![“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)
Electives broaden students’ STEM options
Seniors Shreya Neogi, Priyanka Chilukuri and Ria Gandhi use a microscope to observe different types of tissue samples during Honors Human Anatomy & Physiology. Honor Human Anatomy & Physiology is among many of the STEM electives offered at the Upper School
October 11, 2016
From Astronomy, Engineering and Marine Biology to Nanoscience, Robotics Principles and The Science of Food, the upper school offers various elective courses in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
While students must take classes in physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics and computer science in order to graduate, they can also choose to take one of these STEM electives as an extra period option to supplement the mandatory courses or as one of the graduation requirements.
Teachers often introduce new STEM electives to the Course of Study. Mathematics teacher Dr. Anuradha Aiyer is teaching the new Advanced Topics in Mathematics: Information Theory course series this year.
“I know that Harker offers a Signals and Systems math elective, and I felt that this Information Theory kind of can complement that course,” Aiyer said. “This course on information theory will actually touch upon topics in thermodynamics and statistics and physics, so I think it’s important for students to see the connections among various topics.”
In addition to relating subjects to each other, STEM electives also provide students with an opportunity to concentrate on specific components or topics that they enjoy.
“I just really enjoy learning about bones and muscles,” said Sian Smith (10), who is taking the Kinesiology and Sports Medicine class. “Students can learn what they want to, like if you really liked anatomy in eighth-grade biology, you can expand more onto that. It’s pretty rad.”
STEM electives can also complement the material covered in required courses through building on those topics or examining them from other angles.
“I think [STEM electives] are very beneficial because STEM is a really broad field,” said Steven Cao (12), who is taking the Seminar in Modern Physics class. “If you can narrow it down to one specific thing to cover in a lot of depth, I think it’ll make STEM a lot more interesting to people, because they can choose what they’re interested in and pursue it more deeply rather than just looking at broad introductory courses.”
The upper school offers many other elective courses in different areas, such as the humanities and foreign languages, for students who want to pursue fields outside of STEM.
