![“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)
Juniors place second in national TEAMS competition
Provided by David Zhu (11)
The Team: Juniors Evani Radiya-Dixit, Neymika Jain, Venkat Sankar, Kai-Siang Ang, Manan Shah, Peter Wu, Arjun Subramaniam and David Zhu, took second place at the National TEAMS competition in Grapevine, Texas. This is their second year participating in TEAMS.
Eight Upper School juniors placed second in the nation in the 9th and 10th grade division of in the Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition in Grapevine, Texas on June 31 and July 1.
The team consisted of Neymika Jain, Evani Radiya-Dixit, Kai-Siang An, Venkat Sankar, Manan Shah, Arjun Subramaniam, Peter Wu and team captain David Zhu.
Neymika was glad that she and her team worked well together and as a result their efforts bore fruit.
“Overall, rather than the competitive success, the teamwork during the event was worthwhile, and we were fortunate that our diligence paid off in the end,” she said.
TEAMS is a competition focused on developing an interest and understanding of science and engineering fields in students through hands-on challenges and exams.
The TEAMS competition consists of three separate sections. The first is a presentation regarding renewable energy resources in urban areas that have been affected by natural disasters. The second is a pre written essay urging investors to put money into a type of biofuel, and the final component is a test which involves both theoretical and hands-on challenges and requires both engineering and math knowledge.
Evani described her favorite part of the problem-solving section of the competition.
“For the problem solving, we were given a set of math problems as well as the task of designing a wind turbine,” Evani said. “Even though we were crunched on time, it was fun working together to build the turbine blades.”
In order to prepare for the competition, the students began meeting up in late spring to work on the presentation, and they began to work even earlier on the essay portion as it was due before the competition. They used questions from previous years to practice for the problem set.
Although the teams conduct their research and prepare independently, all of the students are part of the Technology Student Association (TSA) advised by Math Department Chair Anthony Silk.
“The most important [skill] is group work because its eight people having to solve one test, so you have to be able to organize your thoughts, figure out who’s doing what and be able to discuss,” Silk said.
David appreciated the collaborative aspect of the competition.
“There are plenty of individual competitions out there, but I really looked forward to working with a team with all my friends to solve some interesting problems,“ he said
The team looks forward to participating in TEAMS next year, and hopes to progress to the national level again in the 11th and 12th grade division.
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