![“[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: Sense and serenity
Ryan Adolf codes for his community
“The most effective thing for me to be doing is probably just inspiring people. It’s a very small chance that I’d be able to do something to change the world, so maybe I’ll help that if I inspire a thousand different people,” Ryan Adolf (12) said.
Emblazoned on many students’ laptop screens is CheckPCR, an application that improves the user friendliness and overall functionality of the PCR system by allowing students to customize settings and set reminders. For the most part, students take this for granted, leaving a CheckPCR tab open in the background, with many not even opening the original PCR since they switched. Behind this subtly innovative program is the brains of one programmer—Ryan Adolf (12).
Ryan is like many other students at The Harker School—or any school in the Silicon Valley, for that matter—in that he is deeply invested in computer science and everything it has to offer. But Ryan’s dedication to CS is especially driven, growing from a fascination with Lego Mindstorms in elementary school to a determination to build his own computer from scratch.
He started CheckPCR in middle school and continued improving it throughout freshman year and the summer of sophomore year. Now, he mostly makes tweaks every now and then to update it.
“I started [programming] in elementary school when my parents bought me the Lego Mindstorms stuff and I was also taking Scratch classes,” Ryan said. “Eventually, they got me this Python book and with that, I finally had a proper programing language. I could do a lot more”
His friend Henry Wong (12) describes him as “very kind, very cheerful all the time.” At the Pacific Tiger Invitational cross country meet, a mascot dance was announced where representatives from each school could wear their respective school’s mascot and dance in a circle. Despite the sweltering heat, Ryan volunteered to don the eagle costume.
“We were just fooling around, telling people to wear [the eagle costume], we never had someone go for the dance and Ryan was like ‘Yeah okay I’ll wear it’ and then he put it on,” Henry said. “You could see during the dance he wanted to take the helmet off — he was trying to pull it up. At the end when he takes it off he’s very very sweaty, it’s like he’s drenched in the shower.”
His peers in Harker Dev echo Henry’s thoughts. “Ryan is really smart and also really nice,” Akshay Manglik (10), a fellow Harker Dev member said. “He loves to code and works on all sorts of projects like Harker Pay, but he also likes to help the newer members with coding.”
However, despite all of his accolades, he maintains a humble and carefree attitude, admirable traits in the cutthroat tech industry.
“The most effective thing for me to be doing is probably just inspiring people,” Ryan said. “It’s a very small chance that I’d be able to do something to change the world, so maybe I’ll help that if I inspire a thousand different people.”
Michael Eng (11) is the multimedia editor for Harker Aquila who doesn't do much writing. This is his third year on staff. He enjoys editing videos and...