“You go against the market, and every day you know the score,” he says. “Every day you win or lose. So hopefully I’ll get the same type of feelings and the same type of rush.”

Barker hopes his ventures into business will eventually lead him to starting his own company.

“He has the drive,” Derrick Sr. says. “[He has] the motivation to follow through, not just to come up with an idea and shrivel and let it die, but the motivation to follow through, [to] make the idea become a reality.”

The younger Derrick has always turned his ideas into reality. At Westlake High School in Atlanta, Barker founded a robotics club—even coaching a middle school robotics team—and started a financial literacy club. At Harvard, he founded the Veritas Financial Group and Veritas Enterprises.

“I just like starting organizations,” he says. “I like running stuff. That stuff excites me. I like getting people together, getting things done, managing and running organizations.”

Barker hopes to be equally innovative in the social sector, particularly in education.

“I feel that I am cheating myself and cheating other people if I have this knowledge...and I don’t try to do something about it,” he says. “I will be involved.”

At Westlake, he coached the middle school robotics team through state competitions where they placed as high as second. During his stay at Harvard, Barker has volunteered at an after-school program in Roxbury through the David Walker Scholarship Program. Staying involved in low-income schools is a top priority for him.

“He’s a positive, spirited person,” Dalicia says. “He makes everyone happy, everything better. In society today, that’s what children need.”

Derrick Barker is already many things, and the future holds much more in store for him. He’s met every challenge and grown stronger. Tomorrow the senior faces yet another hurdle—The Game—and, if history gives any indication, one shouldn’t bet against him.