![“[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)
Harker Journalism advances to National Journalism Quiz Bowl finalist round
Provided by Ellen Austin
Harker Journalism’s Quiz Bowl team competed this morning in the finalists round at 8 a.m. in the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles. The team consisted of Shinjan Ghosh (12), Tiffany Chang (11), Lakshmi Mulgund (11) and Lavanya Subramanian (11).
April 9, 2022
LOS ANGELES — Four Harker Journalism staff members competed in a live buzzer round in the National Journalism Quiz Bowl competition today at 8 a.m. after passing the preliminary written test held yesterday. Harker entered the competition with a team of TALON editors: Co-Editor-in-Chief Shinjan Ghosh (12), Academics Editor Tiffany Chang (11), Co-Sports Editor Lakshmi Mulgund (11) and Student Life Editor Lavanya Subramanian (11).
The competition was sponsored by the Journalism Education Association (JEA) as a part of the National High School Journalism Convention in Los Angeles, which was held from Thursday to Saturday. Competing today in the finalists’ bracket of 16 schools, Harker, seeded fifteenth, clinched a 5-4 win against the second-seeded school, Dos Pueblos, from Goleta, California. Advancing into the following lightning round, a bracket of eight schools, Harker fell to Castle View in an 8-2 loss.
Quiz Bowl questions covered a wide range of topics, spanning from Associated Press (AP) style and grammar to civics and pop culture. Tiffany answered four out of the five questions that Harker scored, a feat she credits to her experience competing with buzzers in competitions for Junior Classical League (JCL).
“They asked a lot of civics questions, so I think APUSH [AP U.S. History] really helped with the written portion of the exam,” Tiffany said. “I think it was more just fun in the moment because I get really competitive in games.”
This year’s competition was emceed by Katie Merritt, MJE, Director-at-large on the JEA Board of Directors. Each round, Merritt would ask ten questions to two opposing teams, and each team received a point for a correctly answered question. If one team answered incorrectly, the opposing team would have five seconds to respond before the question was tossed out.
“It’s just so great to see kids be with other journalists, not just their own school, and realize that what we’re doing really has a purpose in this world,” Merritt said. “Giving them that opportunity to be recognized in front of a national convention for their role as student journalists definitely supports what we are doing as scholastic journalism educators.”
Whitney Huang, Intro to Journalism teacher and co-adviser to Harker Aquila, led the team throughout both days of the competition. After attending her first national journalism convention this year, Huang hopes to redouble Harker Journalism’s efforts in the Quiz Bowl competition next year with more preparation and multiple teams in order to garner a higher placing. For Huang, watching the team compete felt “exhilarating.”
“I was surprised by how many teams were there,” Huang said. “I found that the second round against Castle View [High School] particularly difficult. Next year, I’m looking forward to [the competition].”
Torrey Pines High School from San Diego took home the first place trophy this year.
