![“[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)
Rising juniors succeed in TEAMS competition
Provided by Jimmy Lin
Juniors Michael Kwan, Jerry Chen, Sahana Srinivasan, Shaya Zarkesh and Randy Zhao pose on stage after receiving their first place trophies on June 30. The team placed third in presentation and problem solving and fourth in the essay.
August 28, 2016
The upper school’s underclassmen team was named Best in Nation in their age group at the annual Test of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) National Competition, held this year in Nashville, Tennessee, from June 28 to June 30.
The team consisted of juniors Michael Kwan, Jimmy Lin, Sahana Srinivasan, Justin Xie, Shaya Zarkesh, Randy Zhao and team captain Jerry Chen.
“All of us have a passion for technology, and we were excited for this competition because it provided us with an opportunity to test our creativity and knowledge against others with similar interests,” Randy said.
The TEAMS competition consists of three main parts: a prepared presentation, a written essay and a problem-solving section. This year, the theme of the presentation was space exploration while the essay was focused on optogenetics, a technique using light to activate certain neutrons in order to control living cells. The problem-solving portion contained both topics.
The teams’ presentation was centered around the possibility of space colonization. As part of their research, they looked into past proposals and estimated the costs of sustaining civilization in space.
The team discusses potential solutions during the problem-solving portion of the contest. The team placed third in presentation and problem-solving and fourth in the essay.
For the essay portion, the team researched optogenetics and explained potential applications for the technology in scientific fields. In preparation for the problem set, which included multiple-choice and free-response sections, students were given a hint by TEAMS that the problems were going to be more focused on optics, so they spent additional time studying and learning more about it.
“We all researched different topics in our spare time and then gathered once a week over the summer to pool everyone’s research together and discuss our strategy going forward,” Jimmy said. “Our whole team learned a lot through working together on the group events, and it was definitely exciting to see our hard work pay off when we ultimately came out on top.”
The team believes that traveling to Nashville was worthwhile not only from a competition standpoint but also because of the city’s atmosphere. The competition took up a relatively small amount of the three days they were there, and the team had a lot of chances to interact with other participants and make new friends.
“The city was definitely a lot different from what we were used to, and the convention center where the competition was held was beautiful,” Jerry said. “We all had a great time, and I think we were all glad we could top off the experience with our win.”
This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on Aug 26, 2016.
