![“[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)
Upper school students elect ASB for 2020-2021 school year
April 17, 2020
Upper school students elected five juniors to the 2020-2021 Associated Student Body (ASB) council on Tuesday.
Current junior class president Jason Lin (11) won the position of ASB President against current sophomore class vice president Ayan Nath (10).
Arusha Patil (11), the current junior class vice president, won against Dawson Chen (10), the current sophomore class president, and William Chien (10), the current sophomore class spirit coordinator, for the position of ASB Vice President.
Next year’s ASB Treasurer will be Andrew Lu (11), the current junior class treasurer, who ran unopposed. Current junior class vice secretary Helen Li (11) won against Sujith Pakala (10) and Benjamin Soraire (11) for ASB Secretary. The ASB Spirit Coordinator for next year will be Calais Poirson (11), the current junior class spirit coordinator, who won against Arjun Virmani (11).
Speeches and voting took place online this year due to the transition to virtual learning last month. The new format for the elections was announced in a message to students from Dean of Students Kevin Williamson on March 23.
Students watched the campaign speeches with their advisories on Tuesday, and voting was open via OpaVote from 10:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m the same day. There were 11 candidates this year: seven juniors and four sophomores. Current ASB President Avi Gulati (12) posted the results of the election on Wednesday via a Schoology post to the Upper School Students group.
