![“[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)
HELM releases first ever digital issue school-wide
Courtesy of HELM
HELM club, along with Andrew Tierno (12), head of Programming Club, designed this front page for their first online magazine, which displays artwork by Katrina Liu (10). The editors and club members beta-tested the digital issue last week before its unveiling.
January 24, 2017
Harker’s Eclectic Literary Magazine (HELM) Club unveiled its first unthemed, digital issue comprised of written pieces, artwork and multimedia on Friday.
The website was shown to club members on Tuesday at a club meeting during long lunch. After refining the website and adding the final touches, HELM published the magazine to non-club members. HELM undertook this project along with their regular print magazine.
HELM is an annual magazine that accepts submissions from upper school students who wish to contribute. The club accepts written pieces such as poetry and short stories, as well as photography, paintings and drawings.
The idea to publish online was introduced in the summer as the club leadership prepared this year’s initiatives and was taken forward in first semester. They received a majority of their submissions in September when they opened up their contest.
By November, the editor team had gathered ideas and pieces from their club members and had laid out a design for the website. Since then, the head of Programming Club, Andrew Tierno (12), has helped HELM form the website and get it ready for publishing.
For their print magazines, HELM editors hold club-wide meetings and discuss what pieces they would like to publish in their magazine, but the online publication used a different selection process.
“We curated the submissions by ourselves because we thought that since this was the first issue, we would do it as an editorial board, instead of bringing the rest of the club,” junior co-editor Emily Chen (11) said.
However, they plan to include other club members in this process in the future. Andrew Rule (12), one of two editors-in-chief, focused on the publicity aspect of this project. He helped draft messages to be delivered at school meetings and worked with the English department to spread the word. Andrew also helped with design and submitted two pieces of his own for the online publication.
“I felt mostly gratitude to Andrew Tierno. The ball has been in his court throughout the whole six-week design process, and I really can’t overstate how important his contribution was to making the issue a reality,” Andrew said.
The website was made public to non-club members, after the club added some more pieces to their magazine.
HELM’s website can be viewed here.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on January 24, 2017.
