![“[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)
School meeting recap 9/16/21: Honor Week, Herald and Homecoming themes
Senior honor council representatives Rohan Thakur, Alexa Lowe and Arely Sun announce Honor Week. An underclassman and an upperclassman can pair up, find a similarity with each other and submit a selfie together throughout the week for spirit points.
September 21, 2021
Associated Student Body (ASB) President Dawson Chen (12) began the school meeting.
ASB Vice President Ayan Nath (12) gave students reminders about driving onto the Saratoga campus, emphasizing that when coming to campus, drivers should not take the left lane and cut in front of cars immediately outside the entrance to the upper school.
Sujith Pakala (12), Elvis Han (12) and BB Ajlouny (11) delivered the Eagle Update. Girls golf defeated Notre Dame San Jose 211-284, remaining undefeated in the league with a 4-0 record. Golfer Allison Yang earned third medalist honors in her career by shooting one over 437. Girls golf played St. Francis High School last Thursday in Sunnyvale. Girls tennis played Sacred Heart last Thursday.
Girls water polo took second place in their tournament on Sept. 11. The girls water polo team fell to Gunn High School on Tuesday, scoring 9-18, and the team opened with a close game during Wednesday’s match with Castilleja before falling to Castilleja, scoring 7-11. The team traveled to the Watsonville Tournament this past weekend.
Boys water polo defeated Los Altos High School and Mountain View High School last week, starting league play undefeated. Last Tuesday, boys varsity water polo lost to Gunn High School 13-18 while boys junior varsity water polo took a 13-5 victory. Boys varsity water polo traveled to Southern California for a tournament this past weekend, and boys junior varsity water polo traveled to Aptos High School.
Football lost to Valley Christian Academy 32-18 on Sept. 10. The football team faces Crystal Springs this Thursday in an eight-man football game. Cross country opened their season at the Lowell Tournament in San Francisco on Sept. 11. The freshman boys placed 13th. Eric Zhang (9) raced 2.13 miles in 14 minutes and 12 seconds. Sophia Liu (9) ran 2.13 miles in 16 minutes and 25 seconds. Kara Kister (11) ran 2.93 miles and 20 minutes and 47 seconds. Veyd Patil (10) raced 2.93 miles in 16 minutes and 41 seconds.
Girls volleyball fell to Cupertino High School on Sept. 10, dropping to 4-6 overall. Junior varsity girls volleyball scored 2-3 at the Spikefest Tournament. Girls volleyball hosted Sacred Heart High School last Thursday in open league play, and the varsity girls volleyball team traveled to Notre Dame Belmont last Saturday.
Senior honor council representatives Rohan Thakur, Alexa Lowe and Arely Sun announced Honor Week, which will take place next week. Monday will focus on the environment, Tuesday will focus on honesty, Wednesday will focus on respect and Thursday will focus on accountability. For spirit points, underclassmen and upperclassmen can find a similarity between themselves and submit selfies with each other throughout the week. Students will also sign the revised Honor Code during advisory.
Justin Fung (12), editor-in-chief of Herald, an upper school history journal, announced that they are now accepting research papers written in sophomore and junior year history classes and research papers written in outside programs or independently. Submissions are due on Oct. 11 at tiny.cc/heraldsubmission.
ASB Spirit Coordinator William Chien (12) announced the Homecoming themes for each class: New School Movies for the seniors, New School Music for the juniors, Old School Music for the sophomores and Old School Movies for the freshmen.
The Spikeball Club showed a promotional video made by BB. Spikeball Club leaders Dhruv Saoji (12), Sujith and Aaditya Gulati (12) announced that they will host open play during long lunches, and they invited students and faculty to play spikeball on Davis Field on Thursday. They will also host tournaments at Harker and around the Bay Area.
HELM co-editors-in-chief Reagan Ka (12) and Alina Yuan (12) and Art Club co-presidents Gloria Zhu (12) and Michelle Liu (12) announced that they are accepting writing and art submissions at tiny.cc/HEART for the November issue of the HEART Zine, a magazine collaboration between HELM and Art Club. They noted that the HEART Zine is not the same as the annual HELM magazine, and HELM will accept submissions for the latter later in the year.
Richard Amarillas (12), Neo Alpha (10), Arjun Dixit (12) and Vayun Tiwari (12) announced the creation of Civil Discourse Club, which focuses on fostering a safe space for people to discuss politics. The deadline to apply for the club’s leadership positions is this Friday.
