![“[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)
Therapy dogs visit campus for finals week
ASB invites two golden retrievers in effort to relieve exam stress
Lou Sanche (10) pets therapy dog Keko in the counseling office during today’s morning extra help session. Students can visit the therapy dogs tomorrow and Wednesday during lunch in the counseling office.
June 5, 2017
Therapy dogs Keko and Kula will visit the upper school campus tomorrow and Wednesday after being in the counseling office all day today.
ASB led an initiative to bring the two golden retrievers, licensed therapy dogs owned by head cross-country and track coach Scott Chisam, onto campus. They also came to the campus during winter finals week in December.
“We’re trying to see how it goes to get more time with the dogs here. We have someone with a therapy dog who can bring him in more often; the students all seem to like it, so hopefully we’ll continue this program in the future, counseling administrative assistant Lori Philipp said. “It seems to calm them—they forget about their tests in that moment and snuggle with fur instead.”
Student government and the counseling office undertook the project in conjunction with shortened schedules today and Friday in order to reduce student stress during finals week.
“[This event was organized through] the efforts of ASB—mostly, it was me and Neil [Ramaswamy (10)]—and we were talking to Mr. [Butch] Keller, as well as Mr. Chisam, who heads the program, to see when would be a fitting time for the dogs to come over,” ASB president Jimmy Lin (11) said. “With finals coming up and stressing out a lot of the underclassmen, who tend to have more finals, we thought this would be a great opportunity to relieve some stress with the dogs.”
This year’s final exams start tomorrow with tests for history, physics, programming and economics and end this Thursday with tests for mathematics.
