![“[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)
ASB representatives announced
The Associated Student Body (ASB) for next year will consist of Michael Zhao (11) as president, Sanil Rajput (11) as vice president, Grace Guan (11) as secretary and Ray Song (10) as treasurer.
Freshmen, sophomores and juniors elected their ASB representatives during both lunches last Thursday, April 9, following the same procedure as voting for the ninth grade honor council representatives and class council.
Sandip Nirmel (10) ran for for president alongside Michael, Chris Hailey (10) ran for vice president alongside Sanil, Shannon Hong (11) ran for secretary alongside Grace and Dhanush Madabusi (11) and Shreya Sankara (11) ran for treasurer alongside Ray.
Shannon discussed her reaction to the ASB results.
“I know that Michael and Sanil as president and vice president will do a lot,” Shannon said. “As a candidate, I am running for my senior class council.”
The candidates delivered speeches on April 8 to the student body.
“I feel like although some of the candidates’ speeches were a little lacking and sometimes they didn’t really have any concrete proposals, […] they had lots of enthusiasm for what they were doing,” Abhinav Ketineni (11) said.
Current ASB Secretary Shikhar Dixit (12) discussed some of the efforts this year’s ASB is making to prepare for next year.
“We’re trying to build a notebook which essentially has all the changes and connections that we made in our tenure so that [next year’s ASB] can have access to those and they can be a great ASB,” Shikhar said.
Class council elections are upcoming, and candidates have been collecting signatures for their candidacy forms this week.
Praveen Batra (9) is a reporter for the Winged Post. He enjoys informative writing, design, and typography. In his spare time, he likes to write mobile...
Shannon Su is the Managing Editor and Executive News Director of Harker Aquila. She joined the program as a reporter her freshman year and has held many...