![Cross country head coach Kevin Oliver hands flowers to seniors Kara Kister and Ada Praun-Petrovic. “It’s really sad [to be leaving]; I cried a bunch today,” Kara said. “Since I’ve been on the team for so long, and I see them every single day and all these people, it’s really sad to be leaving.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DSC_3554-900x596.jpg)
![“Journalism really helped me with people skills. I [also] got to take photos and meet a lot of my closest friends in journalism that I dont think we would have otherwise. Photographing and capturing a lot of peoples memories and being able to provide people with those pictures feels super special,” Smrithi Sambamurthy (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/SmrithiSambamurthyHOH_JH-900x634.jpg)
![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasnt been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but Ive had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. Theres so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesnt exist, you can build it yourself, Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“Animation just clicked in a way. I had been interested in art, but that felt different. [Animation] felt like it had something behind it, whereas previous things felt surface level. I wasnt making that crazy of things, but just the process of doing it was much more enjoyable, Carter Chadwick (22) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-16-at-9.44.08-AM-900x598.png)
![“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 its played such a major role in who Ive 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 Im [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)
![“[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)
![“Im 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 theres a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyones 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)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you arent going to get those championships if you arent 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)
![“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)
School meeting recap 2/4/22: Black History Month, dragon dance competition and Emerald Brass Quintet
Medha Yarlagadda (10) and Ashley Hong (10) watch the Multimedia Club video during the school meeting last Friday. During the meeting, students announced upcoming activities such as the Lunar New Year dragon dance competition and the Emerald Brass Quintet concert.
February 7, 2022
Associated Student Body (ASB) president Dawson Chen (12) started the school meeting on Feb. 3.
Multimedia Club played a video profile displaying senior Arianna Weaver’s new art exhibition, “Memories in Vibrant Color.” The video featured her thought process behind each of her paintings and how she developed her artistic style.
“Specifically, I wanted to zero in on different colors and memories that I have associated with each color,” Arianna said in the video. “So I just thought of my childhood memories that I had, moments that I sort of associate with different colors and decided to represent those.”
After the video, Art Club officers Michelle Liu (12) and Gloria Zhu (12) encouraged students to visit Arianna’s exhibition, which was the first of the Honors Art Directed Portfolio class. The exhibition was displayed in the downstairs Shah Hall stairway gallery from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4. This week, Michelle’s exhibition “Darkest Light, Brightest Shadow” will be on display, and the reception is during long lunch this Thursday.
After leading the “put your eagles up” activity, Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) Outreach Coordinator Elvis Han (12) and Co-Secretaries of Athletic Affairs BB Ajlouny (11) and Zain Vakath (11) gave the weekly Eagle Update.
Varsity girls soccer remains undefeated 13-0 with their 5-1 victory over Crystal Springs on senior day on Tuesday. They played against league second place King’s Academy on Friday.
Varsity boys soccer defeated Crystal Springs on Wednesday 3-0 to improve to 10-1-1 overall. They played their senior day game against King’s Academy on Friday.
Varsity girls basketball improved to 19-1 overall with victories over Notre Dame on Tuesday and Mercy High School on Thursday. The team vanquished Notre Dame 55-53 on Saturday, remaining undefeated in league.
Varsity boys basketball fell to Eastside College Preparatory School last night after defeating them 49-45 earlier in the week. They faced off against Priory on Saturday in the Golden One Center in Sacramento.
Lastly, Elvis urged students to sign up for spring sports. More information is available on upper school Director of Medicine and Sports Performance Jaron Olson’s Schoology posts. The link to register for spring sports is here.
Varsity boys soccer team members Rahul Herrero (11) and Vikram Mani (11) encouraged students to come and support team seniors Dhruv Saoji, Ishaan Mantripragada, Muthu Panchanatham, Arthur Kajiyama, Andrew Vodinh-Ho, Caden Lin, Shika Tseitlin, Raj Patel, Bodhi Saha, Aaditya Gulati, Laszlo Bollyky and Sasvath Ramachandran for their senior day on Friday afternoon. The senior recognition ceremony took place at 3:45 p.m. and the game began at 4 p.m.
School meeting recap 1/25/22: Culture Week, Valentine’s Grams and Chinese New Year festivities
School meeting recap 1/11/22: National Chocolate Cake Day, stress level and new dress code
School meeting recap 1/5/22: Traffic and safety, Kicks Against Cancer and Student Directed Showcase
Black Student Union (BSU) co-presidents Brooklyn Cicero (12) and KJ Williams (11) and BSU member Kai Stinson (10) announced a fundraiser in honor of Black History Month, where they will be selling various baked goods from Black-owned businesses during long lunches throughout February. The proceeds will help promote mental health awareness for the Black community.
“Currently, resources for African Americans, especially for this cause, are not accessible, so the BSU has decided to raise money,” KJ said.
They also reminded students to visit the Black History Month bulletin board in Main, featuring current African American athletes, activists, dancers, celebrities, actors and more. Additionally, they encouraged community members to browse the Black History Month section, which features a variety of genres, in the library.
Senior Student Activities Board (SAB) representatives Akhilesh Chegu and Arvin Nidadavolu announced that the Winter Ball, which had been delayed to the Spring Fling in March, has been canceled due to COVID-19 precautions. In replacement of this, the upper school has hired a DJ to host a similar event during long lunch on this upcoming Thursday with snacks, ice cream and a bubble machine.
Continuing the Lunar New Year festivities, National Chinese Honor Society (NCHS) officer Andrea Thia (12) and Elvis from International Outlook Foundation (IOF) announced the NCHS and IOF’s dragon dance competition held during long lunch on Friday. Each class had 30 minutes to design a paper dragon before parading them down the Quad.
Senior Conservatory members Nikki Kapadia, Richie Amarillas and Malar Bala gave updates on recent performing arts events. Nikki started off by congratulating performers on their annual upper school dance production last Friday and Saturday. The livestream of the performance can be found here.
Richie gave an update on this year’s musical production of “The Drowsy Chaperone,” in which actors have been engaged in vocal and choreography rehearsals since December.
“Last week, the set of the production was revealed to cast members, featuring various moving set pieces, altering locations and even a giant airplane that would be flown in from the fly space at the end of the production,” Richie said. “We are very excited to put this musical together for you all. We hope to see you there when it’s all wrapped up in late March.”
Malar introduced the Emerald Brass Quintet and announced their performance as the second installment of the annual Harker Concert Series, which took place in the Patil Theater at 7 p.m on Friday. Tickets were free for all students.
“The Emerald Brass Quintet released their acclaimed album ‘Danzón’ and has performed and taught at clinics all over the world,” Malar said. “The quintet hasn’t played together in three years due to the pandemic, so it’s an honor to host them tonight in the RPAC.”
The Emerald Brass Quintet then previewed their concert during the school meeting with two live-performed pieces: Chris Van Hof’s arrangement of “Libertango,” a passionate and energetic piece originally composed by Astor Piazzolla, and Deutsch Spieler Chor’s “Bayrischer Landler,” a traditional Bavarian waltz with a light hearted and festive melody.
Finally, Dawson thanked the performers and ended the meeting with a quick announcement that the snack bar was open.
A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled Nikki Kapadia’s name as “Nikki Kappadia.” This article has been updated on Feb. 7, 2022, to reflect the correction of this error.
Loading ...![Varun Thvar (10) writes a message in Anwen Hao (10)s yearbook after distribution on May 15. We work on [the yearbook] the whole year as a team, so seeing it finally come out and seeing people with the book in their hands being like ‘Oh hey, there’s you’ and ‘Oh hey, there’s me’ is super fulfilling,” said Angelina Hu (11), TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief for the 2023-24 school year.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/AZ1A1843-475x317.jpg)
