This piece is a 700-word column 26 inches long, and if Kalani High School senior Daniel Huang had his way, all of it would be devoted to acknowledging and thanking his parents and the long litany of teachers, counselors, coaches, advisers and others who have helped him along the way.

So, thank you, Andy and Iris Huang, for years of loving support and sacrifice. Merci beaucoup, curriculum coordinator Leslie Hamasaki for the years of guidance and daily support. Grazie, Susan Arashiro and Sandra Yoshida, for your hard work in preparing students to apply to college. Gracias, arigato and danke kindly, dear tennis coaches, church leaders, youth symphony directors, violin and oboe teachers, and all ye manner of extracurricular club officials. Daniel Huang is forever in your debt.

Now, someone, please, teach the boy to brag a little.

Admittedly, it’s hard to know where to start. So start at the beginning, like when Huang was 5 and Iris, a United Airlines customer service representative, signed him up for violin lessons, thereby setting the foundation for his lifelong love of music. Or start at age 6, when Andy, an environmental engineer for Naval Facilities Engineering Command Hawaii, brought him to his junior team tennis lessons, introducing him to a sport that has brought a sense of balance to his many academic and musical pursuits.

The music was always big, from violin lessons to the after-school ukulele program at Manoa Elementary to the Kaimuki Middle School band, where Huang took up the oboe and found himself surrounded by people who enjoyed playing just as much as he did. Huang continues to play the oboe for the high school band and for the Youth Symphony II while keeping his violin skills sharp playing at Waialae Baptist Church.

“Music teaches you to enjoy what you are doing first and foremost,” Huang says. “It starts with an innocent love for the instrument and for music in general, and then with discipline and hard work you can be as good as you want to be.”

Huang said he’s found a similar sense of shared purpose and community through tennis, particularly at the varsity level where individual effort and performance are directed toward team goals.

Despite a competitive streak wrought though years of playing with and against his older brother Darrell, a sophomore at Harvard University, Huang said he enjoys the camaraderie of the sport and the opportunity to help new players find their place.

“It’s always about the team,” he says.

The sentiment echoes across Huang’s many academic and extracurricular pursuits. Huang participated in the Japan Super Science Fair in Kyoto with four other Kalani classmates and thrice was on the team representing Kalani at the Science Bowl, once advancing to regional competition in Oregon. He and his teammates were so inspired by what they learned about science clubs in other schools that they took the initiative to start their own club at Kalani, writing their own charter, selecting leaders and recruiting classmates of all grade levels to join in the fun.

Two years ago Huang (who also serves as president of the school’s National Honor Society chapter) and a small group of classmates applied for and were accepted to the Pacific Asian Affairs Council’s Global Leadership Program, an experience that culminated with a trip to Shanghai. Upon his return Huang again felt compelled to share the experience by helping to found a PAAC chapter at Kalani.

Huang said his activities are a natural outgrowth of his interests and the nurturing environment Kalani provides and is not intended, he emphasizes, to pad his resume. Yet, Huang admittedly has sought to join his brother at Harvard, a goal brought to painful clarity after a campus visit last year.

Just recently, Huang received word that he indeed had been accepted — with a scholarship package too good to refuse. He intends to study neurobiology with an eye toward completing a Medical Scientist Training Program (combining an M.D. and Ph.D.) and eventually working as a surgeon.

“My parents have been super supportive, and I’m very appreciative of that,” he said. “And Kalani is great at exposing students to different opportunities and encouraging them to get involved.”

There he goes again.

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@staradvertiser.com.