![“[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)
Junior Classical League holds elections for new club officer team
Alyssa Huang (9) signs in to vote for this year’s JCL elections. In an email announcement, JCL advisor Scott Paterson named Andy Semenza (11) president, Edgar Lin (11) vice president, Jeffrey Fung (9) secretary, Timmy Chang (10) historian and Nikhil Dharmaraj (10) webmaster.
May 31, 2017
Members of Harker’s Junior Classical League (JCL) elected their JCL officer team for the 2017-2018 school year today.
In an email announcement, JCL advisor Scott Paterson named Andy Semenza (11) president, Edgar Lin (11) vice president, Jeffrey Fung (9) secretary, Timmy Chang (10) historian and Nikhil Dharmaraj (10) webmaster.
“First off, I want to integrate JCL with the Latin program a little bit more so that it’s not simply for State or Ludi and JCL conventions. We can also increase participation in the class and talk about not just things about Latin, but also things like ancient Greek,” Andy said. “[We can] also work in the Middle School to help maintain our members better because we have quite a severe cutoff rate from sixth grade down to by the time you get to 10th or 11th grade and AP and post-AP levels.”
By this week Monday, candidates had sent a video of their speech and a 500-word campaign pitch to Paterson, who then shared them with JCL members yesterday. Members then voted for their preferred candidates during today’s office hours in Paterson’s room.
“I would like to see more activity in the club with respect to planning regular meetings, updating our online website and organizing and planning convention activities,” Paterson said.
This year’s candidates included Andy Semenza (11) for president; Edgar Lin (11), Jin Tuan (9) and Bryan Wang (9) for vice president; Sara Min (10), Jeffrey Fung (9) and Arohee Bhoja (8) for secretary; Timmy Chang (10) for historian and Nikhil Dharmaraj (10) for webmaster.
The current Harker JCL officer team, consisting of president Arnav Tandon (12), vice president Alexander Lam (12), secretary Venkat Sankar (12), historian Timmy Chang (10) and webmaster Peter Wu (12) sent out a candidacy application form to JCL members via email on April 13. This year’s election, originally scheduled to take place on April 20, was moved to a later date after Paterson’s return from his paternity leave.
The next event for JCL members is the upcoming National JCL Convention, which will be hosted this year at Troy University in Troy, Alabama, from July 24 to 29.
