![“[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 responds to Green Team’s Green Challenge
Alexander Chen (10) fills up his reusable water bottle during passing period in Manzanita Hall. During the challenge, contributors could buzz in whenever they refilled their water bottles in order to earn points.
May 5, 2016
In recognition of Earth Day on April 22, the Green Team and the Green Committee hosted the first Harker Green Challenge from April 13 to April 20. During this event, students used the app SJEnvironment on their mobile phones to record their sustainable actions.
Faculty and students could buzz in on the app every time they performed a green act, such as using a reusable water bottle, turning off the the lights when they leave a room or maintaining a steady speed while driving on the freeway. There were almost 100 different acts to buzz in on. Each act was sorted into various categories, including transportation, water, waste and energy.
The goal of the challenge was to encourage students to do more to help the environment.
“[The challenge] was just making [performing sustainable actions] fun, but also to educate people about all the many different things that you could do to be more sustainable,” Diana Moss, Green Team club advisor, said.
The freshman, sophomore, junior and senior classes competed against each other to earn the most points, and the class with the most contributors won an ice cream party. The students were tallied on April 22 and the juniors beat the freshmen by a count of two, with 89 students using the app. Nandini Tipirneni, parent of Neil Tipirneni (9), donated $350 towards the class prize collected from three different businesses in Milpitas.
Individual prizes were also distributed to the people who buzzed in the most. These rewards included $50 gift cards to Sports Basement, $50 gift cards to Summer Winds Nursery, several restaurant gift cards to restaurants Aquí’s and Veggie Grill and a gift card to Sprouts grocery store. The students who won were Edward Sheu (12), Maxwell Smitherman (12), Brendan Tobin (11), Shreya Neogi (11), Sanjana Marce (11), Jenna Sanders (10), Kelsey Wu (9) and Shania Wang (9). The faculty winners were graphic designer Rebecca McCartney and biology teacher Jeff Sutton. Among the parents, Bing Lui, parent of Joyce Zhao (11), won as well. Kelsey was the top-most winner, contributing 6,235 points to the freshman class.
“[The challenge] really helped me realize what actually could help the environment like how little actions can help the environment that I didn’t know before,” Kelsey said. “I feel making it a class competition also helped a lot of our classmates be greener throughout the week.”
The Green Team had a table outside of Manzanita everyday during the challenge to encourage people to download the app and to show them how to use it. Each day, the team focused on a particular theme, such as energy, transportation and saving water. At the table, people could come up and describe an environmentally friendly act they had done and receive a free water bottle in return.
“The Green Challenge was a huge success,” Akshay Battu (12), president of the Green Team, said. “We were so pleased that many people were asking questions and finding as many different sustainable actions as possible. I really enjoyed seeing how competitive some of the top buzzers became.”
The Green Team and the Harker Green Committee hope to continue this challenge next year.
