![“[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)
Two juniors make Harker history
Two juniors became the first Upper School students to win a scholarship at the national finals of the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology.
In Nov. 2013, Andrew Jin and Steven Wang were named finalists and earned top team honors for their research about anti-cancer drugs at the Region One Finals hosted by the California Institution of Technology. The team was then invited to present their project at the National Finals in Washington, D.C. one month later and placed third.
Their project, “Rational Discovery and Optimization of Synergistic Chemotherapy and Combinations: A Novel Framework Integrating Gene Perturbation Analysis and Machine Learning Algorithms,” explained their research about chemotherapy drug combinations by incorporating components such as computer modeling and biological experiments. The combinations they found are deemed “synergistic” in that their combined effect is greater than the sum of the individual effects.
During the last three months of research, science teachers Anita Chetty, Chris Spenner, Gary Blickenstaff, Mala Raghavan, and Michael Pistacchi guided the two students and gave them feedback on their project.
“Before the competition, we made a ton of changes based on [their] feedback, and we were able to improve the presentation significantly,” Andrew said. “We couldn’t have made it this far without all [their] help.”
In December, Andrew and Steven flew to Washington, D.C. to present their work to the public. Additionally, they participated in media training and an outreach program for which they went to an elementary school to demonstrate fun science experiments. During their down time, the two played “Just Dance 4” with other students whom they met on the trip.
“I learned a lot about perspective because everyone at the competition all shared something in common: a passion for research and science,” Steven said. “It was pretty inspiring to be with such a group of talented people and learn about their projects, whether they were about biology, computer science, or even nanotechnology.”
Andrew and Steven’s success mirrored their finding of combined drugs in that in both cases, they worked better as teams and achieved favorable results.
Angeline Pan is the assistant Photo Editor of TALON. She is a junior and has been part of the journalism program since her sophomore year. Her favorite...