Harker Dance captain. Mock trial head of attorneys. HSLT executive secretary. President of the National Honor Society. Youth advocate for the Brady Campaign, a project calling for gun control. This is, in fact, not a list of five individual people. Senior Yasmin Sudarsanam’s contributions to the communities around her are substantial as she involves herself in numerous initiatives and leadership positions, ranging from inspiring future lawyers in mock trial to brightening school life with spirit to improving the world as a whole with her social activism. 

Out of the many activities she is involved in today, dancing was Yasmin’s first pursuit. Yasmin has danced from the age of three in studios outside of Harker and has participated in Harker dance since she joined in fourth grade. In seventh grade, Yasmin chose to leave her other dance studios to focus solely on noncompetitive dance pursuits within Harker. She took the position of co-captain of Harker Dance Company last year, advancing to become captain in her senior year. 

Dance teacher Jill Yager refers to Yasmin as the glue of the dance team, who goes out of her way to keep the team cohesive and close-knit. 

“She keeps everybody together,” Yager said. “That can come with a lot of responsibility and she takes it on. And while she gets everything done and motivates everybody around her, she does it with kindness, she does it with warmth and with grace and she’s a leader by example.”

Welcoming additions to the team this year, Yasmin has organized team bonding activities for new dancers to nurture an amiable environment, ensuring that every member is comfortable within the group. Fellow HDC member senior Maya Affaki commends the warmth Yasmin offers to all members of the team. 

“She’s a very inclusive leader,” Maya said. “There are a lot of freshmen this year and Yasmin really makes an effort to get to know everyone and to make sure everyone’s included in all the activities.”

Though her first passion was dance, Yasmin doesn’t let the activity solely define her in her work and leadership today, branching out to social advocacy, volunteering and law. Hoping to pursue law in the future, Yasmin uses her leadership to advocate for marginalized communities. 

“I always knew that I wanted to pursue leadership because I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing other people work together and discover the joy of working together,” Yasmin said. “Seeing the results of uniting a big diverse group of people towards a common goal and pulling people with different talents or from different backgrounds into one group and having everyone contribute their ideas to create something better than any one of us could have imagined has been really fulfilling for me.”

Becoming a leader did not come naturally for Yasmin. Though she initially struggled with speaking up in middle school, volunteer work helped her to overcome that hurdle. Yasmin’s journey with social advocacy and leadership started in eighth grade when she started volunteering for Special Melodies, an organization that focuses on teaching dance and singing to young adults with special needs. 

Feeling a sense of fulfillment as she watched her students improve and the program expand thanks to her efforts to promote the program, Yasmin’s volunteer work empowered her and caused her to realize her impact. Wanting to advocate for overlooked communities, Yasmin began to contribute to other programs like the anti-gun organization Brady Campaign, as well as assume other leadership positions.

“I decided I wanted to make a real difference,” Yasmin said. “I wanted to really do something to make an impact. And that’s also empowered me because I definitely used to think that words are just words. But seeing the impact that my words as a teenager can have on full grown adults has been really impactful.”

Even though Yasmin had taken steps with her advocacy and volunteer work, leadership was still relatively new to her at the start of high school, and she initially harbored fears about coming across as overbearing. However, she was able to overcome those hurdles last year, when she took on leadership positions as co-captain of HDC and head of attorneys in Mock Trial. 

Junior Serena Lau, who is the co-captain of HDC this year, has experienced a different angle of Yasmin’s leadership as a fellow leader. Yasmin played a huge role in helping her learn the ropes of guiding the team. 

“She’s one of the most caring people I know,” Serena said. “If we are doing something that we don’t necessarily want to do, even though she may not want to do it herself, she’ll keep a positive mindset about it and she’ll be really encouraging to everyone.”

Yasmin takes time out of her busy schedule to spend one on one time with her loved ones as often as she can every week. Prioritizing different responsibilities on different weeks, she is able to handle her workload by communicating extensively with her various teams. Even when Yasmin is overwhelmed with numerous tasks, she strives to support her peers, emphasizing the importance of valuing irreplacable memories.

“I’m not going to remember exactly how stressed I was in that moment,” Yasmin said. “But I’ll remember the smiles I saw on my friends’ faces during spirit rally or how my students were clapping during choir and the emotion they felt. So the stress I will feel is temporary, but they’ll have those memories forever.”

Starting off as a member in all of her commitments, Yasmin has personally experienced the warmth and welcoming environment created by her predecessors in leadership. As a result, Yasmin believes that it is important to be involved within the team as a leader in order to better make personal connections. This is the philosophy she operates by within all of her responsibilities, especially in HDC, where she takes the time to converse and connect with junior members. 

“It’s really special to be in a position where you are able to direct other people and help their vision become seen, but at the same time, still be a team member,” Yasmin said. “No one will respect you, but they also won’t feel connected to you if you’re always leading. It’s important to go back to your roots because that’s the experience that everyone else around you is having.”