![“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)
Upper School seniors compete in televised Quiz Bowl tournament
On Sunday, October 9, the Upper School Quiz Bowl team lost in a televised Quiz Kids tournament to last year’s champions, Bellarmine College Preparatory.
The team comprised of seniors Evan Yao, Ananth Subramaniam, and Max Isenberg. They wore their class shirt backwards to show school pride.
“We felt that the word “Beast” would make more sense than a collection of wild animals to our television audience,” said co-captain Max Isenberg.
The competition was organized into four rounds. The first and third rounds contained three-part toss-up questions, with the competitors earning a maximum of 25 points in the first round and 50 in the third round. The second round was a collaboration round, and the fourth was a lightning round where each question was worth 30 points.
At the end of the first round, our team was forty points behind, with a score of 50-90. The questions in this round ranged from history and literature to geography and chemistry.
The second round was collaborative, and Bellarmine gained an additional forty points. For this round, the Eagles chose the category “Animal House,” where each of the seven answers was an animal.
During the third and fourth rounds we fell behind, and the final score was 360 to 870.
The Bellarmine team of three dominated the later rounds of the competition.
“It’s always good to get a challenge early in the season, just to gauge where we’re at and what we need to do to improve.” Ananth Subramaniam (12) said.
While the eight winning teams will have a clear shot at the finals, the remaining teams may compete based on the number of points they earn compared to other schools.
Quiz Bowl advisor Bradley Stoll believes the Eagles faced the competition admirably.
“Considering [Bellarmine] are the defending (Quiz Kids) champions, with a former Jeopardy! contestant on their team, I think we did pretty well,” he said. “In fact, if the format were more like Jeopardy!, where you couldn’t buzz in until the question is completely read, the outcome could have likely been very different.”
He plans to help the team improve their speed and ability to anticipate the question before it has finished being asked.
Peninsula TV aired the competition, which was held in San Carlos, CA.
Vivian Isenberg, a senior, is the Humor & Satire editor on Harker Aquila. She was a member of the yearbook staff her freshman year and has been on...
Apoorva Rangan (12) is the Editor-in-Chief of The Winged Post and a fourth-year staff member. She has previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor...