![“[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)
TEDx: Speaker series links notables and students
Office of Communications
TedX members Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari (12) and Shannon Hong (11) introduce last year’s speaker series.
Harker’s annual TEDx event, a speaker series for high school and college students, will take place in Nichols Hall on March 21, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Speakers for this year’s event will include entrepreneur and author of “Secrets of Silicon Valley” Deborah Piscione, executive vice president of sales & marketing for Nintendo Cammie Dunaway, Partner at Faegre Baker Daniels law firm David Gross, student Samantha Madala (12) and Ajay Shah, founder of Technology Solutions Business of Solectron and Smart Modular Technologies.
“Our team came up with a long list of speakers divided into three sections: reach, match, and likely,” Director of Public Relations Shannon Hong (11) said, “After creating the list, we each contacted the people we suggested through phone call and email going down the tiered structure starting in first semester.”
The event is run by a group of 11 students who manage everything from curating the event to public relations and marketing, with support from Juston Glass, director of the Business and Entrepreneurship program, and Upper School club coordinator Eric Kallbrier.
“We [the students] handle inviting all the speakers, the booths, talking to administration about it, PR, marketing, operations — we handle almost everything,” Hong said.
General student tickets will be sold for $9.99 and VIP access tickets for $18.00. Attendees will receive a free T-shirt and Uber ride.
“If you sign up for TEDx early, you actually will be making money off of it,” Glass said. “It’s because of a special offering from a big sponsor.”
This year, TEDx will again feature a mentor luncheon, with over 30 professionals across many fields.
“I’m excited for the mentor luncheon,” Lucas Wang (10) said. By meeting with different mentors, I will be able to gain a better idea of what I will pursue after college.”
This year’s TEDx event will be serving breakfast at a mingling session from 8 to 8:45 a.m. and will include an activities session, where students can browse the various booths, play icebreakers and network.
The booths will be manned by a variety of companies, including Uber, NAACP, Song Abbey, ACTON Rocketskates, Change.org and Osmo.
“It’s going to be bigger, better, and stronger than last year for sure,” Glass said. “We have a great team. This team, now in their senior year, was the original TEDx team, so it’s very exciting to see them in a culminating event for their high school experience.”
Past speakers at the event have included Charles Huang, founder of Guitar Hero; Guy Kawasaki, former Chief Evangelist of Apple; and Jeff Jordan, former President and CEO of OpenTable.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on March 13, 2015.
Meena Gudapati (12) is the Editor-in-Chief of Harker Aquila. Her favorite part of journalism is making her humorous podcast "Get Skool'd" and writing interesting...
Kavya Ramakrishnan (12) is the managing editor of the Winged Post. This is her fourth year on staff, having previously held the positions of reporter and...