![“[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)
Boys’ varsity tennis beats Sacred Heart Preparatory on senior night
Albert Pun (10) prepares to hit a forehand. He and Edward Tischler won their doubles match against SHP.
The boys’ varsity tennis team defeated Sacred Heart Prep (SHP) on Tuesday at the team’s senior night game with a score of 5-2. John Dobrota and Sohil Singh were honored as seniors in their second-to-last game before moving to the CCS qualifiers.
The team won all of its singles matches. Ronak Baldua (11) was the first to conclude his two-out-of-three match with scores of 6-2 and 6-0. Next was Sohil Singh (12), with two scores of 6-1. John Dobrota won with a score of 6-3 and 6-2, and David Wen (9) won 6-0 and 6-3.
In the doubles matches, Edward Tischler (10) and Albert Pun (10) won their game with scores of 6-1 and 6-3. Shekar Ramaswamy (10) and Gary Tsai (9) won against SHP in their first match with a score of 6-4. SHP then beat them in the next match with a score of 0-6. The final score of the third match was 3-6. Randy Zhao (9) and Neil Bai (9) also faced a defeat with scores of 1-6 and 2-6.
“I think it went good overall,” Albert Pun (10) said. “We kept focused, and fixed most of our mistakes, which is the main reason why we won.”
Nearing the conclusion of the season, John Dobrota (12) commented on the positive aspects of his season.
“It was pretty satisfying to see lots of teamwork and team spirit,” John said. “You always want to have these on a team, or it won’t turn out well. I feel this was why we won a lot of our matches throughout our season, and I’m really happy about that.”
Coach John Fruterro gives the varsity tennis team a pep talk before their game. They won 5 out of the 7 matches against SHP.
Assistant Coach Eileen Schick gave her perspective on the season as well.
“Our trip to Fresno was outstanding,” Coach Schick said. “From there, it was no question that there was only constant improvement and going uphill. Everyone shared lots of team spirit throughout their season.”
The next boys varsity tennis game will be played at home against Menlo School on Thursday at 4:00 p.m.
Vijay Bharadwaj (11) is one of the opinion editors for The Winged Post and Aquila. She served as the assistant opinion editor and the Wingspan copy editor...