![“[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)
Humans of Harker: Rahul Shukla coaches youth basketball
“Coaching has taught me a lot of leadership skills because it’s pretty hard to organize kids who really don’t know you. I’ve also had to interact with parents, and that can also be challenging. Sometimes you have to take that criticism and use that to adapt, and other times you just have to tell them that you’re the coach so you have to stand up to them,” Rahul Shukla (12) said.
February 5, 2017
Senior Rahul Shukla has been coaching elementary school kids at his local YMCA since the start of high school. In order to juggle the workload of high school alongside his love of basketball and service, he decided to take up this volunteer opportunity.
“In middle school, I played basketball for Harker, but because of other extracurricular activities, I knew that I couldn’t do basketball in high school,” Rahul said. “I wanted to still continue being involved in basketball other than just playing pickup games, so I found this opportunity at the place where I go to workout and I just started doing that.”
In their weekly practices, Rahul trains a group of boys that vary in age and experience to build a cohesive team that competes in a youth league.
“Coaching has taught me a lot of leadership skills because it’s pretty hard to organize kids who really don’t know you, and these are like second graders so they’re pretty immature,” Rahul said. “I’ve also had to interact with parents, and that can also be challenging because sometimes the parents can be super overbearing, and they’ll give you a lot of criticism. Sometimes you have to take that criticism and use that to adapt, and other times you just have to tell them that you’re the coach so you have to stand up to them.”
Rahul recalls a particular instance where he noticed a teammate being neglected, and he worked to make sure that kid felt included in the team dynamic.
“There was this one kid last year, his name was Derek, and it was his first time playing basketball,” Rahul said. “He didn’t go to the same school as anybody else, and he had trouble fitting in. So then, in our last game, the entire team except for Derek had scored, so in the last two minutes of the game I basically devised a play for him to get open and make it so that there would not be a defender on him and he would be super close to the basket so he could score. He did end up scoring, and it was a great feeling for me, the entire team, and him because this was the first time he had scored in the entire season, and it was the first time that everybody on the team had scored.”
Rahul hopes to continue participating in volunteer work in his community beyond high school and through his life.
