![“[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)
Journalism receives awards from CSPA
Members of the journalism program won several commendations from CSPA for their work in Wingspan and Winged Post. Winners Kacey Fang (’15), Shay Lari-Hosain (12) and Ria Gandhi (11) are not pictured.
Members of the journalism program received Gold Circle Awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) in recognition of their work in the newspaper, the Winged Post and the longform magazine, Wingspan, from the 2014 to 2015 school year.
The students submitted articles, photos and designs to CSPA, which chose 1,471 winners from a pool of 11,110 entries produced by high school, college and university students from across the United States.
Elisabeth Siegel (12), Shay Lari-Hosain (12), Kshithija Mulam (11), Meilan Steimle (11), Ria Gandhi (11), Alex Youn (11) and Kacey Fang (‘15) received awards from the CSPA for their work.
Ria, the features editor for the online site, Harker Aquila, contributed to the longform feature “Cheating the Win,” which won an honorable mention in the sports feature category. She shared her thoughts on winning this award.
“It came as a big surprise since this was our first time ever doing anything like this,” Ria said. “Since [the] sports features category is a pretty big category overall, for us to come back with an honorable mention was a pretty big thing.”
Ellen Austin, Harker journalism’s adviser, was pleased that the journalists were successful in their endeavors.
“To even have a single student commended in any way is a wonderful thing to happen for a program. To have this many honors coming out of our program is a really great achievement. I’m very proud of the kids,” Austin said.
The journalism program plans to submit work from Harker Aquila to CSPA next week.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on October 16, 2015.
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