![“[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)
On February 10, six members of The Triple Helix club boarded their flight for England, where they stayed for a week to attend a science conference.
Science teachers Anita Chetty and Dr. Eric Nelson accompanied the members, sophomores Vivek Sriram, Kacey Fang, Sindhu Ravuri, and Vasudha Rengarajan and juniors Brandon Yang and Krishan Kumar to England.
Chetty, who is the advisor for the Upper School Triple Helix chapter, organized the trip, creating a day-by-day itinerary for the students. The first and last days were spent traveling, two days were designated for the conference, and the rest were centered around tourism and sightseeing.
Although she felt that the conference was the highlight of the trip, Chetty particularly enjoyed watching the musical Wicked in London.
“There’s nothing more magical than being in a theater in the west end of London and watching a spectacular play,” she said. “I just also truly enjoyed taking the students to a place like Cambridge, where historically there’s such a huge concentration of great minds.”
While Chetty and the students relished new experiences and activities such as boating on the river Cam, exploring the Natural History Museum, and visiting the Wren Library, all agreed that the conference was the best part of the trip.
“I’d have to say I really enjoyed the poster I created. It was really fun communicating what I had worked really hard on,” Vivek said.
Krishan agreed with Vivek, but he identified his favorite part of the conference as the connections he made with other students.
“Initially when I had signed up for this trip, I was expecting the conference to be an almost scary event in which there would be intellectuals criticizing me and my work, but actually it was a lot more friendly experience,” he said. “It was really interesting because we got to collaborate and work with British teenagers and Cambridge graduate students, which was very exciting.”
Each day of the conference consisted of a series of quick-fire questions that American and British students worked together to answer. Following this event, a series of speakers delivered brief lectures on given topics pertaining to science, medicine, or career opportunity. As the last event of each day, students worked together in small teams with debates or role-play activities to simulate the real-world application of the sciences.
On Sunday, February 17, the group flew back to the states where they reunited with their families.
