![“[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)
Freshman student council announced during school meeting
Jack Jia makes his speech for the position of Vice President during freshman student council elections. The results of the elections were announced today.
October 4, 2016
The new members of the student council for the Class of 2020 were announced at the school meeting today in the gym after fifth period.
Bryan Wang was elected as president, Jack Jia as vice president, Avi Gulati as treasurer, Rachel Broweleit as secretary and Adhya (Addie) Hoskote as spirit coordinator.
After hearing speeches from all the candidates last Monday, freshmen voted for candidates of their choice the following Thursday in the journalism room.
“I wanted to support the people that will make good choices for our grade,” voter Jack Hansen (9) said. “They’re not scared of doing things that are necessary; they’ll take the opportunities when they come and also they’re organized.”
Members of the current student council and ASB are working to help the freshman council grow adjusted to being part of the upper school student council.
“Working with people is super easy on the council and the ASB is really good at giving directions, [so] we’ll help them understand things about the campus,” Srivatsav Pyda (12), vice president for the Class of 2017, said. “From the first time we met them, which was yesterday, I think they’re an energetic group that’s going to be excited to do things for their class.”
Treasurer Avi expresses his hopes for this school year and plans to work with the other student council members to achieve those goals.
“The student council officers in ninth grade, we all collectively are striving to initiate more spirit in our class because we’re spirited individually, but when we’re with other classes, we’re not very spirited,” Avi said. “Spirit is our number one priority but also by working together, we can definitely improve the freshmen class and make it a lot more fun and enthusiastic.”
Jack Jia describes his goals for building stronger connections among members of the freshman class.
“In order to make everyone supportive and be friendly to each other, you don’t really have a kind of method, you just talk to them,” he said. “Everybody [is] spreading this kind of mood everyday, and for those activities that we need to plan out, we’ll make a plan about what we’re going to do everyday.”
Kelly Horan, freshman class dean, discusses her vision and initial thoughts on the freshman student council’s leadership.
“Being a leader isn’t someone who’s just up at the front telling people what to do. Being a leader [are] really people who are trying to make the class and the school a better place,” Horan said. “It’s a different kind of mindset than we see a lot in the public eye. They have a lot of energy so every time we have class meeting, they’ve got a lot of energy and they seem to be making their way well into the school and the community.”
The freshman student council will lead their first class meeting tomorrow at the beginning of lunch.
Clay Shentrup • Oct 5, 2017 at 1:42 pm
Will they be announcing vote totals? It would be interesting to see the effect of Approval Voting. One would expect many more votes than voters.
Tiffany Wong • Oct 5, 2017 at 8:54 pm
Hi Clay,
Vote totals are classified by the upper school’s ASB and student councils and usually are not released following a Harker upper school election.