![“[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)
Annual Research Symposium celebrates 10th anniversary
The annual Harker Research Symposium celebrated its 10th anniversary on Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Nichols Hall and the gymnasium.
Coordinated by Upper School Science Department Chair Anita Chetty and the officers of WiSTEM club, the event featured middle school and high school poster sessions, formal talks from Upper School students in breakout sessions and keynote addresses among other activities and corporate exhibitor booths.
“We have WiSTEM girls going around all over the place, and people ask us why we’re wearing lab coats,” one of WiSTEM club’s presidents Anika Mohindra (11) said. “Then we can explain more about our club, what we do, and I think just the fact that WiSTEM along with the help of some other clubs organized the event really just shows how much the science clubs at Harker do aside from just our scientific pursuits.”
Throughout the day, there were four keynote addresses. This year’s alumna keynote address featured Shabnam Aggarwal ‘03, the founder of KleverKid, who also presented to all of the high school students yesterday morning.
The first morning keynote address was presented by Dr. James B. McClintock, a professor of polar and marine biology, on climate change.
“I think that this is an absolutely critical age to share this information because this generation is going to be really facing the consequences of climate change,” Dr. McClintock said in an interview with Harker Aquila following his keynote address. “I’m hoping that these students that attended my lecture will share what they learned today with their parents, that they’ll think about things that they can build into their own lives or people that should be voted into positions of power that make decisions that affect the future.”
The second morning keynote address highlighted Director of International Economic Affairs for the National Security Council David Mortlock, who is also the son of Upper School math teacher Mary Mortlock. The afternoon keynote address spotlighted father and son duo Dr. Suhas S. Patil and Dr. DJ Patil.
During the six breakout sessions, students, faculty, parents and other Symposium attendees visited student formal talks featuring the notable work of high school students including Siemens and Intel participants. Other high school work was on display in the gymnasium.
“’[The symposium]’s a great way to get your project out there and to actually learn about other people’s work as well, so it’s this whole big mixing bowl of science,” student presenter Amrita Singh (10) said.
The activities and presentations were not limited to high school students and faculty; middle school students also presented their work alongside high school students in the gymnasium, and Nichols Hall featured many STEM Buddies activities for younger students.
“The experience of being out here and talking to people about a subject that you did yourself and experimented on helps a lot,” Gene Wang (8) said.
Other events of the day included the annual Chemistry Magic Show hosted by the chemistry faculty of the Upper School campus, a special session with IBM’s Watson Evangelist John Wolpert on computing services and a panel discussion at the end of the afternoon featuring students, science teachers and parents concerning Harker’s research program.
Several corporate exhibitors were stationed in Nichols Hall to promote their companies or organizations. These exhibitors included Google, IBM, Tesla Motors, NVIDIA, Verizon, DynoSense Corp., Nod Labs, mCube, South Asian Heart Center, Palo Alto Medical Foundation/Sutter Health, Upgrademe Inc. and Technical Instruments. The corporate exhibitors handed out business cards and promotional merchandise to attendees. A VEX Robotics team, The Infinities, also presented its robot outside of Nichols throughout the day.
The 11th annual Harker Research Symposium will be held on April 16, 2016.
Kshithija “KJ” Mulam (12) is the Winged Post Editor-in-Chief. Serving as the Winged Post News Editor in her junior year, Winged Post Photo Editor in...