SAN JOSE, CALIF. — Freshman Amanda Quach sets the standard for aspiring designers, academic overachievers and student athletes. Quach directs her passions primarily to her diverse design skills, in addition to obtaining mathematical merit and swimming for Silver Creek’s swim team. 

Born and raised in San Jose, Calif., Quach was always full of wit and creativity. She excels at and enjoys designing, crafting and athletics. Despite being passionate in many fields of design, Quach focuses her efforts on web and material design. She believes design administers a freedom of expression, a boundless space of creativity. 

Always enjoying school assignments involving art, Quach shifted to pursuing projects through technology and transferred her artistic passions onto platforms like Google Slides. Quach discovered endless ways to approach digital art through creativity in presentation slides and was introduced to other platforms where she could design her own creative works.

As for fashion design, quarantine initiated Quach’s discovery of sewing and crocheting. Learning to use these tools to crochet and sew allowed Quach to realize that she could create anything that she wanted. 

Like anyone else, Quach has experienced difficulties in pursuing what she is passionate about. She says, “As an artist, creativity is a vital thing to what makes your work unique. A challenge I faced throughout pursuing design would be artist’s block, where I would lose the motivation to create something or have creativity for new projects.”

In advice to individuals who share the same passions she does, Quach encourages confidence in pursuing skills. “Don’t constantly think about how others will perceive your work. Do things how you want and be proud of it,” she exclaims. Quach described that her biggest inspiration is her friend, who provides her with the greatest support system and encourages her to exercise her design skills.

Putting aside Quach’s artistic aspects in life, her hobbies include swimming and piano. Quach’s first season competing has been eventful thus far and taught her consistency through dedication during daily practices. Coach Marc Alpert deemed Quach a great athlete since the season’s conditioning and other team members are grateful for her role in the team. Quach also exhibits many academic achievements and plans to further them by taking both AP Calc AB and AP Chemistry her sophomore year. Quach’s personification of excellence in just her first year at Silver Creek is most definitely one for the books.