![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)
![“[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)
New York: Journalism students present at Columbia convention
Junior Priscilla Pan arranges samples of tea-sandwiches created in front of a live audience while Jessica Chang (11) instructs on how to get the best angles for cooking footage. The pair gave a presentation at the CSPA convention in New York on how to maintain a presence in food blogging online for high school publications.
Two journalism students presented a powerpoint concerning their culinary journalism enterprises at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s convention on March 19.
Juniors Jessica Chang and Priscilla Pan discussed their food column, “In a Nutshell,” which is hosted on Harker Aquila and features original and adapted recipes as well as informational gifs and videos.
“I got the biggest adrenaline rush when I started talking,” Jessica said.
The presentation involved a general overview of the work that went into the food blog as well as a description of how the culinary pair began work in the kitchen in the first place. Jessica and Priscilla invited the audience to move closer and observe the process of making tea sandwiches. They also used the opportunity to demonstrate the techniques they used to shoot the footage used for the instructional videos.
Preparation in the morning involved waking up at 5 a.m. to pre-make the sample tea-sandwiches they handed out to audience-members after the powerpoint presentation. Also, the pair brought homemade caramel candies to give to observers with a sweet-tooth.
According to Jessica, the ultimate lesson she wishes audience members would take away from the presentation is one of perseverance.
“A lot of times, I had an idea and I didn’t think it was possible so I just didn’t pursue it at all, and I guess the point of this presentation was to prove that if you have something that you really want to pursue, […] things will open up for you,” she said. “[People] might have passions that they want to merge together and create something, and we’re just here to remind them that it’s very possible.”
Based on audience response, the two of them consider the presentation a success.
“At the very end, when they started giving us comments about how much they loved our presentation and how they thought it was unique, that was the best part,” Priscilla said.
Audience-member Neesha Venkatesan, one of the entertainment section editors for Monta Vista High School’s newspaper “El Estoque,” also commented on how the presentation played out.
“It was really inspiring because these two people were really into something and they took it pretty far and now they have a big following,” she said. “So if you’re semi-interested in something, you should apply it to journalism if you can.”
Look for “In a Nutshell” updates on Harker Aquila, and follow the culinary duo on twitter at @InANutShellFood.
Read about the second journalism convention session in Harker history.
Elisabeth Siegel (12) is the editor-in-chief of the Winged Post. This is her fourth year in Journalism, and she especially loves production nights and...