![LALC Vice President of External Affairs Raeanne Li (11) explains the International Phonetic Alphabet to attendees. "We decided to have more fun topics this year instead of just talking about the same things every year so our older members can also [enjoy],” Raeanne said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_4627-1200x795.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)
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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)
Upper school swim team competes against other schools in invitational swim meet
Vivian Wang (10) comes up for air during her 100 yard breaststroke. This was the second invitational and the fourth meet of the season.
March 20, 2016
The upper school swim team participated at the Small School invitational at Sacred Heart Prep yesterday at 9 a.m.
Swimmers competed in a variety of relay and individual races, including the 400 yard relay for boys and girls and other events ranging from 50 to 500 yards distances.
The 200 Medley Relay team consisting of Grace Guan (12), Karen Tu (12), Taylor Kohlmann (10) and Vivian Wang (10) placed 2nd with a CCS qualifying time of 1:57.59. Vivian also made CCS qualifying times in both her individual events, placing 2nd in the 100 breaststroke and winning the 100 butterfly and Alex Yu (9) also placed first in his individual 500 freestyle.
Tania Chadwick, head coach of the swim team, reflected on the group’s performance today and her goals for the rest of the season going into CCS.
“I think everyone battled through today, it might not have been their best swims but they’re all dealing with AP week requirements this week at school, so I think we had some swimmers that were a little bit more tired than usual but they didn’t give up, they worked hard,” Chadwick said. “My hopes are that all swimmers will have best times by the end of the season, those that are close to CCS cuts make those cuts, and that we bring more people to CCS in general.”
Karen, who is the captain and has been a part of the swim team since her freshman year, explained how these first few swim meets in the season as well as practices have been helping the swimmers train and strengthen their skills going forward into the season.
“Especially for the people who aren’t competitive swimmers, we’re getting back into shape and so in practices, we’ve been doing longer work and building up our endurance,” Karen said. “I hope to do better towards the end of the season and there’s a lot to look forward to; it’s my senior year so I hope that it’ll end well.”
Michael Auld (11) dives into the water as the last leg of the boys 400 yard freestyle relay with other team members Jack Farnham (11), Alex Yu (9) and Justin Culpepper (11).
Michael Auld (11), who has also been part of the swim team since his freshman year, plans to take the rest of the season easy as he already made his CCS cuts earlier in the season.
“I got my CCS cuts early, [but] when CCS comes around, I’m going to try to go for the school record. If I get it, I’ll get a second swim at CCS so that’s good,” Michael said.
The team will participate in another swim meet next Wednesday at Sacred Heart Prep.
