![“[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)
Herald of a new era: Harker’s new history journal
The Harker Herald is a new publication about research essays created by junior Andrew Lu.
November 14, 2019
Everyone knows of Harker’s student-run magazines Horizon and Harker Eclectic Literature and Media (HELM), but junior Andrew Lu has added a third magazine to this list: the Herald, a history journal that will celebrate student excellence in history and act as a model to student research essays.
The Herald was specifically created to showcase the multitude of outstanding history essays that have been written by Harker students. It also will provide examples of good research essays to Harker students and to serve as a teaching resource for both history teachers and librarians. The student editorial board of the Herald, which includes Andrew, will edit and review essays submitted for publication in order to ensure the best versions are used as models.
“When it comes to writing research papers, looking to previous students’ papers is a good model, and it’s a good way to share with them different perspectives,” Andrew said.
The Herald will be available on the Harker LibGuides in early December, giving current freshmen ample time to peruse it before writing their research papers in the spring. Unlike both HELM and Horizon, copies of the Herald will not be available for sale to the general student body. Instead, the limited run of hard copies will be distributed to the library and History Department. When students need to use the journal, they can access it in any of their history teachers’ classrooms or check out a copy in the library.
In the future, the editorial board of the Herald plans to release a new copy every year around December or January. New members of the board will be chosen through an interview and voting process, and they may expand from the journal itself to also offering workshops and mentorships to student researchers as they write their essays. The Herald also plans to expand to sophomore and junior model essays in the future.
Over the summer, Andrew realized the absence of history publications that Harker offers and went to Byron Stevens, his AP European History teacher, with a solution: the Herald. Many on the editorial board, including Lauren Liu (9), agree with the lack of support for history and believe that the journal can make it a more popular subject.
“History isn’t a subject that everyone prefers, and especially at a school where STEM is the main focus, the humanities are really under-appreciated,” Lauren said.
Stevens immediately supported the history journal; he was as enthused about the project as Andrew was. He was also impressed with how thorough and thoughtful the editorial board had been in the creation process of the Herald, leaving almost no work to the teachers.
“Something I appreciate about the group of kids who put this together is the way they front-end loaded it and they came up with a product. The kids really took the initiative, and now [the advisers] are just making sure that it works out in the future,” Stevens said.
Many on the editorial board believe that this journal will change research essay writing, especially for freshmen and sophomores. Spencer Cha (10), a member of the editorial board, thinks that he would have been much more comfortable writing the freshman research essay if previous essays were available as models.
“As freshmen, we had basically no sample papers, no examples of papers to base our research papers off of,” Spencer said. “But with this journal the freshman will have a better foundation of how to write their research paper.”
Andrew acknowledges that the Herald may not start with a general readership, but his vision is for the journal to inspire students to pursue excellence when writing their history essays. He hopes that, by compiling stellar examples of essays together, the Herald will spark an interest in the subject for students.
“Let’s face it, people aren’t gonna read 2000-3000 word essays for enjoyment with all their other commitments,” he said. “Our target audience is freshmen and sophomores who are looking for some extra guidance.”
The editorial board of the Herald hopes that the journal will encourage greater variation in research essays and foster student discussion about their topics and history in general.
“That’s one of the goals of the journal actually, to engage in scholarly discussion with peers,” Andrew said. “That’s the vision that we want to have with the history journal.”
