![“[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)
During school meeting on Monday April 9, Jenny Chen (11) and Darian Edvalson (10), student representatives of the Challenge Success team, presented their goals for restructuring the Upper School to the student body.
One initiative is to administer an anonymous survey, taken next week. Objectives of the survey include determining the average number of assessments per week in a course and comparing the real and expected time students take to prepare for assessments. Questions cover general student well-being such as how much sleep students receive per night.
“Though the survey is not intended to target any teachers or courses, we hope to get some concrete data to identify some areas of stress in students’ lives,” Jenny said. “Overall, we hope to obtain some data first before tackling our initiatives, [which are] assessments and schedules.”
Darian also stressed the importance of the survey.
“[The survey] gives teachers a better idea of how much work they are actually giving their students because a lot of teachers give a lot more work than they think that they do,” Darian said.
Butch Keller, Upper School Division Head, stressed to spend serious time thinking about assessments from now until next Thursday, as it is for student benefit.
The Challenge Success team, which consists of students, counselors, faculty, and parents, is “trying to make Harker a better Harker,” Keller said.
On one of the slides, Jenny and Darian presented a stress tree, which identified some causes and effects of pressure. Root problems consist of a grade-centric mindset, an overload of homework/assessments, and the bell schedule. Resume building, sleep deprivation, and test anxiety make up the effects of stress.
During their time at the The Challenge Success Spring Conference, at least one representative from the team attended topics which covered the following: student stress, adolescent health, social emotional learning, facilitating school reform, teaching for engagement, and addressing college admissions healthily.
Both representatives, along with the rest of the team, came up with the following mission statement.
“We want Harker to be a school that promotes educational excellence and intellectual curiosity while honoring the developmental needs of our students.”
