Isaac
saac Carapia is nearing the end of his high school career and is excited to see where life is going to take him. Originally from Santa Rosa, 17-year-old Isaac has been at Hanna Center High School for four years. Isaac is the baby of his family; older sister Cassandra is 23, and brother Jasile is 19. He also has two poodles. At school, Isaac shares that his favorite subjects are math and industry for tech. “There are a lot of Arduino projects and things I want to do that end up working with function graphs,” he says. “What I’m working on in math right now directly ties into my computer science work STEM in general is my jam. Although Isaac admits that it sounds a little boring, he says that studying is one of his favorite things to do. He explains that studying invigorates him; he likes to understand why some approaches work and others don’t. Isaac has big goals for his future. His “reach” colleges are MIT and Cal Poly, and he’s also looking at strong STEM schools Washington Tech and Cal Tech. Isaac would one day like to work in robotics and computer science where he can do problem solving and critical thinking every day.
Music is another important aspect of Isaac’s life. He likes most genres of music, and he says that one composer in particular has impacted him greatly. “I heard Chopin for the first time at 10-years-old, “he says.” “I didn’t know what classical music was at the time, but what I internalized that one day, I knew I wanted to play those pieces and make the noises that I had heard. “Today, Isaac is a classically trained pianist For the last year, Isaac has been dedicating himself to another activity: weight lifting. When he arrived at the Hanna Center, he recognized the camaraderie the weight room; he wanted to be a part of that environment where everyone helped each other get stronger. Isaac says that the school’s PE teachers are extremely helpful in creating workout and nutrition plans that help each of them meet their strength goals. Besides lifting weigh and playing piano, Isaac also enjoys building robots and dancing.
Isaac shares that life hasn’t always been easy for him—he had a difficult upbringing and has been diagnosed with bipolar depression and ADHD. He commented that his mental health challenges have sometimes made it harder for him to participate in normal actities, but he, worked hard to overcome those hurdles. And although it take hard work and dedication to meet his goals, with a positive outlook and lots of support, Isaac feels confident that the best in his life is yet to come. “Being where I am now feels so rewarding and like a real accomplishment that I’ve even come this far,” he says. And that fact that I have made it this far tells me I can go even further.
