![“[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)
On Monday, January 23rd, the student body gathered for a school meeting to listen to announcements about the upcoming dance show, the Harker Influenza Project, Kicks against Cancer, and English teacher Sharron Mittelstet.
The upcoming dance production, Dancing through Life, encompasses a total of 86 dancers. Shows will be performed on Friday, January 27th at 7:30 p.m and Saturday January 28th at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Varsity dancers, Kirsten Herr (12) and Sarika Asthana (12) encouraged fellow students to watch the show and warned that Friday seats would soon fill up.
As a part of the Harker Influenza project (H.I.P.), on January 24th, students will be required to wear a mote around their necks to record social interaction between one another to see how the flu can spread. The team, led by investigator Indu Seeni (11), demonstrated the procedure to assembling the mote necklace. Students will pick up the materials and a consent form during their first period class then deposit them all back after eighth period.
The Varsity boys’ and girls’ soccer team captains presented a video about Camp Okizu, the charity organization that benefits from the Upper School’s annual fundraiser, Kicks Against Cancer. From now until February 1, members from the soccer team will be selling hair ties, T-shirts, wristbands, and raffle tickets during lunch. The T-shirts are the tickets to the soccer games.
Nicole Dalal (12) is a member of the soccer team that initiated Kicks Against Cancer 2 years ago. She and her teammates have worked hard on this fundraiser and hope for it to be successful once again.
To end the meeting, Christopher Nikoloff, Head of School, made an unfortunate announcement: Sharron Mittelstet, English Teacher, was diagnosed with symptoms very similar to Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. An extra counselor has been brought to the campus for students who need additional help during this time. Diana Moss, Spanish teacher, will be organizing visits to see Mittelstet. As Nikoloff and ASB president Revanth Kosaraju (12) mentioned, although we cannot always focus on our triumphs, our community will stay strong and help one another through the difficult events that may happen throughout year.
![Winged Post Editor-in-Chief Katerina Matta and Managing Editor Young Min were selected as first place winners from a pool of around 2,000 students. “This page [shows] how much we paid attention to detail and how much we pushed ourselves to ensure the best quality that we could,” Young said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_4254-900x1200.jpeg)
