![“[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)
BEcon conference to take place tomorrow in Nichols
Courtesy of Haley Tran
BEcon advisor Juston Glass tests out HTC Vive presented by Google, one of the highlights of the conference. The conference will take place tomorrow in Nichols.
March 18, 2016
BEcon2016, a business and economics conference, will take place in Nichols hall and the gym from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow to immerse students in business, economics and entrepreneurship.
The program will include a student poster session, sHarker Tank, interactive workshops, a networking lunch, corporate sponsor booths and a virtual reality station.
“My team has put in a lot of effort this year to really bring an experience to all of our attendees, and we really branched out, so we have virtual reality; we have a lot of cool workshops,” executive director Ankur Karwal (12) said. “We have a booth that’s actually a pedal-powered smoothie maker, so you get on a bike and you pedal, and it makes a smoothie for you. When you come there, we want to make sure that you’re able to explore all of your options.”
During sHarker tank, students will have the opportunity to pitch business ideas to a judge panel.
“This year, I think we have a lot more poster sessions and booths that are very different from what we had last year; in addition we reorganized the conference so that we have a really big focus on sHarker Tank,” Haley Tran (11), who is on the marketing team, said.
The event was inspired by popular television show Shark Tank.
“I’m looking forward to the perfect competition game on the economics side and sHarker tank on the business side,” economics representative Shivani Awasthi (11) said.
Speakers at the event will include 19-year-old venture capitalist and entrepreneur Tiffany Zhong, who attended high school in Menlo Park and currently works at venture-capital firm Binary Capital, as well as notable economist and Stanford economics professor David Friedman.
Economics teacher Samuel Lepler recruited Friedman for BEcon and assisted students in coming up with economics-related activities.
“I would say the most exciting thing for me definitely is David Friedman’s talk,” he said. “Milton Friedman, his father, is probably one of the top most influential economists in the last 70 [or] 80 years, so in the economics world, that’s royalty. It’s a real honor to have his son volunteer to come speak to us and share some of his experiences.”
Although BEcon is being held in spring this school year, it occurred in fall of 2014 last year. This event will be Harker’s second-ever BEcon.
