![“[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)
Upper school students to take linguistics examination
Office of Communications
Vikram Sundar (’14) poses alongside teammates at the International Physics Olympiad in Astana, Kazakhstan. The team of four went on to win the gold medal.
North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad’s (NACLO) qualifying exam for semifinalists will be held tomorrow, Jan. 29, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., with check-in beginning at 8:40 a.m.
A computational linguistics competition attracting thousands of student participants, NACLO is a three hour-long examination where students solve puzzles involving obscure or disappearing languages, such as Japanese Braille and Movima.
In the past, Harker students have advanced far in the competition, with alumnus and former Linguistics club president Erik Andersen (‘13) winning a bronze medal at the international level with the U.S. team.
According to club President Jessica Zhu (11), NACLO and the linguistics club have expanded exponentially of late in terms of participation and interest.
“The olympiads in the STEM fields tend to be more popular especially among Harker students,” Jessica said. “Through linguistics club, I hope to encourage more students to take NACLO as I believe that it is a great way to explore the beauty of language and challenge the mind in a way that emphasizes logic and deduction over memorizing formulas and complex derivations.”
The Upper School also has a large number of student participants in the U.S. National Physics Olympiad (USAPhO), the U.S. Biology Olympiad (USABO), the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad (UNSCO), the U.S. Computing Olympiad (USACO) and the U.S. Mathematics Olympiad (USAMO).
USAPhO was held on Jan. 19 in Dr. Eric Nelson’s room.
Last year, Harker alumnus Vikram Sundar (‘14) was among five Harker students to become a national finalist and went on to win a gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad (IPhO).
Computer science department chair and physics teacher Dr. Nelson comments on the competition.
“We don’t do extra preparation, we don’t have a physics olympiad after school club[…][but] last year five students were [national] finalists [and] we’re a small school,” Dr. Nelson said.
USACO is an online programming competition that will be taken in four three-hour long parts composed of three to four algorithms such as line sweep, flood fill and shortest path. Student are given a four day window in which they are required to take one part.
Co-president of the Harker Algorithms club and participant in last year’s national training camp, Lawrence Li, shares his goals for the competition. Both the Harker Algorithms and Programming clubs run a series of programming contests during the year in preparation for the olympiad.
“My hope this year is to qualify for the training camp again and make it into the U.S. team,” Lawrence said. “I also hope that I can share what I’ve learned from these experiences with younger students and introduce them to useful resources so that they can develop a passion for computer science.”
The first part of USACO is conducted between Dec. 12 to 15, the second Jan. 16 to 19, the third Feb. 20 to 23 and the fourth and last April 3 to 6.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on January 28, 2015.
Tara Parimi (12) is co-Editor-in-Chief of Harker Aquila, and this is her fourth year on staff. She has been involved with the upper school's journalism...