Underneath the glaring yellow fluorescent lights in a starkly white room in upstairs Dobbins, senior Mendy Mao grabs the medal hanging around another film club member’s neck. The camera clicks, the slate claps shut and she tugs at the medal and screams at the top of her lungs in the short film “The Interview.” The camera clicks again, the actors reset and the process repeats for another take.

Drawn to the writing in screenplays, Mendy joined Film Club as a frosh and later became involved in other parts of the production process, from acting to shooting to editing. As the club’s co-president, she has directed three films and participated in the creation of two more. Filming and producing taught Mendy flexibility and improvisation to overcome the roadblocks she faced on set.

“Working with film, you can’t be set on one thing all the time,” Mendy said. “There are a lot of restrictions, especially when there’s not enough people or some prop went missing, and you have to improvise on the spot. You’ve had all of the actors come together in one place, invited all of the extras and had everything set up, so you can’t stop now. You have to move past that and do something you can do. You have to adapt.”

To make each film, Mendy and other club members spent weeks after school planning, shooting, retaking and editing each scene. This, along with member shortages, make the production and post-production processes challenging but rewarding.

“It’s hard to get actors, it’s hard to get crew, but if you know where to look, you can move past that,” Mendy said. “It’s just a lot of time and effort: it’s seriously so much time to make a film with five people, and the directors or the people editing are doing most of the work.”

Rather than persisting despite the difficulty, however, Mendy pursues filmmaking because of it.

“I live for challenges,” Mendy said. “Even while we were struggling, it’s a problem that we have to work through. It’s like a logic puzzle, like, ‘Which parts fit together’ and ‘What do I need to work,’ but also at the end when everything comes together, it’s beautiful. It’s like, ‘This is what I wanted to communicate, and this is the story that I wanted to tell.’ And so it was already worth it, even before we got the product.”

Film Club Co-President and close friend senior Sophie Pellet recalls when she and Mendy were hyping each other up and boosting their confidence before pitching their screenplay during a club meeting. She highlights how this determination propagates beyond Film Club and presents itself in every moment and interaction for Mendy.

“She’s very self-assured, and she knows what she wants,” Sophie said. “‘Insecurity’ is not in Mendy’s vocabulary. I love that she’s so confident about herself, and that’s a very admirable quality to have. She’s also very honest. She always tells you what she thinks she’ll never sugarcoat things.”

Beyond film, Mendy carries a similar determination and love for storytelling to journalism. As a current Humans of Harker managing editor and a contributor to “The Outlook,” a hyperlocal newspaper, she writes many human interest stories as well as pieces spotlighting issues less talked about in her community.

“My favorite piece has been the financial aid piece I wrote for Harker,” Mendy said. “It was a very long investigation process, having to interview all of the admin people and then find anonymous financial aid people. It was just something that needed to be investigated and needed to be said, and I’m glad that I got to be a part of that.”

Harker Aquila managing editor junior Leah Krupnik collaborated with Mendy on the financial aid piece. She commends Mendy for her willingness to communicate her perspective openly and discuss the nuances of the article’s topic in depth.

“She knows what she wants, and she is unafraid to voice her thoughts on things, which, to me, is really refreshing,” Leah said. “A lot of the time people are scared to express their thoughts, and they’ll just go with it, even if they don’t quite agree. Mendy just doesn’t do that. If she disagrees with something, or if she has an opinion on something that could be done differently, she’ll just tell you. And that’s made it really easy to work with her.

Even outside of film and journalism, Mendy invests herself wholeheartedly into her endeavors.  Biology teacher Matthew Harley, who first met Mendy during the AP Biology summer course, recalls how even in an auditorium of 60 kids, Mendy stood out for her curiosity and eagerness to ask questions about the subject.

“Even her body language suggests that interest,” Dr. Harley said. “I picture her as leaning forward, leaning into the material to learn more. She always seems ready to smile to be in on a joke. She comes into conversations with such a positive attitude, both wanting to learn and to enjoy the conversation.”

Through her years storytelling with film and journalism, Mendy remains committed to her resolution to tell the stories that matter most.

“What’s important to me is going for things and doing what you want,” Mendy said. “Don’t be so afraid of the consequences that you’re afraid to do what matters. If it’s a journalism article, don’t be afraid to pitch a controversial idea because you think it won’t get passed through. It’s worth it to write what you believe in and fight for what you believe in.”