![“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)
Debate team wins a historic number of awards at national tournament
Winners at the national debate tournament hold up their awards in the halls of Weber University, where the Upper School debate team competed this past weekend.
The debate team won first place national titles in three out of four offered events at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championship at Weber University this past weekend.
Eight students placed first in three different categories: Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum, and Congress. Pranav Reddy (11) won first in Lincoln-Douglas; Misha Tseitlin (9) placed first in Congressional debate; and Stephanie Lu (12), Jasmine Liu (10), Kevin Duraiswamy (12), Sreyas Misra (12), Arjun Kumar (12), and Sebi Nakos (12) all won first place in Public Forum debate.
“We’ve had different parts of the program win a title before, but we’ve never had this much overall strength all at once which really made it kind of exciting,” said debate coach Jenny Heidt.
Over 300 students from states all over the nation, ranging from New York to Texas, participated in this tournament. The Upper School sent 26 students to compete along with three debate coaches: Heidt, Gregory Achten, and Carol Green.
To qualify for the national tournament, students must compete at various debate tournaments throughout the year. If these students perform well at several tournaments, they receive invitations to compete at the national tournament.
“I don’t think it was as much of an individual effort as much as it was a team effort. As a team everyone put in their part and did their part and everyone put the work they needed to do well as a team,” said Sebi, a first place winner in Public Forum.
This month’s Public Forum topic was whether prioritizing economic development or environment protection is better for India. Harker had the largest number of first place-winners in this event.
Some seniors reflected on how their entire debate experience throughout high school changed their perception of the world.
“I think that until you sit down and try to investigate issues in a manner that you can understand them and communicate them, you never really have a good enough foundation to say you really understand something or know something,” said Arjun, another first place winner in Public Forum.
This year’s debate team set a new precedent for the future success of the school’s speech and debate program.
“I think it’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s the single most successful weekend in the history of Harker speech and debate,” Heidt said.
The Harker debate program will travel to the University of Kentucky from April 26-28th, where students who have qualified will compete.
Raveena Kapatkar (12) is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Harker Aquila. She is a senior and this is her fourth year on staff. As a freshman, she was a reporter...
Kshithija “KJ” Mulam (12) is the Winged Post Editor-in-Chief. Serving as the Winged Post News Editor in her junior year, Winged Post Photo Editor in...