![“[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)
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![“[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)
Girls golf reaches CCS after 10 years
Sophomore Katherine Zhu swings her club in the bunker at the girls’ senior night game.
November 30, 2015
The girls golf team won the 2015 WBAL Championship Tournament on Oct. 28 to qualify for the CCS tournament for the first time in 10 years.
“It felt really good to qualify CCS as a team because it was an unreachable goal for my four years. Finally [during] my last year we made it as a team, not just as an individual,” Ashley Zhong (12) said. “I’m sure it going to be really fun to go to CCS as a team.”
The team left for the golf course the day before the tournament and stayed in a nearby hotel.
Katherine Zhu (10), who shot a 69 score at the CCS tournament, gave her thoughts on qualifying for the tournament and the way the team played.
“I think we did pretty well this season and in CCS considering we’ve never played the course before and we didn’t have much time to prepare for it,” Katherine said. “I think we were all really excited because it was the first year the girls’ golf team went to CCS in 10 years.”
The girls finished eighth at the CCS tournament, scoring a 443 on the course.
“Even though we didn’t play as well as we could have at CCS, it was a great improvement from the season,” Vanessa Tyagi (10) said. “We got a lot better at putting, which [we were able to] drop a lot, [and] our overall game was a lot better.”
Despite not moving on to the NorCal qualifiers, senior Daphne Liang had positive thoughts about the tournament.
“I’ve been on the team since my freshman year and every year we’ve been so close to making it as a team,” Daphne said. “This year I didn’t think we would make it but we did and it was surreal; it was a like a dream come true. It was such a great way to end my last golf season. I was just really happy.”
While the team’s season ended after the tournament, Katherine placed third overall, qualifying for the NorCal individual tournament for a second year in a row.
