![LALC Vice President of External Affairs Raeanne Li (11) explains the International Phonetic Alphabet to attendees. "We decided to have more fun topics this year instead of just talking about the same things every year so our older members can also [enjoy],” Raeanne said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_4627-1200x795.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)
Siemens Foundation announces semifinalists and finalists
October 27, 2016
Nineteen upper school students were selected as Siemens semifinalists this year out of the 498 total semifinalists announced on the Siemens website on the morning of Oct. 18. Over 1600 projects were submitted to the competition.
The students are seniors Rishab Gargeya, Joyce Huang, Nikhil Manglik, Connie Miao, Sandip Nirmel, Venkat Sankar, Manan Shah, Scott Song and Arjun Subramaniam, as well as juniors Akhil Arun, Jerry Chen, Amy Jin, Jimmy Lin, Rajiv Movva, Sahana Srinivasan, Justin Xie, Kevin Xu, Shaya Zarkesh and Randy Zhao.
Students participating in Siemens conduct research in STEM fields and then write research papers on their findings. Only seniors may submit individual projects, but high school students of any grade may submit team projects.
Semifinalist Nikhil Manglik (12) studied breast cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“A common area of study in breast cancer right now is gene signatures which can predict survival,” he said. “However, many current signatures are limited by the kinds of breast cancer they cover, or the number of genes. My mentor had worked on a similar project in 2015 which had over 60 genes. I managed to whittle that down to two genes such that if both genes are overexpressed more than normal, the patient has a higher survival rate.”
Regional finalist Manan Shah (12) also studied breast cancer and worked on a computational model to assess tumors.
“Last year, I began work on computational imaging and was intrigued by its potential applications to cancer prognosis. I hoped to apply my knowledge in computer vision to solve complex medical problems,” he said. “ My high school research experience has been excellent; I truly appreciate the support of Harker faculty in the discovery of my passion and my research journey.”
Three students were selected as regional finalists on Wednesday out of the 96 students nationwide regional finalists this year. Rajiv Movva (11), Manan Shah (12) and Randy Zhao (11) will present their research virtually at the California Institute of Technology on Nov. 18 and 19.
