Bubbling laughter echoes from the tables of Golden Corral, conversations filling the restaurant with a warm ambience. Felicia Harris sits at one of the largest tables, surrounded by her brothers and sisters. She smiles, watching her younger siblings run around and play with the claw machine.

“I’m one of 12 siblings,” Felicia said. “The oldest is 21 and the youngest is 1, so the house is always busy and loud. We have our moments, but I would say we get along pretty well.”

Felicia is younger than only three of her siblings, and has always been close with her older brother, Jay Harris. Jay admires Felicia, saying how she uses her positivity and determination to turn even the worst situations around.

“Felicia is my best friend,” Jay said. “She’s the most caring person. If you ever needed somebody, she would be the person to go to. She always sees the best in people and tries to help them.”

When they were younger, the siblings loved to play outside together. They would climb trees and  ride their bikes everywhere.

“Whenever I’m with Jay, we always do crazy things.” Felicia said. “When we’re riding our bikes we always do tricks, like wheelies over the curb. We would see who could climb the highest in trees.”

In the future, Felicia hopes to join the Air Force, realizing around five years ago that she wanted to join the military along with her sister, Ceyona Harris, who now serves in the Marine Corps.

“My sister and I decided to go into the military at the same time,” Harris said. “We were in the living room watching a show about boot camp trying to figure out which branch to go into. She said ‘Marines’ and I automatically said ‘Air Force.’”  

In the Air Force, Felicia hopes to become a photographer, a job she discovered while watching a video of Air Force aerial photography. What started as a hobby became a passion, and Harris has now taken every photography class KHS offers

“To be an aerial photographer, I would have to know everything the pilot would know,” Felicia said. “I would be in the plane taking pictures of either people on the ground or other airplanes.”

Felicia is also a photographer on the Pioneer yearbook staff, and she enjoys taking action shots of different sports. So far, she has photographed basketball, lacrosse, soccer and water polo.

“Basketball is my favorite sport, and after that is soccer.” Felicia said. “I like [photographing] how the ball moves and how everyone is busy doing something.”

Felicia’s interest in photography began around her sophomore year, her last year of being homeschooled. Moving to KHS was a big change, but she enjoyed meeting lots of people and making friends.

“Kirkwood in all has been really fun, just these two years being here,” Felicia said. “Cherish every moment of it, because it goes by really fast.”