![LALC Vice President of External Affairs Raeanne Li (11) explains the International Phonetic Alphabet to attendees. "We decided to have more fun topics this year instead of just talking about the same things every year so our older members can also [enjoy],” Raeanne said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_4627-1200x795.jpg)
![“[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)
Election survey results: How upper school members are feeling about the 2020 election
November 2, 2020
This Tuesday, Harker Aquila sent out an anonymous survey to all upper school students to gather information about how students are feeling about the upcoming election, which is two days away. Here are the responses represented as pie charts.
The majority of Harker students are currently under the age of 18 and are unable to vote this year. However, survey results show that over half of those surveyed believe that they know “a lot” about the election.
Survey results show that about 88 percent of students surveyed would or did vote for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, while 68 percent believe that Biden will win.
“I don’t really make my choices based off the party I support; I base it off of the policies I care about,” a junior who identified as Republican said. “I think that if you’re looking at some of the history that’s happening across forty years along with some basic human principles that I feel Donald Trump violates, and if you look at some of the policies that Joe Biden has proposed, I think that Joe Biden is a better leader for our country going forward.”
Upper school students identify with a range of political ideologies and political parties, with a majority of those surveyed identifying as liberal and over 67 percent of students identifying with the Democratic party.
Vincent Zhang (10) identifies with the Green party, although he does not believe in voting for a third-party candidate.
Harker Aquila also asked respondents how well they thought Trump handled key issues, including the pandemic, the Supreme Court, immigration, environment, racial equality and inclusion, women’s rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Most students surveyed thought that Trump handled these issues either “poorly” or “very poorly.”
Trisha Variyar (10) is one of the students who indicated that President Trump has handled environmental issues poorly.
*Editors’ note: This article was revised on October 18, 2021. At a source’s request, his name and video were removed to provide anonymity due to fear of viewpoint discrimination.
