![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.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)
Honor Week begins with environment, Green Team encourages sustainability through bulletin board
Emma Biswas (11) reads written responses from Green Team’s EcoChallenge bulletin board. Honor Week launched today with a focus on the environment and will continue with different daily themes throughout the rest of the week.
September 20, 2021
The upper school Honor Council launched Honor Week today with the theme of environment, urging students to spend time in nature and protect our campus. The coming three days will focus on the tenets of the school: honesty, respect and accountability.
As a part of environment day, Green Team encouraged community members to read and add responses to the EcoChallenge bulletin board in the Main building. The board was divided into eight categories—energy, transportation, water, waste, community, simplicity, nature, and food—and filled with hand-written “sustainable actions,” like “encouraging friends and family to always carry water bottles” and “only [buying] new things when needed, not wanted.” Green Team first implemented the EcoChallenge last spring on Earth Day for students to share how they help the environment.
“Because the campus EcoChallenge is over, we wanted to keep this going [with] a visual reminder, so we put this [board] up in the hallway,” said Diana Moss, upper school Spanish teacher and Green Team adviser. “People are welcome to write down what they do, and by sharing what we do collectively, hopefully, that will inspire someone to go ‘Oh, that’s a great idea, I can do that action, too.’”
Building an environment to promote learning and growth is the overarching theme of the Honor Code. Especially now that the campus returned to in-person learning, keeping our campus clean requires the effort of all community members.
“An important part of honor is having really strong morals and values, and one part of having good morals is being able to respect your environment,” Honor Council member and Green Team vice president Gary Ding (11) said. “We want to make sure that we’re respecting our environment [by] basically caring about our school campus, like putting trash in the right places and not leaving your food out.”
The remaining days of Honor Week will concentrate on honesty, respect and accountability with activities such as an interactive note wall in Manzanita and a weeklong selfie challenge for spirit points.
