![“[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 Spotlight: Language and Linguistics Club
“STEM Spotlight” is a new Aquila repeater showcasing STEM clubs and their initiatives.
January 11, 2021
“STEM Spotlight” is a new repeater exploring what STEM clubs at Harker have been doing during remote learning. This week’s featured club is the Language and Linguistics Club, which strives to share the joy of linguistics and problem solving through weekly meetings and speaker events.
The Language and Linguistics Club (LALC), which was founded in 2006 by club adviser Dr. Shaun Jahshan, has sponsored the North American Computational Linguistics Open (NACLO), a three-hour contest including logic and computational linguistics problems, every year since then.
While on campus, the club usually meets every Monday after school to discuss various topics in linguistics in lectures led by club officers, but during remote learning, the club has focused on holding more content-packed meetings, such as a lecture on the Klingon language, and various speaker events, including a talk given by Sarah Roberts, upper school journalism and middle school speech and debate teacher, on her experience as a Linguistics major at UC Berkeley.
“[Remote learning] definitely changed a lot, especially the structure [of the club],” Luisa Pan (12), club president, said. “A lot of students are more hesitant to join weekly club meetings, so we’ve had them a lot more spaced out. We’re trying to make each meeting count a lot more in terms of importance.”
The club has planned a speaker series including professors from Northwestern University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that began with a talk by Dr. Brian Dillon, Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, on garden path sentences, fixations, and predictive texting the Monday before winter break. The series will continue into the second semester.
“The talk was pretty interesting. When [Dr. Dillon] talked about using neural networks to predict the next words in a phrase or sentence, that was really cool,” Olivia Xu (9), who attended Dr. Dillon’s talk, said. “I’m looking forward to the other speaker events.”
Although the virtual format poses challenges for the club in the process of explaining and discussing the strategies to solving sample problems, LALC plans on sponsoring NACLO again this year, and students have the option to test at home.
“In past years, we would prepare for NACLO by having big sessions working with people in person in Dr. Jahshan’s room on the whiteboard, but that’s not possible this year, and it’s a lot harder to convey that kind of teamwork aspect and preparation through remote learning,” Alex Zhai (12), vice president, said.
