![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)
![“[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)
Art and English department host Artstravaganza le Deuxième
Ishanya Anthapur (12) and Rahul Jayaraman (12) examine a piece of art hanging on the wall during the Artstravaganza exhibit in Nichols. The Artstravaganza le Deuxième was held yesterday during long lunch in the Nichols Atrium.
The Upper School Art and English departments collaborated together and held the Artstravaganza le Deuxième yesterday during long lunch in the Nichols Atrium.
The event celebrated the art exhibition, the Scholastic Award recipients for Art and Writing and also the release of the Harker Eclectic Literary Magazine (HELM) 2014-2015 publication.
Jazz band was also featured as part of the event and performed for faculty and students outside of Nichols at the beginning of lunch.
There was also a reading in the auditorium featuring Scholastic winners and HELM contributors, as well as awards presented to selected winners for their works of art.
Sarisha Kurup (10), one of the Scholastic regional gold and silver award winners for writing, read an excerpt from one of her short stories in the Auditorium.
“I wrote three different short stories and the one that I’m going to read today is about a musician who has to make the choice between travelling and pursuing what he loves, and building a family and a home,” she said.
The art exhibit showcased a variety of different literary and visual pieces, ranging from poems and short stories to photography, sculptures and drawings.
Fine Arts teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza commented on Scholastic winners’ reading, which is a new addition to the event.
“This year’s art show, probably one of the new different things we added this year, we tried to make it a little bit more formal and we had a really nice reading at noon,” Aguero-Esparza said. “HELM, the literary magazine that we have here on campus, the writers were able to present their work too so that was great; that was something that we want to continue to do and collaborate with the English department to make that happen.”
Alexa Gross (10) talked about her thoughts on having her visual pieces showcased in the exhibit.
“It’s a great experience to be able to showcase your artwork,” she said. “It’s really exciting to be a part of the show, and it encourages me to keep up with the art.”
Artwork from this event are still set up for viewing in Nichols for the remainder of this week.
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...
Ashley Jiang (11) is the photo editor for Winged Post. This is her third year in the journalism program, and she was a reporter her freshman and sophomore...