![LALC Vice President of External Affairs Raeanne Li (11) explains the International Phonetic Alphabet to attendees. "We decided to have more fun topics this year instead of just talking about the same things every year so our older members can also [enjoy],” Raeanne said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_4627-1200x795.jpg)
![“[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)
Future Problem Solvers head to state bowl
Juniors Jonathan Ma and Rishabh Chandra discuss problems to practice for the State and International Bowls. Students will compete in the Southern California State Bowl on April 21.
Processed foods, performance-enhancing drugs and ever-present propaganda – the generations of the future will square off against these problems and many more. Today’s students, however, will have a head start as the Future Problem Solvers (FPS) club prepares to attend the California State Bowl in San Diego on April 25 and 26.
Three students from the Upper School, Lisa Liu, Shannon Hong, and Rishabh Gargeya, qualified as individuals for the state bowl. Additionally, teams of Meghana Karinthi (9), Stephanie Swanson (9), Jessica Wang (9) and Rahul Bhetanabotla (9), as well as Madhu Nori (12), Sindhu Ravuri (12), Juhi Muthal (12), and Ankita Pannu (12) qualified as teams for the state bowl. The challenge is “enhancing human potential.”
FPS challenges involve participants to brainstorm and find creative solutions for problems society faces. As part of the problem-solving process, competitors mine information to familiarize themselves with the problem and come up with a solution.
“It’s mainly a lot of research on the topic, which [was] propaganda this time,” Assistant Research Coordinator Angela Kim (10) said. “I’ve learned a lot about propaganda that I’ve never thought about before.”
FPS participants span both the middle and upper school and are advised by middle school U.S. History teacher Cyrus Merrill. The club has been preparing for the state bowl since the middle of the first semester.
“We do two practice problems based on future scenarios. One of them was on the topic of social media, and the other one was on processed foods,” FPS President Madhu Nori (11) said. “We [completed] our qualifying problem recently, and that was on propaganda.”
In addition to fostering a problem-solving mentality, the competition style promotes teamwork and cooperation to achieve a common goal.
May and her fellow team members, Trisha Dwivedi (10) and Alexis Gauba (10), qualified for the state bowl last year.
Founded in 1974 by Dr. E. Paul Torrence, the California affiliate for future problem-solving international hopes to cultivate problem-solving skills and the study of the future in students. During last year’s state bowl, students had to address the issue of traffic and transportation in the future. At the event, May and her team wrote 16 challenges and corresponding solutions in response to a prompt. They also performed a skit to visually demonstrate their action plan, the best solution from the packet.
The FPS club will host a formal practice for the contest on April 19th before competing in the Southern California State bowl on April 21.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on March 13, 2015.
Raveena Kapatkar (12) is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of Harker Aquila. She is a senior and this is her fourth year on staff. As a freshman, she was a reporter...
Vivek Bharadwaj (12) is the co-Editor-In-Chief for the Winged Post. His favorite subject in school is computer science, and he enjoys swimming and watching...