![“[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)
Spring Rally ends Spirit Week
Navsher Singh (12) and the senior class participate in the scream-off. All of the classes celebrated the end of Spirit Week with the annual Spring Rally on Friday.
Spirit Club hosted the annual Spring Rally on Friday for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors to end Spirit Week today on Davis Field at 11 a.m.
The rally was the final event of this year’s Spirit Week, which included dress-up days, special food options related to the day’s theme and other spirit events held every day of the week.
“I think for all the events for spirit week, a lot of them are optional to come out to so a lot of people don’t, but the rally is the one place where every single person in the class is, and they’re participating because they’re cheering on their classmates,” sophomore Spirit Coordinator Haley Tran said.
As students filed out onto the field for the rally, the sophomores were joined by their Eagle Buddies, who also participated in events during the rally.
The rally began with the cheerleaders performing a routine followed by the freshman and sophomore classes performing their respective dances. The freshman dance ended with the dancers being soaked with buckets of water and teachers firing water guns at the audience; the sophomore dance concluded with a brief cheer from the entire sophomore class together.
“The dance was something that we added on a couple years ago because in the past it used to be a skit like Homecoming Week but for several years now we’ve been doing the dance instead,” one of Spirit Club’s presidents, Julia Wang (12), said.
Following the sophomore and freshman dances, all four classes participated in the scream-off. The seniors and juniors initially tied, but after two more attempts from both classes, the seniors came out on top, followed by the juniors, Eagle Buddies, freshmen and sophomores in that order.
Jazz Band performed a song featuring Julia and Chris Hailey (10) as singers. Each class then competed in an obstacle course relay while being represented by five members of each class. The seniors won with the juniors in second, freshmen in third and sophomores in fourth.
The juniors performed their dance beginning with a choreographed routine featuring junior class advisors and ending with the entire junior class rushing out onto the field for a final cheer together.
“When the rally started, I’m pretty sure half of us didn’t even know what the dance was, and the people who did know were really good at helping the people who didn’t know learn the dance, so when the time came, we were all really coordinated and it worked out,” Kevin Ke (11) said.
The junior varsity dance troupe briefly danced for the audience before the seniors took the stage to close the rally with their dance. The seniors began their dance with the senior advisors performing a brief routine, followed by a group of student dancers, then a group of boys followed by girls and finishing with the entire class dancing in a crowd on the field.
Several of the spectators spoke about how the rally succeeded in uniting their respective classes for the spirit events and competitions.
“I saw a lot of smiles in our grade,” Marcus Chen (9) said. “I don’t see that often.”
Following the rally, sophomores had lunch with their Eagle Buddies. The final standings for points for Spirit Week will be announced in a future school meeting.
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...