![“[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)
Students elect ASB council
Honor council officers Sahana Rengarajan (12) and Kevina Xiao (11) hold elections for next year’s ASB council. Voting occurred using an instant runoff voting system (IRV) on April 9 during lunch in the journalism room.
After a brief session of candidates’ campaigning and giving speeches on April 7, voting for the upcoming school year’s Associated Student Body (ASB) Council took place during lunch on April 9 in the journalism room.
Nine candidates ran to fill next year’s council: Sandip Nirmel (10) and Michael Zhao (11) competed for the position of president, Chris Hailey (10) and Sanil Rajput (11) for the position of vice president, Shannon Hong (11) and Grace Guan (11) for the position of secretary, and Dhanush Madabusi (11), Ray Song (10) and Shreya Sunkara (11) for the position of treasurer.
Out of these candidates, Michael, Sanil, Grace, and Ray were elected as next year’s ASB officers. These elected student representatives will replace seniors Sarah Bean, Jessica Chang, David Lin and Shikhar Dixit for the positions of president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, respectively.
Before the candidates’ speeches, Sarah discussed her experiences as the current president and reminded students to vote for who they thought would be most capable for the job.
“I can tell you it’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it’s incredibly rewarding,” she said. “It’s not a popularity contest in any way, choose people based on their leadership skills no matter how old they are or what grade they are in, choose who you want to represent the school.”
Although each position has its specific tasks and duties, such as the Vice President being required to support Harker’s system of clubs, each ASB officer also works on proposing and leading projects to better the school.
Unlike previous years of elections, after the candidates gave their speeches, the floor was opened to the student body for a session of questions and answers.
Students voted for their candidates through an instant runoff voting system (IRV) where a majority is required to elect a candidate and each voter ranks several choices. In each round, the candidate with the least amount of votes is eliminated, and those votes are redistributed until a candidate gains a majority of the votes.
Ankur Karwal (11) said that he relies on both speeches and his knowledge of the candidates’ personal character to decide who he will vote for.
“I think ASB candidates should be respected by their peers and reflective of the community. The council itself should be pioneering and dynamic with a balance of both fun and function,” he said. “I decide based on how these candidates speeches went as well as how they interact during their daily lives, which is more reflective of their traits.”
Since the freshman are new to campus, they have to heavily depend on the ASB speeches.
“I don’t know any of them well, so I just listen to the speeches and choose the person who sounded like they would be a good leader,” Meghana Karinthi (9) said.
Elections for next year’s senior, junior, and sophomore class representatives will be held later in April.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on April 22, 2015.
Trisha Dwivedi (12) is the Managing Editor of Harker Aquila. She was a reporter her freshman year, Business Manager of the Winged Post her sophomore year...
Vineet Kosaraju (12) is the STEM Editor for both Harker Aquila and Winged Post. He is a senior and has been part of the journalism program for the past...