![“[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)
Harker journalism program hosts Summit High School journalists for photography class
Director of Journalism Ellen Austin explains the fundamentals of DSLR photography to visiting journalism students from Summit High School. The Summit students arrived during lunch and stayed through third period, where they participated in a photo scavenger hunt with Harker students.
March 2, 2020
Encapsulating a fairy tale aura, a colorful gnome figurine stands out in defined focus in contrast to the blurrier leafy surroundings, an effect produced by bokeh, the out-of-focus result in photos using certain lenses.
Students captured this mystical woodland scene in a joint scavenger hunt between the journalism program and Summit High School’s journalism program, who came to visit the upper school on Feb. 24.
After meeting at a journalism conference, Liz DeOrnellas, the adviser of Summit High School’s journalism program and Ellen Austin, Harker’s Director of Journalism, decided that organizing field trips where their two staffs could interact would be a good way to start cross-school collaboration.
“It is always really inspiring to see people being able to collaborate together. We’re really grateful for Ms. Austin, helping us out with some of her photography expertise,” DeOrnellas said. “[I hoped] that this experience would be a good mix of learning technical skills, but also the ability to meet other dedicated student journalists in of itself is a really good opportunity.”
Student journalists from the Summit School arrived during lunch, where they were divided into small groups, with two students assigned to three to five Harker journalists. After getting lunch, they sat down to look through copies of the Winged Post, the upper school’s student newspaper, while both staffs got to know each other.
After lunch, students from the visiting school attended third period journalism, where they participated in a photo scavenger hunt where they were able to practice modulating the different functions of DSLRs, digital single-lens reflex cameras. Working with Harker journalists to adjust settings and refine their camera skills, Summit journalists brushed up on old skills and acquired new ones too.
“[My] main takeaway was that there’s a lot more that I need to learn about aperture and shutter speed and depth-of-field that I should probably refresh myself on,” Keith Dinh, a junior from Summit High school, said.
After their photo exercise, Summit students recapped their day at the upper school and waved their new friends goodbye as they departed at the beginning of fourth period. Eric Fang (12), the editor-in-chief of the Winged Post, expressed the benefit of meeting other students and schools.
“It’s a really good chance to interact with other schools and learn what other people are doing outside of our own staff and listen to their ideas and how their staff operates as well,” Eric said.
