![“[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)
Editorial: The arts and sciences need to put aside their differences to fight defunding
The arts and sciences are represented above, juxtaposed on a backdrop of all the money we’re not going to get unless we put aside our perceived differences and work together to expand the scope of human knowledge.
April 19, 2017
Fuzzy vs. techie. Heart vs. brain. Arts vs. sciences.
At Harker, we tend to see the arts and sciences as at odds, or at least as incompatible. How many times have you heard a group of coders chuckling over the perceived uselessness of an art degree, or a gaggle at the Artstravaganza grumbling at perceived discrepancies in finding allocations?
This isn’t to say the arts and sciences are at war. At worst, it’s a rivalry, but more often just a comfortable separation. We wall ourselves away at our separate symposiums, and while there are the unusual individuals who bridge the gap (the coder who reads Voltaire or the artist researching biology), they are just that – unusual.
This also isn’t to say that the dichotomy of arts and sciences is a uniquely Harker problem. Schools reflect the society that surround them, and this attitude continues into collegiate studies and the working world.
We’re not talking about how scientists need to value art to live a fulfilling life, or how we’re switching our “STEM” section to “STEAM” (we’re not, but check out A&E), or how we need to actively bridge the gap between art and science. Our point is that the gap is an illusion.
Art and science are ultimately the same; they are both ways of expanding the horizons of human knowledge. A painter and a researcher are both searching for truth, with different methods. Inquiry, exploration, insight: these are concepts that drive all of us, whether we’re rehearsing for the musical in Patil or studying machine learning in Nichols.
Infighting isn’t just pointless, it’s dangerous. Want more evidence that the arts and sciences are essentially equivalent? When funding gets cut, the guillotine falls on the sciences and the arts with equal (violence). Trump’s budget proposals have included eliminating funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Also lined into the budget were significant slashes to the Environment Protection Agency and NASA’s earth science division.
We’re all in this together, which is to say we’re getting defunded together.
To intellectual explorers, regardless of discipline, this is a call to arms. We can either go down separately, still squabbling, or band together and fight. Your move.
This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on March 28, 2017.
