![“[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)
School meeting recap 4/20
Spirit Club announces specific spirit week activities. The spirit rally will be this Friday.
The Upper School’s year-end art exhibition, or Artstravaganza, will feature an array of award winning of literary and visual works during long lunch on April 29. The event will feature a performance by Jazz band outside of Nichols Hall, followed by a reading of work by Scholastic winners and Harker Eclectic Literary Magazine (HELM) contributors at 12 p.m.. Afterwards, student’s visual artistic works will be judged by a local artist, who will select a few winners to be awarded prizes. Finally, this year’s HELM publication will be released.
Debate coach Jennifer Alme gave an update regarding the Speech and Debate team’s recent accomplishments. Twenty-nine Upper School students have qualified for either the state or national championship this year. Alme also announced that Pranav Reddy (12) was awarded the title of National Champion in Lincoln Douglas Debate, for the second year in a row.
The Green Team made a special announcement regarding Earth Day, which is this Wednesday. They encouraged students to bring reusable water bottles to school and to eliminate idling while not actually using their cars. Additionally, they asked students to only take what they can eat for lunch and to be more careful about wet and dry bins when disposing of their waste.
Senior Night for the varsity swim team will be held this Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. against King’s Academy.
Performing arts teacher Jeffrey Draper announced that next year’s fall play will be the Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufman. Similarly to this year, a there will be a guest director for an alternate cast, who will perform once throughout the run of the play.
On Wednesday, from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., the Spring Chamber Concert will take place in front of Nichols Hall. It will feature two chamber ensembles, one composer and a wide variety of music.
Spirit Club discussed the dress-up themes and events for the rest of the week. Today was Pajama Day, and free cereal was offered at the front of Manzanita Hall. Tomorrow is Tie-dye Tuesday. There will be free snow cones and giant twister will be held 20 minutes into both lunches.
Freshmen, sophomores and juniors will meet with their ReCreate reading groups tomorrow at 9:40 a.m.
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...