Junior Nicolas Harper has spent the last seven years mastering the art of the Rubik’s Cube, which has led him to participate in several national competitions.

Harper discovered his interest in Rubik’s Cubes after watching YouTube tutorials of different “Speed Cubers” solving various types of Cubes. He mentioned how these videos had immediately intrigued him and encouraged him to start solving an old Cube around the house. “It looked really fun,” he said. “You’d see the whole environment of a competition, I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

His favorite aspect of Cubing is not the satisfaction of solving a difficult Cube, but rather the environment. “I feel like a big part of it is definitely the community,” he said. “In 2018, I met some people, and to this day they still go to the competitions that I go to. You know, it’s nice to really have friends.” He said that the supportive Cubing environment was a big reason for his continued interest.

Harper’s continuous hard work in Cubing has left him feeling rewarded time and time again. He said that his proudest moment of his Cubing career was at a North American competition in Toronto. “It was the first big competition in North America since COVID,” he said. Harper had participated in an event for the Square-1 Cube, a Cube similar to the standard 3×3 but with an additional layer of difficulty due to its ability to change shape. “I was able to get some good times and it ranked me 80th in the world,” Harper said. 

Despite doing Cubing for seven years, Harper continues to Cube on a daily basis. Harper has been encouraged to continue Cubing thanks to the community’s encouraging and laid-back nature. “Anybody can go, they don’t really judge you, they’ll be supportive of you,” he said.