![“[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)
Humans of Harker Video: Alan Jiang weaves together family and fashion
![“[My mom would] take me to different places; she’d take me to a lot of the big cities to where a lot of the fashion designer brands came from," Alan Jiang (12) said. "She would spend hours and hours there — I used to be really mad, because she doesn’t know how to speak English, and we’d stay in the store for four-five hours just to pick one item that she really liked and I had to translate for her, so that’s why I was exposed to a lot of the stuff. Back then, I really hated it — I was really mad at my mom. But afterwards, I was kind of inspired by it.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/AlanJiang-MK-e1526709288176-601x900.jpg)
“[My mom would] take me to different places; she’d take me to a lot of the big cities to where a lot of the fashion designer brands came from,” Alan Jiang (12) said. “She would spend hours and hours there — I used to be really mad, because she doesn’t know how to speak English, and we’d stay in the store for four-five hours just to pick one item that she really liked and I had to translate for her, so that’s why I was exposed to a lot of the stuff. Back then, I really hated it — I was really mad at my mom. But afterwards, I was kind of inspired by it.”
May 18, 2018
This is the fourth installment of the Humans of Harker 2018 video series. Through this project, the Harker journalism program aims to tell the story of the senior class, one profile at a time.
Videography: Devanshi Mehta & Darren Gu
Interview: Devanshi Mehta
Editing: Devanshi Mehta & Melissa Kwan
