![“[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)
News update (Issue 4)
The lunchroom tables were moved to the right side of Manzanita before winter break. The rearrangement was intended to decrease lunchroom congestion during lunch.
February 6, 2018
Manzanita layout reorganized after break to improve cafeteria flow
Head Chef Steve Martin proposed changes of rearranging tables and drink stations and adding new trash cans before winter break in Manzanita.
He and the kitchen staff worked with school administrators and the faculty Green Committee to solve the issues of students not correctly disposing of their trash and of overfilled bins. The first change was to rearrange and acquire more trash cans, which now line the wall next to the used dishes station.
DECA/TALON team wins Herff Jones challenge
The upper school’s joint DECA and TALON team recently won the 2018 Herff Jones Marketing Results Challenge in Houston. Consisting of DECA member Vignesh Panchanatham (12), TALON managing editor Sharon Yan (12) and TALON seniors editor Devanshi Mehta (11), the team created a video reviewing methods to increase yearbook sales on campus.
The team will receive $5,000 to be recognized at the April DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta.
Students test linguistics skills in NACLO
The North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) open round was held in the Nichols Rotunda on Jan. 25 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.
The competition is an individual annual linguistics test open to all high school students and evaluates logic skills and language processing.
“[The NACLO] is basically a set of linguistics [puzzles] that are problem solving in their basis,” Linguistics Club secretary Andy Semenza (12) said. “They all involve existing languages or constructive languages, and yet language itself isn’t necessarily the focus of them—it’s language as a means of solving interesting problems.”
Amnesty International holds club week
Amnesty International organized a guest lecture and sold donuts, bagels and various other baked goods for their club week last week.
Club members sold baked goods during lunch all week and sold donuts and bagels before school on Tuesday and Thursday. They raised roughly $1,300, all of which will be donated directly to Amnesty International.
On Tuesday, the club invited human rights advocate and CEO of Integrated Archive Systems Amy Rao, who sits on the boards of various organizations such as the Human Rights Watch, V-Day and the 11th Hour Project, to talk about human rights problems and how different organizations move to solve them in Nichols Auditorium during long lunch.
This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on February 5, 2018.
