![“[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)
ASB President-elect speaks about plans for 2018-19 school year
ASB president-elect Neil Ramaswamy (11) delivers his campaign speech during this year’s ASB elections. For next year, Neil’s main goals are increasing communication, engagement and transparency both within the council itself and with the student body.
March 28, 2018
Juniors, sophomores and freshmen voted to elect a new ASB council last week for the upcoming school year. The student body choose Neil Ramaswamy (11) as their new president, who plans to inaugurate new plans to increase communication, engagement and transparency both within the council itself and with the student body.
As the ASB president-elect, Neil wants to unleash the potential of student council and elect strong committee heads to provide a structure and support system for underclassmen who are newer to the council. He is also a strong proponent of giving everyone a voice and of listening to ideas from the entire student body as well as other elected representatives.
“We’re going to make sure that we elect really competent committee heads, so that I don’t specifically have to do all of the work. We’ll have competent people who are willing to engage, nurture and teach these freshmen what it’s like to be in a cohesive council,” Neil said. “I also plan on implementing performance reviews, so upperclassmen can review underclassmen and underclassmen can review their peers, so everyone feels like their presence is necessary and that their presence is important.”
One of the areas in which Neil would like to help the council improve is in terms of engagement. He has currently seen that a little over half of the council is engaged, but he believes that if everyone contributes to discussions and event planning, they can achieve a lot more, collectively.
“It’s like crowdsourcing. Everybody’s going to be involved,” he said. “We need everybody aligned in the same direction, whether that be working on different projects, but just in the same direction.”
Throughout the past year, Neil has shadowed current ASB president Jimmy Lin (12) in his role as vice president. Looking to next year, he has created a plan for his first meeting with the council to encourage the sharing of ideas to create an elaborate plan of goals for the school year. Neil hopes to brainstorm with all 25 members of the council and make sure that the student body has a larger voice and are encouraged to speak with their student officers to result in their ideas making their way directly to the administration.
Prior to Neil’s tenure as ASB vice president, he served as spirit coordinator on his freshman and sophomore councils.
“Having worked with Neil for three years now on the council, I’ve seen the dedication and commitment that he brings to his role. From class spirit coordinator to ASB vice president, he always does whatever he can to make sure that we achieve success as a whole and best serve the student body,” ASB vice president-elect Shania Wang (11) said. “Aside from that, he’s also just been a great friend and person to have around. I’m really excited to see what he does as ASB president next year, and I’m sure that he’ll do an amazing job leading the entire [student council].”
Surrounded by mentors and strong individuals who motivated him to be dedicated and hardworking, he’s embraced the rest of student council as a family and hopes to listen to all of the other representatives’ ideas and set specific goals for the year.
“It’s not just about achieving the stuff that you know you can get,” he said. “It’s about trying to push yourself past what you think you can achieve.”
