![“[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)
STEM Scene: Dec. 13
December 13, 2020
WiSTEM
From the week of Nov. 16 to Nov. 20, the Women in STEM (WiSTEM) club had their club week to gain exposure with more students and to promote their organization. Throughout the week, club members participated in engaging discussions and interacted with the invited members of the Alumni Panel and Anatomage Speaker Panel.
Online science competitions
Multiple national level STEM competitions have confirmed moving to online for the 2021 year, including the F=ma physics exam, the United States of America Biology Olympiad (USABO) Open exam, and the American Math Contest (AMC) 10 and 12, due to precautions for COVID-19. Harker students have begun registration for the olympiads, which will take place in early 2021.
SpaceX
On Dec. 13, SpaceX launched the Falcon 9 with SiriusXM’s SXM-7 satellite from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This launch was the Falcon 9’s seventh flight, and it came following the explosion of SpaceX’s Starship SN8 prototype in South Texas last week, technology that the company hopes to deploy in the future to allow humans to make regular trips to Mars.
Slack purchase
San Francisco-based cloud software company Salesforce recently acquired Slack in a 27.7 billion dollar deal. Slack’s market cap was approximately 24 billion at the time of the purchase, with the deal placing Slack at a premium, as it was carried out in half cash and half stock. Immediately after talks between the two companies were reported, Slack’s stock rose approximately 38%, falling in the days since to about 42.24 per share as of Sunday morning.
