![“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)
Varsity boys basketball loses senior night game to Menlo
Team co-captain Rohan Desikan (12) runs with the ball. Rohan was one of 14 seniors honored at the joint varsity boys basketball-cheerleading senior night on Feb. 19.
February 20, 2016
The varsity boys basketball team lost 42-55 in a league game against rival Menlo School on its senior night at the Blackford campus yesterday.
The boys honored senior team co-captains Rohan Desikan, Elijah Edgehill and Evan Lohn, senior players Prithvi Gudapati, Amar Jain, Raghav Jain, Dhanush Madabusi and Jonathan Yiu and senior team managers Emma Doherty, Shilpa Repakula and Darius Yohanan with personalized posters, bouquets of flowers and a ceremony before the game.
“We had a couple ups and downs, but overall we did pretty good. Obviously there are things we can do better,” Elijah said. “Senior night was amazing. I’ve never seen that many people in this gym. I had a lot of fun, I’m pretty sure my teammates had a lot of fun, and I’m a bit sad that the season’s over.”
Emma, one of five managers of the team and of three senior managers, commented on what she will most miss after the season is over as well as how she felt the team played at game time.
“I’ve been doing this for four years now, and I can honestly say that I’m going to miss being in this gym every Friday and watching such great guys play,” Emma said. “Menlo’s a really big rival of ours, so I was hoping that we’d win. Personally I wasn’t too happy with the score and the ending of the game, but I’m really proud of the boys, of their season and of this game specifically because I know they worked hard, and at the end of the day that’s all we can really count on.”
After the first quarter, the Knights led at 18 points to the Eagles’ 17. The teams entered halftime with a score of 21-32 and finished the third quarter at 27-45, with Menlo leading after both quarters. In the final quarter of the game, the boys scored 15 points to the Knights’ 10.
Varsity boys basketball head coach Butch Keller discussed the team’s objectives for the game as well as the impact of this match being the seniors’ last league game with the team.
“We held them to the score that we wanted to hold them [to]. That was the game plan, to hold them in the low 50s, which we did, but we shot so poorly it just didn’t make a difference,” Keller said. “It’s devastating to lose eight seniors. There’s no way around it. It’s every coach’s nightmare to have that many seniors on the team, but on the other hand it’s good because you’ve got people that have been with the program, so it’s a mixed blessing to have eight seniors. We’ll look totally different next year.”
The boys’ last league game against Menlo, on Jan. 26, was a 49-66 loss.
Jordan Goheen (11), power forward and center, spoke about Menlo’s strengths and his thoughts before the game.
“Their transitions offense are really strong. When they get the rebound, they get out really fast defensively,” Jordan said. “Last time, we also lost [to Menlo] by a large margin, so I knew coming into the game that winning was going to be a challenge.”
Justin Jia (11), point guard and co-captain of the team, discussed the importance of celebrating senior night.
“Obviously, we wanted to win, but this night being senior night, our main priority was to have fun and to celebrate the guys that have committed to our program for so many years,” Justin said.
The cheerleading team, which held its senior night concurrently with the basketball team’s, celebrated seniors Eliot Gruzman, Naomi Molin and Rachel Renteria with flowers and placards.
“It’s pretty cool, since I’ve never been on a school sports team before,” Eliot said. “The crowd had a lot of energy, but the results of the actual game could have been better. It’s a little bit upsetting that they lost on senior night, but it happens.”
The game today brings the Eagles’ league record to 4-10 and their overall season record to 12-12. The team now prepares to play its first CCS playoffs game on Feb. 23.
