![“[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)
From June 20 to 23, four Upper School students and three recent graduates accompanied by two advisors attended the EurekaFest 2012 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to present their InvenTeams project.
In October of 2011, the team consisting of 2012 alumni Prag Batra, Sachin Jain, and Arihant Jain; seniors Shantanu Joshi, Wilbur Yang, and Ramakrishnan Menon; and junior Nikhil Dilip was selected by the Lemelson-MIT Program as one of 16 InvenTeams to receive a $10,000 grant and build an invention that addresses a real-world problem. The annual EurekaFest festival provided the stage for the high school teams to showcase their yearlong projects.
“This event gives [high school students] a chance to show off their hard work and be recognized by a larger group of innovators, […] who we hope inspire InvenTeams to become the inventors of the future,” said Stephanie Martinovich, External Relations Officer of the Lemelson-MIT Program, in an email interview with TalonWP.
For their project, the Upper School team developed an Aquatic Thermoelectric Generator, a device that generates electricity from the temperature difference between the heat concentrated on the surface and the water beneath it.
“Despite the frustrating moments, it was really rewarding when we got the various components of our device working and they started coming together to form our overall prototype,” Prag said.
Aside from presenting their own inventions at the festival, the students had the chance to watch presentations of collegiate student prize winners and listen to speeches from public officials such as U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu. The multi-day event also included design challenges that required InvenTeams students to split into groups and build machines that perform physical tasks.
“Meeting, brainstorming, and building an invention with students from radically different backgrounds during the several design challenges at EurekaFest was a new experience for me and one of my favorite aspects of the event,” Wilbur said.
Likewise, advisor Dr. Mark Brada thinks that networking with other high school and collegiate inventors was a valuable experience for the Upper School students.
He said, “I believe that having the chance for the students from Harker to interact with the student inventors from all over the world was a great opportunity for them to forge relationships with other like minded people that may last for a lifetime.”
![Winged Post Editor-in-Chief Katerina Matta and Managing Editor Young Min were selected as first place winners from a pool of around 2,000 students. “This page [shows] how much we paid attention to detail and how much we pushed ourselves to ensure the best quality that we could,” Young said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_4254-900x1200.jpeg)
