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![“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)
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![“[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)
Students travel to Great America for annual physics trip
Angela Gao (9) tries to maintain her balance on a ladder course. “I was really unsure about roller coasters last year,” she said. “This time, I went on Railblazer, and it was super fun.”
May 10, 2019
Students from all physics courses, mostly comprised of freshmen, traveled to Great America today as part of an annual physics trip. After departure from campus in the morning, students completed a mandatory lab where they determined the gravitational and normal forces acting on the rider at separate points on a roller coaster as well as where they felt the heaviest or the lightest. However, riding the roller coasters was not mandatory, and freshmen who chose to opt out could obtain the information from a peer.
When the lab was completed, the students were free to walk around the park and participate in activities such as riding roller coasters and swings or playing arcade games. Not only was it a chance to understand the physics behind amusement parks, but many students were also looking forward to spending time with their friends and enjoy the rides.
“The Great America trip was very fun and exciting, and it was just a nice trip to relax before a stressful week and an AP test,” Emily Zhou (9) said.
Those who were not able to attend will be completing a separate assignment at school.
