![“[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)
Physics students to take Great America trip
Courtesy of Scott Pflaumer
Physics teacher Scott Pflaumer does a demo to illustrate sound waves traveling through a pathway. Students in physics will take a trip to Great America to apply skills they learned this school year.
Students in Physics and Honors Physics will take a trip to Great America on May 15 to apply physics concepts to various rides and scenarios.
“We go to Great America to obviously test some of the physics we learned about in class to see a real world example,” physics teacher Scott Pflaumer said. “I think that it’s also kind of an unofficial freshman physics trip since all of the other classes have trips for the year.”
The problems will focus around energy, circular motion and dynamics, topics which were covered in the physics classes.
“The main lab we do focuses on thinking about how you feel at different points in if you’re cresting a hill or going into a valley, if the [gravitational accelerations] are less than one or greater than one, if you feel lighter or heavier than usual and what’s the reason for that,” Pflaumer said.
Anamika Kannan (9) expressed interest in the coming trip.
“I’m really excited and I’m glad that we get to spend time with our friends and hang out and at the same time learn about physics on fun roller coaster rides,” she said.
Busses will depart from the upper school campus at 8:30 a.m. on Friday and will return at 4 p.m.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on May 13, 2015.
Meena Gudapati (12) is the Editor-in-Chief of Harker Aquila. Her favorite part of journalism is making her humorous podcast "Get Skool'd" and writing interesting...