![“[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)
Annual TEDx conference to be hosted this Saturday
Kaity Gee (16′) presents her Ted Talk at TedxHarkerSchool last year. Tickets for this year’s conference are on sale now.
The annual Harker TEDx conference will take place this Saturday, Oct. 17 on the Saratoga campus, incorporating many new developments in an attempt to attract students from a variety of schools as well as display a multitude of corporate booths and professional speakers.
This year’s event features a number of changes, with student organizers hoping to grow attendance and diversify the scope of the event.
In previous years, the Harker TEDx took place in the spring of each school year but this year, it switched its date to the fall to allow the annual BEcon (Business and Economics conference) to take place in the spring.
“This year, we’re really trying to expand just from being a business conference; that’s not really what TEDx is about,” curator Aashika Balaji (12) said. “We’re trying to bring in people from all different aspects. We have an astronomer; we have a geneticist.”
The team chose to veer away from the longstanding tradition of hosting speakers relating to the field of business, instead including speakers such Harker students, teachers and alumni as well as professionals involved in the fields of philanthropy and technology.
The conference’s schedule now allows for more breaks between speakers in an attempt to shorten talks and encourage a wider variety of discussion topics.
“I’m excited for the TEDx event,” previous attendee Lucas Wang (11) said. “They’re doing a new format this year where they have 10 speakers instead of their usual four, and each of the 10 speakers will be speaking for 30 minutes instead of the usual hour that they usually do. So I think it’s gonna be fun.”
Speakers include Dr. Michael Snyder, a Stanford professor in the field of genetics, Kaity Gee (12), who is currently in the process of writing and publishing novels and poetry, Skye Delano, a leader in philanthropy, Andy Fang (‘10), cofounder of DoorDash, Kelly Sawyer, a campaigning specialist, Neel Chatterjee, nationally-renowned Facebook intellectual property lawyer, Helen Kassa, the NAACP SJ Youth President, Dr. Puragra Thakurta, a UCSC professor of astronomy and astrophysics and Dr. Koodanjeri, the AP Chemistry teacher at Harker.
At the conference, the TEDx team also decided to include more corporate booths, with many tech startups choosing to display their products at the event.
“We have a bubble-blowing robot, one that makes a pancake, a couple drones and a lot of cool tech stuff to play with,” Aashika said.
The Harker TEDx team looks forward to welcoming students and adults to its fifth annual conference.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on October 16, 2015.
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