Munching on Wing Stop and drinking homemade boba, senior Keira Chang and her volleyball friends laugh as they sit on the patio and chat about anything from school drama to recent games. It was this love for the community and team bonding activities that pushed her to play on Harker’s varsity girls volleyball team for all four years.

Inspired by her mother, who also played as a child, Keira began her journey in volleyball at nine years old, playing at four different clubs in the span of eight years. In her long path to becoming co-captain of Harker’s varsity team, Keira has endured countless demoralizing situations in games. She manages the pressure by counting on her teammates and grounding herself in the moment.

“It all comes back to ‘Why are you there? Who are you with?'” Keira said. “You’re playing because you love the sport, even if you’re not doing well or you’re having a bad game. You’re still the same person, you still love the game. Realize that no matter what the other team does, no matter what you do, they can’t take that away from you.”

Fellow teammate junior Alexis Leo admires Keira’s dedication to the sport and her ability to make every practice fun. Alexis fondly recalled a memory of her singing in the locker room, a moment she felt best exemplified how energetic Keira is.

“She’s very lively, and she’s always positive and smiling.” Alexis said. “Even if she’s making mistakes on the court, she doesn’t let that bring her down or affect the mood of her or other people. She’s always really calm and really active, always leading us to do a better job. Even if we win by a lot, she’s always telling us, ‘We still made some silly mistakes. Let’s try to not do that in the next set.'”

Outside of the court, Keira also plays viola for the Harker orchestra. Though playing pieces with a variety of people and traveling on trips for performances, she came to appreciate the cohesive teamwork that goes into each piece.

“All these people, they’re all your friends.” Keira said. “You share so many things in common with them, but you also get to play music with them. It feels so incredible to get to play the same piece with everyone and feel like you’re a part of this big group and all working together. We have the same goal, we’re all going to go perform this together, and everyone’s depending on each other.”

Inspired by the support that volleyball and orchestra communities around her offered, Keira endeavored to make her own community as vice president of Astronomy Club. Keira first developed her interest in physics and astronomy in her freshman year of physics. Physics teacher Mark Brada commends her meticulous and comprehensive approach to problem solving. 

“Aside from her curiosity, she’s very diligent.” Dr. Brada said. “She will see a problem through to the end, and she is also not afraid to ask for help, which is a really great quality in a student and in a researcher and collaborator. Science is not meant to be an individual effort, it’s meant to be a collaborative endeavor. She has a good innate understanding of that.”

In her sophomore year, Keira merged her desire to expand the field of science and her love of storytelling through children’s book writing. Starting as a fun project, her first book on rainbows became a top three Amazon bestseller in four categories, winning number one in both the environmental science and children’s light and sound books. Since then, she has written three books in her series, choosing her topics based on fields she’s interested in.

“When I was a kid, I really loved asking questions, and I loved figuring out how the world worked,” Keira said. “I want to spread that love for learning and for STEM to younger children because keeping that curiosity and urge to figure out things and solve problems is important to maintain in kids as they grow up. Being able to provide something for kids to turn to, [having] a question and getting it answered in a way that’s fun and engaging is important to me.”

Whether it’s in volleyball or orchestra, Keira strives to work hard and constantly go above and beyond. Close friend senior Claire Yu praises Keira’s determination to follow through with her various activities. 

“It’s really admirable how driven she is,” Claire said. “When she has something that she’s interested in, she’ll just go for it and do what it takes, and she’ll consistently put in effort to achieve her goals. In a world like today where there’s so many distractions and other things to do, that’s really incredible.”

When I asked her what advice she would give to underclassmen who want to pursue similar paths, Keira hesitated for the first time in the interview, gazing at the trees in Graduate’s Grove. After almost two minutes of silence, she told me this.

“Be bold,” Keira said. “Take opportunities when they’re presented to you, and take opportunities even if they’re not presented to you. Don’t just be sad if you don’t get something. If you want to pursue it, if you want to get this chair in orchestra or you want to be on varsity, that’s all in your control. It’s important to know that anything you want, you’re capable of getting.”