![“[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)
On Friday, April 20th, six members of Modern Woodmen, a fraternal financial company founded in 1883, arrived to plant trees for the third year running, courtesy of the coordination by Director of Development Melinda Gonzales.
Around Earth Day, the Modern Woodmen company travels around planting trees as a part of the “plant-a-tree” movement. “The heart of our organization is fraternally giving back to our communities, so Earth Day is a huge project for us,” said Aleda Phillips, the Admin. Asst. & Chapters Activities Coordinator. Throughout the years, Modern Woodmen have planted around 13 trees on campus, including the ones which line the side of Nichols Hall facing Rosenthal Field.
As a non-profit organization, Modern Woodmen emphasizes returning as much if not more than they take from the community.
“Giving things away is difficult–everyone always thinks there is a gimmick or a catch to it, but there isn’t. We just give things away from the goodness of our company and to help the community,” said Allen Phillips, Regional Director.
In addition to community service projects, Modern Woodmen provide various free educational programs for local schools. For students from kindergarten to 8th grade, they provide programs in ecology, nutrition, and fitness.
According to Aleda Phillips, the students “receive things like free jump ropes, binoculars, field guides, workbooks, magnifying glasses, and pencils.” Modern Woodmen also established a financial literacy program.
As Modern Woodmen’s aim is to give back to the community in as many ways as they can, they host many activities such as school speech contests for students up to 12th grade as well as free youth educational programs and scholarship money.
![Winged Post Editor-in-Chief Katerina Matta and Managing Editor Young Min were selected as first place winners from a pool of around 2,000 students. “This page [shows] how much we paid attention to detail and how much we pushed ourselves to ensure the best quality that we could,” Young said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_4254-900x1200.jpeg)
