![“[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)
Speech and debate team holds annual speech showcase
Extemporaneous speaker Meha Goyal (9) addresses the possibility of the Democratic Party gaining a majority in the House of Representatives in 2018. Today’s annual Speech Showcase was held in Nichols Auditorium from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
April 18, 2018
Six members of the speech and debate team performed in this year’s Speech Showcase from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Nichols Auditorium today.
Featured students included original oratory speakers junior Alycia Cary (“Play Like a Girl”), junior Nikhil Dharmaraj (“Magical Thoughts and Where to Find Them”) and junior Haris Hosseini (“The Man Problem”) as well as program oral interpretation speaker sophomore Nikki Solanki (“No Apologies”). Extemporaneous speakers Avi Gulati (10) and Meha Goyal (9) delivered seven-minute speeches on the possibility of achieving peace in the Korean peninsula and of the Democratic Party gaining a majority in the House of Representatives in 2018, respectively, after 30 minutes of preparation outside the auditorium.
“I made the decision to start oratory three months ago; the upper school’s previous speech coach, Ms. Hazeltine, had been encouraging me to do it since student council elections last year,” Alycia said. “When I was talking to Mr. Odekirk, I proposed multiple topics and he cut me off and just started talking about the whole ethos, pathos, logos triangle. He asked me, ‘why do you want to give a speech? What is something personal in your life that makes you feel the need to use your words in this way?’ That’s how I really got started in this event.”
Speech and Congressional debate coach Scott Odekirk emceed the event, introducing each student and describing their competition event before each performance. He sent an email out to students and faculty earlier this week inviting all to today’s showcase.
“Generally, across the country, speech and debate functions in the shadows of every school. It’s not set up for spectatorship, so each team has to be creative about how they promote what they’re doing,” Odekirk said. “In my experience, it’s best to try to create showcases or situations where people can see what we do. The beautiful thing about this one was the variety of students we had ready to speak, which makes it really distinct, and also the level of participation that we had. We’re proud of it, and so we’re happy to do it.”
Following the last speech, family and friends of the performers gathered in Nichols Atrium to congratulate all participating students.
Upcoming speech and debate tournaments include the California High School Speech Association State Tournament from April 20 to 22 at Mountain House High School in Mountain House and the Tournament of Champions from April 28 to 30 at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
