![“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)
Freshmen girls volleyball loses to Gunn
Connie Xu (9) sets the ball during the match. The girls went on to lose the game 0-2.
The freshman girls volleyball team lost their match against Gunn High School at the Saratoga campus on Wednesday.
In the first set, the Eagles came close to Gunn with a score of 20-25. In the second game, Gunn defeated Harker 17-25 bringing the match score to 0-2.
“I think we fought pretty hard, especially in the first game, but I think we still could have done better and not made any of our own mistakes,” player Riya Gupta (9) said.
Riya also discussed the team’s strengths and weaknesses.
“I think we have some really good players, and we know how to communicate well when we need to except we don’t always do that,” Riya said.
Although the Eagles did not win the match, the coach and players expressed their opinions on Harker’s work ethic.
“My girls played like a team and fought for every point they played,” coach Mandy Schroeder said. “I just want to improve the overall competition of my team and keep them keep them playing together as a team.”
Schroeder commented on the team’s development since the girls started practicing together.
“We went from girls who haven’t played together to girls who have played together for years,” she said. “[For] some girls this is a brand new sport. [We] beat some pretty good teams, lost closely to some other good teams, but overall we’ve improved in the way we play, how we play and as a team.”
This is the first time Harker has had a freshman girls volleyball team since the 2013-2014 school year. As a result of the increased number of ninth grade students joining the sport, the upper school added the freshman team.
The girls will play their next away game on Oct. 1 against Saratoga High School.
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...