![“[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)
Ninth annual Research Symposium draws crowd
The ninth annual Harker Research Symposium featured a myriad of poster sessions, presentations, and corporate exhibitions in Nichols Hall and the gymnasium last Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Symposium, organized by Science Department Chair Anita Chetty and leaders in WISTEM club, displayed exhibits from Cervin Ventures, Eweclid, Google, IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Marvell, MuseMaze, NVIDIA, Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Palo Alto Networks, SeaLife, South Asian Heart Center, Tesla, Tynker, and various student hosts.
Throughout the day, attendees were able to walk around and engage with representatives from numerous companies at their booths, interact with students both at poster sessions and at breakout sessions, listen to keynote speakers, and participate in mini interactive demos at Stem Buddies activities.
Sahana Rangarajan (11) presented her research on the possible presence of oxygen in the atmosphere of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.
“If you think that you’re doing everything you can, there’s always more to do and better ways you could have used your time, so its a constant learning process,” she said.
Keynote speakers included Claire Max on the topic of adaptive optics, alumni Ilya Sukhar on entrepreneurship, Nikhil Parthasarthy in a special invite-only keynote on reflections on his undergraduate experiences, and Salman Khan on education.
“For anyone who wants to go into education or anything, I would say ‘get your metaphorical hands dirty’ and go out there [and] start doing things,” Khan said.
Khan’s talk in the Auditorium was one of the most popular events; those who were unable to obtain tickets were able to view the talk from the gym, where his speech was livestreamed. For the second half of his Q&A, Khan moved to the gym to answer questions from the audience.
This year, Q&A sessions during the keynotes were conducted using Sli.do, an online application that allowed the audience to submit their questions online via a laptop or mobile device and other users to vote up the ones they most wanted answered.
Ilya Sukhar, who graduated in 2003 gave some advice to students for their futures.
“Explore a little bit.” he said. “Generally to do something extraordinary in life requires meandering off of the path.”
Lunchtime featured the annual Chemistry Magic Show, led by Rachel Freed, Andrew Irvine, Smriti Koodanjeri, and Rob Korin, the Upper School chemistry teachers. Demonstrations included the incineration of a gummy bear and the explosion of several balloons.
Another highlight throughout the day were Tesla test drives, which allowed attendees over the age of 25 to drive, and those younger to sit in on a short drive to get the feel of the cars.
“It’s always good to expose high school students to us, if they are interested in engineering and sciences, Tesla can be a great opportunity in the future,” Kim Rogers, an owner advisor at the Tesla retail store in Santana Row said.
Students that will be attending the Tanzania trip in July sold food to raise funds for charitable donations they plan to make during the trip.
“We’re raising money for several of the charities that we’ll be supporting while we’re in Tanzania, among them an orphanage, a school for which we’ll be buying a whole bunch of books, and we’ll also be providing 17 goats to the Masai villagers that we will be visiting during the trip,” biology teacher Mike Pistacchi said.
After being asked what his one piece of advice for Harker students would be, Khan responded, “I would say that throughout the rest of your education, get [your education], but also be working on things, hacking things, and doing things outside the traditional system as well.”
This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on April 4, 2014
Vivian Isenberg, a senior, is the Humor & Satire editor on Harker Aquila. She was a member of the yearbook staff her freshman year and has been on...
Priscilla Pan is the features editor for the Winged Post and co-creator of In a Nutshell. She is a senior and has been part of the journalism program for...