![“[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)
Art club initiates project of painting VTA benches
The Art Club started a project of painting the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) benches outside of Shah Hall during long lunch today.
Three sophomores, Alexa Gross, Marti Sutton and Bill Liang proposed designs to the VTA system, which finalized and approved specific ones for the project. The sophomores worked with middle school art teacher Elizabeth Saltos to create the initial designs for the benches.
Upper School art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza both supervises and participates in this project.
“The art club is now implementing, or executing these designs that were proposed by some of our Harker students.” she said.
Alexa Gross (10) worked on a design, which had hands spell out “community” in sign language, today.
“Basically when we came up with these designs, they were done just as general ideas so this is an opportunity to go into more detail and get a chance to see our designs a reality,” Alexa said.
Shreya Basu (12) helped paint the benches.
“It’s really cool that Harker gets to participate in an art project that expands beyond just the school community, and we get to showcase some of the talented artists’ works on the benches for the public to see,” she said. “They’re revamping their old designs and we had some art club meetings where we discussed some ideas for the benches.”
The art club will continue working on this project every long lunch on Wednesday until it is completed.
Emma Yu (9) is a reporter for The Winged Post. In her free time, she usually draws, surfs the internet, and hopes for no tests in the upcoming weeks of...