Adrenaline rushes through Brendon Hayes (’25)’s veins as waves crash into the side of his vessel, nearly capsizing it. Torrents slam into, under and onto the ship as it plunges downwards, lurches up, and is catapulted into the air. Gesticulating wildly, Brendon retells one of his fishing tales, shooting out words rapid-fire, pitch rising and falling with every dip and turn of his account. Over the years, he has racked up many stories from his long-standing pastime of fishing, which range from slow days and reluctant fish to tires catching on fire on the way to the water. 

Brendon’s love of fishing and the ocean came from his father, who took him on his first fishing trip in elementary school. Since then, he has developed an appreciation for the repose that fishing provides.

“It’s a whole different world, whether you’re on the ocean by yourself or with whoever you’re fishing with, and it’s an escape from the rest of my life,” Brendon said. “When I’m doing these things, like camping or fishing, I have something else to focus on. I’m not thinking about the next project I have for English or whatever it is, and it gives me an actual break from everything.”

Between casting the line and feeling a tug from the other end, hours travel by. Fishing has taught him patience and given him a sense of resoluteness in his pursuits, as well as the persistence to pull through the toughest of times. While waiting for a fish to bite, Brendon passes the time by talking with the friends, family, and family friends he brings, as he views fishing as an innately social activity and not a pastime to be done alone. 

“It’s always better to have someone around because then you have something to do,” Brendon said. “In those three hours that you’re not doing anything but holding a pole, you can talk with them and spend time with them. If you’re doing it for the fun of fishing, it is very social.”

As a hobbyist fisherman, Brendon cares greatly for the ecosystems of the fishing grounds he uses. However, many of these areas have been harmed by invasive sea urchins, which he considers an especially serious problem in Monterey Bay, one of the most ecologically important and diverse marine sanctuaries in North America. Brendon is attempting to reduce the invasive sea urchin population on the West Coast through his own project, CRACKEN, an underwater robot tasked with removing urchins from the sea floor. His concern for environmental issues stems from his childhood in China, where pollution chokes the air in most metropolitan areas.

“I lived in China for 7 years, and I think that my first issue with the world was the air quality because my mom blamed a lot of stuff on the air quality,” Brendon said. “But you don’t see blue skies over there, ever.”

In the years since, his childhood experiences have given rise to his current concern for marine ecosystems threatened by global warming and invasive species. Brendon has also cited his love for the ocean as his main drive for CRACKEN.

“That was my first insight into problems with the world, that it wasn’t perfect and that there’s stuff that we can fix,” Brendon said. “These kelp forests are habitats for fish, for seals, for sea lions, and they’re being destroyed. I love the ecosystem in the ocean, and I care about being able to protect that.”

CRACKEN is currently still in its fledgling stages, as Brendon and his team are brainstorming solutions to a few major functions, such as how it will move underwater and interact with the urchins. Brendon plans to begin prototyping the robot in the second semester, when he can devote more time to CRACKEN. Brendon’s close friend and fellow Robotics team member, Akul Goyal (’25), expressed his admiration for Brendon’s devotion to his goals.

“He knows what he wants,” Akul said. “A lot of people don’t have direction, so they just try to do everything. But he genuinely knows, ‘Ok, I want to go do this, so I’m gonna go do this.’”

Close friend and CRACKEN collaborator junior Anna Wang remembers befriending Brendon as a frosh and new member of the Harker Robotics team. Much like his care for the environment, Brendon also cares deeply for his friends. Anna sees him as an outgoing, approachable person and admires his empathic and supportive nature.

“It was pretty easy to talk to him because he’s pretty outgoing,” Anna said. “He’s very empathetic to everyone and if there’s anything going on, you can always talk to him, and he’ll always be really supportive about everything. He’s definitely helped me through some difficult things, especially because he’s the type of person who you feel like you can open up to a lot.

Savya Agarwal (’25), another close friend of Brendon, remembers both of them sticking together coming out of COVID lockdowns and growing from middle-schoolers into high-schoolers. Savya attests to Anna’s statement, appreciating Brendon’s help when preparing for Savya’s speech at the 2024 TEDxHarkerSchool event.

“When I had to give my TEDx talk a few months ago, he was there for me,” Savya said. “He helped me make the talk, he helped me practice for it, and he was there during the talk and stayed with me after. Not a lot of people would do that.”

Brendon’s relationships with his friends are core parts of his motivation to build a better future for the ocean. To him, fishing would feel dull without them. For his loved ones, for the sea, and for all of the world, Brendon hopes to make a difference, however small, with the time he has.

“I’m trying to turn the needle toward somewhere better, and if enough people do it, then eventually we’ll get to a point where Earth won’t be as downcast and destroyed as we expect it to be,” Brendon said. “CRACKEN is making my impact and leaving a legacy beyond myself on the world, no matter how successful it is. I want to leave some impacts that people will remember me for beyond my time.”