![“[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)
Recap of varsity boys tennis Fresno Tournament
David Wen (11) hits a backhand. He plays number one singles for the Harker varsity boys tennis team.
March 6, 2017
Varsity boys tennis participated in the California Classic Boys Tennis Fresno League Tournament on March 3-4 and played against five other Bay Area high schools.
The team played against high schools Clovis West, Los Altos, and Bellarmine on the first day, and high schools Palo Alto and Buchanan on the second.
On Friday morning they played against home team Clovis West, beating them 5-1. David Wen (11) played first singles, Mihir Sharma (9) played second singles and Richard Hu (9) played third singles. Each won their matches, and second, and third doubles teams – juniors Randy Zhao and Neil Bai, and Anjay Saklecha (10) and Jack Hansen (9)– won their doubles matches.
Afterwards, they played against Los Altos High School, winning and losing three matches each. Harker won with a final score of 8-7. In this round, Mihir won his second singles match, and Edward Tischler (12) and Jack, and Anjay and Simar Bajaj (9) won doubles.
“Everyone had a bunch of spirit and played well. If they weren’t playing well, we all cheered them on,” Mihir said. “We only won one match 5-1. The rest were either 4-2 or 3 all, and those were a lot of fun. They were scary, but fun too.”
In the afternoon, Eagles played against the Bellarmine, the second ranked team, and won 4-2. Edward won the first singles match, Simar won the second singles match, Jack and Matthew Jiang (9) won the second doubles match and freshmen Vishnu Jaisim and Joshua Zhou won the third doubles match.
Because of their undefeated record on Friday, they advanced to the semifinals on Saturday but lost 2-4 against Palo Alto. They placed third in the third division after beating Buchanan high school 5-1.
“We mostly kept up the team spirit and motivation, for each other during matches, especially when one of us was down,” Richard said. “[One highlight] was especially by Simar Bajaj. He was down 1-6, 4-5, and the other guy had almost two match points, and he kept tapping the ball into the court for victory.”
The boys varsity team next plays against Menlo on Thursday at Backesto Park.
