![“[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)
Behind the scenes: Keeping up with student photographers
December 3, 2018
This year, the news side of the journalism program altered the way newcomers are taught photography skills, adding more hands-on exercises and a couple of days dedicated exclusively to Humans of Harker portrait practice. Peer behind the scenes in how student journalists train.
Camera in hand, Mark Hu (9) laughs at another student’s antics while Visual Editor Nina Gee (11) peeks out from underneath one of the benches in the Rothschild Performing Art Center (RPAC) lobby.
Junior Nerine Uyanik takes a photo of the photographer. Though the exercises were aimed at cubs (journalistic jargon for first-year journalists), returners were also encouraged to refine their skills by participating.
Mark holds a diffuser during a demonstration. Each class engaged in one to three days of learning how to take Humans of Harker portraits.
Global editor Arushi Saxena (10) photographs her cub, Irene Yuan (9). Cubs and their returners took portraits of each other as part of the exercise.
Opinion Editor Srinath Somasundaram (10) and STEM Editor Arya Maheshwari (10) hug while freshman Nicole Tian practices. The students split up into big groups with cubs and returners together and wandered the campus as they practiced.
Nicole Tian (9) trains her focus on an upperclassman. The exercise was designed to make cubs this year more comfortable with taking portraits for Humans of Harker, a project in which the journalism program features each and every senior in their own online profile.
Nina poses for a student while lying down under a bench. Some students came up with innovative settings and poses for their subjects.
Cubs Mark and Catherine Feng (9), News Editor Eric Fang (11) and Global Columnist Michael Eng (10) review a photo with reporter Anna Vazhaeparambil (10). Throughout the lessons, returners and cubs helped each other improve their knowledge of the camera.
Nicole prepares to take a photo of some other student journalists playing catch during a demonstration. Another day of photo lessons was dedicated to teaching cubs and returners how to take photos of sports.
Arya calls to Srinath as he prepares to throw him a football during the demonstration. Students practiced taking photos of football, basketball, soccer, and baseball.
Arushi’s camera bag and shoes rest on Davis Field, where the activity took place, while she plays catch with Anna Vazhaeparambil. During this exercise, most of the returners played sports while the cubs took photos of them.
Eric holds out a hand to catch a football passed to him by Michael. Students rotated between multiple stations, each dedicated to a sport.
Smiling for the camera, Anna throws a baseball to Arushi at the baseball station.
Arushi catches the baseball thrown by Anna. The primary focus of this exercise was to teach cubs and returners to time their shots properly and to use the correct settings for sports photography.
Football in hand, director of journalism Ellen Austin summarizes the day’s lessons for the class before they head back to the classroom. After the photo lessons, the cubs took an assessment to test their knowledge of photography dubbed The Flight Test between Oct. 29 and Sept. 9.
