![“[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)
Happening at Harker 10/30: Halloween costume contest, UNICEF trick-or-treat and Fall Play
“Happening at Harker” is a new Aquila repeater which offers compilations of events occurring in the Harker community a few times a week.
October 30, 2020
“Happening at Harker” is a new Aquila repeater to be published a couple times a week with a compilation of upcoming events and opportunities. Through this repeater, Aquila hopes to provide a one-stop-shop for the Harker community to keep up with upper school events.
Liberal Arts Research Speaker Event: Upper school librarian Lauri Vaughan and upper school history teacher Donna Gilbert will be hosting a speaker event with Dr. Fiona Griffiths on Nov. 11 11 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Dr. Griffiths is a historian, Harker parent and Professor of History at Stanford University. The event will take place in Vaughan’s Zoom room.
Harker Spirit Costume Contest: Students can submit a picture of their current or past halloween costumes today to enter Harker Spirit’s Costume Contest. Submit at tiny.cc/costumecomp or tag @harkerspirit in an Instagram story.
Harker Book Blog Submissions: The Harker Book Blog is now open to submissions. Students can submit book reviews here and creative articles here.
UNICEF asynchronous trick-or-treat: Watch 1-2 minute videos and participate in an interactive activity to earn money for UNICEF up until Nov. 15. Watching the videos or participating in the interactive activities will contribute coins that translate to money that will be donated to UNICEF. Links to the videos are here.
Mask Making Service Project: Sign up for upper school librarian Lauri Vaughan’s mask making project at this link. 20 upper school students created 500 masks in the past month and earned a total of 135 community service hours.
Happiness Committee’s Wednesday Weekly: This week’s Wednesday Weekly can be found here.
Justin Michael Williams speaker event: The replay video of speaker, author and musician Justin Michael Williams’s virtual visit to the upper school on Tuesday can be found here.
Diversity Committee Halloween Costume guidelines: With Halloween coming up tomorrow, the Diversity Committee has released guidelines for students to possibly consider when picking Halloween costumes.
Fall Play: This year’s remote fall play performances include Miles Apart but Close at Heart, the freshman and sophomore show, and School for Thought, the junior and senior show. The recording of the productions can be found here; the access password is Fallplay2020, and School for Thought begins at the 46:30 timestamp.
