A swarm of soft, steadily murmuring bees coats the tree branch like a puffed yellow sweater. Their bodies materialize and dematerialize as they slip past one another and throttle the spring air. For most people, the sight of these little buzzers might evoke shivers of disgust, outcries of terror or memories of painful stings. However, senior Andrew Liang, who has grown fond of his bees, recognizes this swarming behavior and doesn’t hesitate before scooping up gentle armfuls and escorting them back into their hive.

Andrew set up a beehive in his backyard with the help of his father in his sophomore year, compelled to take action after watching YouTube videos about the declining bee population. Along the way, he joined his local bee guild and lobbied against local bee ordinances.

“I want to do everything I can to make people’s lives easier,” Andrew said. “Whether it’s helping people with homework or doing other little things, that’s something that I really value highly within myself. I’ve tried to do my best to carry that out with beekeeping: checking out what in my hive needs tending to and then responding to that.”

However, bee-cultivating came with its ups and downs, especially swarming, which occurs when a subpopulation of the original colony departs and establishes a new one. On one occasion, he found a swarm clustered around the branch of a large tree in his backyard, which he had to painstakingly sever with the help of his father.

After years of handiwork, beekeeping has taught Andrew to troubleshoot problems analytically instead of weeding his way to the solution through trial and error. Once, he woke up to find that an entire bee colony had vanished, with only several bees scattered here and there. Using a sample of larvae and eggs from another hive, he was able to reduplicate his lost colony. To Andrew, patience is not just a virtue, but a necessity to ensure that mishaps don’t occur twice.

“Beekeeping isn’t something that is for the light of heart,” Andrew said. “You need to consistently be looking out for problems in your hive, because if anything slips up and goes under your radar — boom — your hive is gone. In school, it’s similar; you can’t let your guard down with respect to one class or it can sweep the rug from under you.”

Most vital to the beekeeping process is ensuring the safety of the queen, which reproduces and enforces the colony’s social order. Andrew, however, views the painstaking process as something that allows his fixation to endure over such a long time. He is committed to maintaining the well-being of his hives, carefully caring for them daily.

“Every time I go back to my hives, I make it a little challenge for me to just sift through the frames and try to find the queen,” Andrew said. “Every time I see the queen, a sigh of relief escapes from me because, at least, the future of the hive isn’t looking terrible.”

As with beekeeping, computer science, which he began in sixth grade, brings out Andrew’s desire to learn and hones his aptitude for problem-solving. Whereas beekeeping helps him observe and speculate, coding brings his ideas to life, particularly in issues within environmental sciences and the biomedical domain. In middle school, his father taught him C++. Andrew started taking formal lessons in his freshman year and later went competitive, climbing through the rankings of the United States of America Computing Olympiad from bronze to platinum. He views these events as a way to grow, and a chance to bond together with his peers. 

“Competitiveness is one of the more appealing aspects of coding,” Andrew said. “Deep inside me, I am still competitive. Being able to test my skill against others — that’s always fun, especially with friends.”

Computer science teacher Anu Datar, who taught Andrew in frosh and junior year, admires both the courtesy and thoughtful input that Andrew brings to the classroom, which enables her to view him as a peer. She commends Andrew for wanting to be as involved in his research as possible, as he collected data from his own hive for research. 

“His focus on what he wants to do is incredibly sharp,” Datar said. “It’s like laser focus. He won’t let anything deter him from what he wants to achieve. He looks up different kinds of science competitions and scholarships—everything is on his own initiative. In fact, I have learned a lot about potential opportunities for students from his research.”

Close friend senior Andy Chung understands that Andrew’s mind is constantly at work, exploring whatever may be of interest to him. Whether it concerns geography or something as unserious as the video game Crossy Road, Andy praises Andrew for being knowledgeable, yet modest. In junior year, the two were in AP Biology together, where Andrew’s classroom participation paralleled his commitment in tending to his bees.

“He already knew most of the material because he’s into biology and bees,” Andy said. “He made it his goal in that class to make sure that everyone got something out of the course. He helps teach alongside the teacher, and he really helped us learn, not necessarily for the grade, but also for the sake of learning itself.”

Senior Agastya Ravuri, another close friend, recalls meeting Andrew in frosh year as a fellow advisee. He also commends him for his street savvy, approachable personality and receptive ear. He particularly recalls this when Andrew eagerly hopped aboard one of his friend’s chess-inspired games in the process of development due to his enthusiasm for the activity, helping by brainstorming ideas and assessing the beta product.

“To me, Andrew represents being a hard worker,” Agastya said. “I’m not really good at gaining motivation to do things, but it seems to me that Andrew is very good at just getting up and doing something.”

Quality time spent with his bee guild, friend group and peers in CS has helped alleviate Andrew’s pre-competition anxiety and other stress factors. As a group, they embrace shared eccentricities, take contests, exchange laughter and thoroughly deconstruct homework problems at X-Camp Academy.

“Harker is a very tightly-knit community,” Andrew said. “That’s one of the perks, especially with me and my friend group. My friends are probably the best group of friends I could have on campus. We nerd out all the time. Seeing this close bond between us — that’s always something I can look forward to when coming to school every day.”

From removing swarms of bees under chairs to decluttering passages of code, Andrew self-discovers by giving back to others. It’s the problem-solving, the empathy and the learning on and off campus he chooses to immerse in that gives his work substance.

“Programming and beekeeping represent the two sides of myself,” Andrew said. “Programming is where the analytical part of me comes out. Beekeeping is where the helpful side of me comes out.”