A life without laughter is criminal–at least, it’s my strongly held belief that laughter is one of–if not the most–important parts of life. Perhaps that’s why, having gotten to know Inaayat well over the past 7 years, I find their unparalleled sense of humor and lighthearted nature to be particularly compelling. Further than this, their sincere passion for learning and zeal for creation has inspired me many-a-time. I remember–just this past year–finding their use of scrap pieces to develop a 3-D model of a digitized landscape to influence me to likewise minimize material waste in my projects. I hope you’ll get to know them a little better today!
Inaayat Hans has been a part of Keystone’s Class of 2026 since 5th grade, having moved from New Orleans to San Antonio around that time. Previously, they also lived in Mississippi, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. In Keystone, they are a part of various clubs that surround their interest in design and political science as a way to improve the future of our nation and our close communities. These clubs include Model United Nations, where they presented as a delegation to advocate for practical solutions to pressing global issues, Robotics, in which they are the design lead for the club, Litmag, and Keynote. Outside of school, they volunteer for San Antonio’s local libraries, including the Landa and Central branches of San Antonio’s library system, helping team lead, tracking book popularity, and fulfilling administration work.
Inaayat hopes to study Political Science in the future with the hopes of becoming a lawyer, explaining how their interest in environmentalism and policy laid the foundation for this passion. More humanistically, they believe their interest in the field came from their experience tutoring others, during which they felt joy seeing others succeed and understand concepts. In essence, their “…love for humanity” and conviction to inspire others manifests as their desire to improve the current systems which underpin societal stress and remediate them. Through their Stonecatcher project, they explored this passion through researching literacy and the role of educational institutions to promote it, a topic they felt relevant to their world concerns. As Inaayat put it, “I feel strongly about the future of our nation.”
Inaayat also points to their experience in Keystone as important. In particular, Inaayat mentioned enjoying Dr. Caraway’s International Relations class, stating that it was one of the classes they felt enthusiastic about and felt was relevant to them. They also recall Stone Soul, the school’s quarterly informal talent show, as one of their favorite memories from Keystone, as well as just hanging out with friends and enjoying Keystone’s community.
Otherwise, Inaayat leads a cornucopious collection of hobbies, deriving from their seemingly intrinsic creativity. Other than being a talented 2-D artist, exemplified through their adept figure drawing and impressive digital artwork, they also have explored various other media, including sewing, chipboard modeling, cosplay creation, and using Artkal beads. Currently, they are sewing “Kangaroo Pants” out of old jeans, exploring how concepts of fashion have changed significantly over the course of time. They recall being particularly proud of one of their first cosplays, mentioning how the craftsmanship for the hat they had hand-sewn was impressively well-done. As well, they recently worked on a helmet for Starscream, a Transformers character, and they are enthusiastic about wearing and taking photos of the costume. Simply put, they like to “…make stuff and build stuff.”
Further, Inaayat is also an avid game-player, like non-fiction books, and enjoys watching anime. Recently, they mentioned playing Hades and hope to play Hades 2 soon. However, they also warn of the game’s difficulty, advising new game players not to play it. Currently, they’ve been watching Umamusume, a sports anime, although their all-time favorite anime is Chainsaw Man, mentioning that they enjoy shows that have depth and explore difficult concepts. While Inaayat is well-versed in fictional media, they also enjoy non-fiction, recommending Freakonomics by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt and Contagious: Why Things Catch On by Jonah Berger.
Essentially, Inaayat is a jack of all trades. I don’t exaggerate when I say that they probably have the most interesting collection of knowledge, varying from an impressive grasp on vocabulary and an extremely detailed understanding of the complexities of the human body to a surprisingly varied breadth of knowledge on literature and modern media.
As we close in on the last semester of senior year, Inaayat hopes to continue to make more friends within the Keystone community, stating, “I love talking to people, so please reach out to me.”
All in all, I am grateful to have gotten to know Inaayat well over these past years, and I know that as they move into the next chapter of their lives in college, they will continue to inspire others with their care for the world, impressive variety of knowledge, and intrinsic humor.
