita fused two of her favorite activities as she researched the topic of music in the brain. Because she had always found biology and music interesting, she relished the opportunity to explore the intersection of the two fields.

Through conducting research, Samvita learned more than just the research topics — she was also able to grow and learn several attitude-based lessons that greatly influenced her. Before, she had always focused on creating the best product possible, aiming and shooting for the moon.

“[Samvita] really strives to be as perfect as she can be,” sister Vika Gautham (10) said. “Sometimes she gets caught up in that perfection, and if something fails, then she’s like, ‘Oh, wait, I need to keep doing this in order for it to be the best it can be.’ But she doesn’t need to be perfect all the time. Sometimes, what she thinks isn’t perfect is amazing. She really needs to take some time and appreciate the things she’s done because she’s a really amazing person.”

Working with a mentor in a summer program, Samvita first began to construct her project with a more single-minded approach of completing a large project. When she sat and talked with her mentor, he helped her realize the importance of taking everything step by step and being more open to change. These two lessons, Samvita reflects, were what led her to the finish line.

“It was a little bit shocking for me at first, but then I realized that change isn’t always bad,” Samvita said. “I’m also trying to apply that to college, that change can be positive. I’ve experienced a lot of change at Harker, but now the change is driven by me.”

Moving through her decade-long journey at Harker contributed immensely to Samvita’s growth, progressing from a kindergartener debuting in “The Little Mermaid” to a senior in high school, singing, dancing, acting and directing her way forward. She described her experiences at Harker as “surprisingly unique” because everything that she has done here was something new, and that something new always resonated within her.

A firm believer in the value of one’s experiences, Samvita describes her profound appreciation of her journey through Harker. Over time, she grew to discover the beauty in struggling to find one’s way: each bump or intersection along the road can shape us as people, as humans. 

“I always have to be open to everything, so I can plan a path, but if the opportunity presents itself, I’m always going to go for something that I think fits,” Samvita said. “I feel like just being at Harker for so long has taught me that there’s so much more to explore. And so being open and receptive to all of it, and letting that guide me towards what I want to do — that’s the best path for me.”