![“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)
School meeting recap–3/21
Dr. Muldrew speaks about the 2016 Student Diversity Leadership Conference, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from Dec. 8 to 10. Applications are now available and will be emailed and posted on the PCR board.
March 22, 2016
Three upper school students, senior Nikita Ramoji and sophomores Amy Jin and Anooshree Sengupta, received awards from the National Center for Women in Computing (NCWIT), which offers local affiliate awards as well as national awards.
The Diversity Committee is accepting applications for the 2016 Student Diversity Leadership Conference, which will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from Dec. 8 to 10. Last year’s delegates to the conference, senior Ameek Singh and sophomore Aliesa Bahri, discussed their experiences attending the conference. The link to the application will be emailed and posted to the PCR board.
Registration for Recreate Reading will occur from April 5 to 7. Rising seniors will be able to sign up first, followed by rising juniors, then rising sophomores. Each student will receive a personalized email to select their book out of the 71 available choices, which include The Little Prince, The Revenant, Yes Please and the podcast Serial.
The Harker Research Symposium will be held on April 9 and will feature four keynote speakers, dozens of student talks, over 40 poster sessions, a drone demonstration and raffle and three workshops. Each workshop will center around one of three topics: bioinformatics, machine learning and making your own speaker. Tickets to the event are available online and at the door. Tickets cost $10 through this week, $15 afterwards and $20 at the door.
The remainder of this week will follow the block schedule to accommodate an assembly tomorrow. The assembly will feature Dennis Belliveau, who will talk about his book In the Steps of Marco Polo and his travels around the world. Belliveau will also be featured in the Harker Speaker Series tomorrow evening. While admission is free for the event, anyone interested must RSVP to attend. In addition, a PBS Companion book will be available on sale for $30.
Cantilena took part in the Choral Music Educators Festival. The choir performed an Irish tune, “She Rises” during the meeting.
The theme of this year’s prom, which will be held at the Glass House in downtown San Jose, is the “after party.”
The spirit coordinators for each class chose the themes for their class dances at the rally. Senior spirit coordinator Edward Sheu chose the theme of the “big city” for his class. The juniors will follow the theme of “beach house,” which was chosen by their spirit coordinator Haley Tran. The sophomores will perform a dance with a theme of “mountains,” at the choice of their spirit coordinator Makenzie Tomohiro. Freshman spirit coordinator Neil Ramaswamy chose the theme of “country roads.”
The boys tennis team defeated Woodside Priory School last week and plays Menlo-Atherton High School and Crystal Springs Uplands School this week.
The baseball team defeated Pinewood High School and O’Connell High School last week. The team faces Crystal Springs this week.
The swim team competed at the Sacred Heart Invitational last Saturday.
The boys golf team defeated Menlo-Atherton High School and Sacred Heart Preparatory last week to remain undefeated.
The boys volleyball team played in the Leigh Tournament last Saturday, losing to tournament champion Leigh High School but winning a tough game to Seaside High School. They host Harbor High School and Eastside Preparatory School this week.
The softball team lost to Kings Academy last week. The team has two away games this week, at Gunderson High School on Tuesday and Fremont High School on Friday.
The track team competed in its first WBAL meet.
Harker Aquila, the upper school’s online news publication was selected as one of 50 online news sites nationwide for a pacemaker award from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA).
The Winged Post, the upper school’s print news publication was chosen as one of nine high school newspapers to win a Gold Crown from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
Issue six of the Winged Post will be released on Wednesday at 11 a.m. and will include a map of easter eggs for a Winged Post easter egg hunt, which will include 100 eggs. Of these eggs, three can be redeemed for special prizes, such as a Starbucks gift card.
Anyone running for ASB must submit forms by Wednesday.
