![“[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)
The candidates running for ASB positions gave their speeches today to the student body excluding the seniors.
The five candidates are Sarah Bean (10) and Arjun Goyal (11) for president, Sahithya Prakash (11) for vice president, Vincent Lin (11) for secretary, and Rohith Bhethanabotla (11) for treasurer.
Introduced by Dean of Students Kevin Williamson, each candidate spoke for approximately two minutes. The candidates talked about what they planned to do if elected and what positive qualities or past experiences made them suited for the job.
Most candidates found that the comical aspects of their speeches, such as humorous metaphors and reference to Mean Girls, were the facets of their campaign that secured the most voters.
“Some of [the speeches] were kind of funny. My favorite was Arjun’s,” Jetha Tallapaneni (9) said. “The cereal metaphor was pretty cool.”
Jetha also revealed that he was excited for the election and planned on voting.
Many candidates have taken a rather relaxed approach to the election, in contrast to the competitive campaigning atmosphere from previous years.
“I feel pretty confident because I’m the only one running and I’ve had a lot of experience so I think people will realize that,” vice president candidate Sahithya said. “The ASB for next year are people I’ve already worked with so we have council synergy. We’re gonna do much better.”
While this is the first ASB election for freshmen like Jetha, other upperclassmen have voted before and believe that some changes are evident this year. For the election held in 2012, all of the candidacy positions were contested, while in this case, only the presidency is.
“It’s pretty much the same […] but a lot of people are unopposed this year,” Sarika Bajaj (11) said. “I’m still going to vote, though.”
Students will cast their final vote this Friday on the computers in the journalism room.
