![“[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)
5 ways to avoid distractions while studying
As the school year progresses, the urge to scroll through Facebook or play games on your phone can waste your time and replace your motivation to study. Here are a few apps to help combat distractions.
- StayFocusd
StayFocusd is an app for Google Chrome that helps to combat procrastination by limiting the amount of time per day that you can stay on select websites of your choice. This way, you don’t have to be completely disconnected from distraction-inducing websites, but there is no risk of “accidentally” spending hours on the internet instead of doing homework.
- TimeDoser
Also optimized for Google Chrome, TimeDoser uses notifications to help track how long you work and take breaks to assist you in avoiding losing track of time. This way, breaks that are intended to last 15 minutes won’t drag on for hours.
- RescueTime
Rescuetime is a program that tracks all of your activities on computer and displays the statistics back to you. It organizes the information visually, using charts and graphs to show you how much time you spend on various applications and websites. This may greatly assist in drawing attention to time-wasting habits that you didn’t even recognize you had.
- Finish
Finish, an app that was actually created by high school students, helps students to stay focused and organized in the long term. You can input various tasks that you have, and it will send you notifications to make sure that you complete them. Also, the app gives you a small reward every time you finish a task. This helps deadlines for longer term projects and assignments from sneaking up on you the night before.
- WriteRoom
WriteRoom, or DarkRoom for PCs, is an fullscreen word processor that is specifically designed to block out other distractions. For the most part, it is just to get you writing, so this is especially useful while writing essays.
One final tip is to just close your laptop when you do not need it. Often times, it is tempting to keep it open to play music or check your email, but this can often lead into other distractions that can easily be avoided by just closing it.
Maya Kumar (11) is the Features Editor for the Winged Post. This is her third year in Journalism and her favorite part is collaborating with fellow journalism...