![“[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)
During both lunches yesterday, all grades except seniors had the opportunity to elect ASB officers while sophomores also voted for their Honor Council representatives.
Candidates for ASB included all the members of the current junior class council as well as Sarah Bean (10). Juniors Vincent Lin (secretary), Rohith Bhethanabotla (treasurer), and Sahithya Prakash (vice president) ran unopposed for their respective positions. Junior Arjun Goyal and Sarah competed for the position of ASB president.
In addition to ASB elections, the first round of sophomore Honor Council elections also took place. Seventeen candidates ran to represent the class of 2015 for the next two years in the Honor Council. The candidates are Shreya Basu, Billy Bloomquist, Eugene Gil, Richard Gu, Arden Hu, Sanjana Kaundinya, Allison Kiang, Austin Lai, Patrick Lin, Neil Movva, Sahana Rangarajan, Apoorva Rangan, Vivek Sriram, Vedant Thyagaraj, Kailas Vodrahalli, Rachel Wu, and Samyukta Yagati.
Many students revealed that voting is an important milestone in their high school careers.
“[Voting] really allows the student body to have a voice in both Honor Council and ASB which are pretty important in running student life and I think that having that voice is really important,” said Simran Singh (10), who tries to vote in most school elections.
In selecting her candidate, Simran particularly looked for the experience the candidates previously had as well as concrete information in their speeches as opposed to “empty promises.”
Juniors Rahul Sridhar and Ravi Bhandia also agreed that voting allowed students to express their voices.
“If you want to have any say in what the student council of the next year is going to be like, what policies they pursue, you can show that by voting,” Rahul said.
Results for ASB positions will be revealed next week. The top eight candidates of Honor Council will advance after yesterday’s election, and voting for the top three candidates will occur next Wednesday, April 24.
