![“[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)
Apoorva Approved: On age, senioritis, and growing up
My dad (seated, right) poses with his three younger siblings in this formal photo.
I saw my dad as a 17-year-old for the first time this weekend, in a photo circulated through my family on WhatsApp. He had a shock of black hair and a jaw. He’s gentler now, his hair salt white with a sprinkling of pepper, a smile in his softened eyes. But in his youth, he was angular, ready to slice into life.
I was on one of those unplanned bonding trips with my dad, where he took a couple hours off of work to eat lunch with me. He whipped out his phone as we ate Indian fast food and began talking about his high school years.
And I realized that that was the first time that I’d thought of the infinite other paths he could have taken on the threshold of adulthood.
Seventeen is a weird age. I experienced my last day of 17-year-oldness yesterday, my last year of being legally dependent — today’s my eighteenth birthday. Like my dad in that photo, I’ve burst onto the scene of adulthood and identity. Today, the possibilities have become literally endless. Without legal qualms, I can leave home. I can sign up for a credit card and buy a ticket across the world. I could even get my license. Yesterday was my last day of using the excuse, “I’m too young to do what I want.”
The institutions that I’ve been surrounded by at this college-prep school seem to be melting away so quickly. I’m no longer bound by grades, nor by age, nor by the Olympic-level pole-vault that is the college applications process. Uncannily, my dad was going through the same emergence of constraints. He told me the photo was taken in the months after he took India’s college entrance exam, so his stressors had melted away too.
I always believed that his success came from a plan he had decided on at birth, that his pre-determined fate was to be a successful software engineer and entrepreneur. But that photo was a reality check to the vast amount of potential that he had held in that moment, the confrontation he had to make about what he wanted from life. I could see it in the grainy film, his belief in his ability but the uncertainty of his path.
I’m simultaneously scared and excited to explore what fraction of me is left after erasing my external motivations. This is the onus of senioritis. I’ve spent the last four years telling myself that the activities I’ve pursued aren’t because of college. I’ve arrived at the six-month period where I have to confront myself honestly about my interests, to pursue goals that I set up truly for myself.
Apoorva Rangan (12) is the Editor-in-Chief of The Winged Post and a fourth-year staff member. She has previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor...