![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)
![“[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)
Varsity girls lacrosse wins home game against Newark
Freshman Reina Joseph cradles the ball as she runs towards the goal, keeping it away from the opposing team. The girls lacrosse team is currently undefeated with an 8-0 record.
April 10, 2018
Varsity lacrosse won their home game against Newark High School 13-6 today at 5 p.m.
Newark scored the first goal of the game 19 seconds into the first half, with attacker Sara Yen (9) responding with Harker’s first goal around three minutes after. The Eagles followed up with eight more goals scored by midfielder Heidi Zhang (11), defender Grace Hajjar (10) and defender Anna Vazhaeparambil (9) to the Cougars’ one. Harker led 9-2 by the end of the first half.
After the Eagles scored the first goal of the second half, the Cougars picked up the pace with three consecutive goals before Heidi’s seventh goal of the game with seven minutes left to play. Newark scored the last goal of the game near the 23-minute mark. Both teams scored four goals in the second half, bringing the final score to 13-6.
This year’s varsity lacrosse team features seven freshmen, two of whom scored goals during today’s game.
“We lost almost all of our starters from last year, so I would consider us a pretty young team,” head coach Alyssa Dunlap said. “With that, we have a couple of freshmen starting, so the bulk of our starting lineup are freshmen; they’ve done a fantastic job stepping up and filling those roles, especially with a couple of them this being their first season playing lacrosse.”
Today’s victory against Newark brings the team’s overall record to 8-0 and their league record to 3-0. For the future of this year’s season, the Eagles are looking forward to playing challenging teams in both league and non-league games.
“In practice, [our coach] has really been focusing on gameplay situations. On defense, we’ve implemented this technique called ‘The Ride’; when we’re trying to get the ball back, we all assume specific positions to try to clog up the entire field so that we can shut down the ball carrier on the other team,” Heidi said. “That was really successful this game because every single time the other team got the ball, we would go on ‘The Ride’ and get it back.”
The team next plays a home game against Mountain View High School this Friday.
