![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasn't been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but I've had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. There's so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesn't exist, you can build it yourself," Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“When I came into high school, I was ready to be a follower. But DECA was a game changer for me. It helped me overcome my fear of public speaking, and it's played such a major role in who I've become today. To be able to successfully lead a chapter of 150 students, an officer team and be one of the upperclassmen I once really admired is something I'm [really] proud of,” Anvitha Tummala ('21) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-25-at-9.50.05-AM-900x594.png)
![“I think getting up in the morning and having a sense of purpose [is exciting]. I think without a certain amount of drive, life is kind of obsolete and mundane, and I think having that every single day is what makes each day unique and kind of makes life exciting,” Neymika Jain (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Screen-Shot-2017-06-03-at-4.54.16-PM.png)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you aren't going to get those championships if you aren't fast,” Angel Cervantes (12) said. “I want to do well in school on my tests and in track and win championships for my team. I live by that, [and] I can do that anywhere: in the classroom or on the field.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DSC5146-900x601.jpg)
![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
![“I'm not nearly there yet, but [my confidence has] definitely been getting better since I was pretty shy and timid coming into Harker my freshman year. I know that there's a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyone's so driven and that has really pushed me to kind of try to find my own place in high school and be more confident,” Alyssa Huang (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AlyssaHuang_EmilyChen_HoHPhoto-900x749.jpeg)
Head of School Christopher Nikoloff introduced the concept of selflessness today as the second part of his leadership lecture series based on the book Tao Te Ching.
Nikoloff started the lecture by recapping the concepts he mentioned two weeks ago with a quick introduction to Taoism. According to Nikoloff, Taoism tries to escape prescriptions to life and deals with natural patterns. He explored the two major ideas of Taoism: Tao, the way and course of nature, and Li, organic powers.
He further mentioned that it is nearly impossible to translate Tao because the definition goes against the beliefs of Taoism. A famous quote from the Tao Te Ching states that “the tao that can be told is not the eternal tao.”
After the introduction, Nikoloff focused on selflessness, which he thought was an overused and misunderstood term.
“Most people get into leadership for egotistical reasons and a lot of times the selflessness aspect is overlooked,” he said.
Nikoloff then examined the idea of unconscious and unstructured thought, something that athletes and performing artists can relate to. For example, a musician may not actively be thinking about playing music; when performing, he or she can become lost in the music and play unconsciously.
Next, Nikoloff tied the 2000 year old learnings to today’s culture by informing the audience about a recent article that discussed how humans are not single beings but rather a walking ecosystem.
He concluded by discussing books on leadership, such as Book of Pao and 5 Levels to Leadership, and asked for clarifying questions from the audience.
“I’m anxious to have a follow up discussion to see how he has applied these concepts in meetings with students, faculty, and parents,” computer science teacher Susan King said.
Sophomore Arya Kaul thought that the most memorable message of the lecture was that the self and the cause merge together.
“Lao Tzu made the claim that the best leader is one who merges with his subjects, which I never thought about in that way,” he said.
Because other activities such as the STEM fair were taking place at the same time, few students attended the lecture. Freshman Jonathan Hochberg hopes that more students will show up at the next meeting.
“I believe it is very informative, unfortunately, also a bit under-advertised. Perhaps they should make it into a meeting that the whole school must attend,” he said.
The third lecture in this year’s series will occur at a later date during long lunch.
