![“[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)
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![“[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)
Students sign Honor Code poster and watch video during annual assembly
In the atrium, a group of sophomores signs the Honor Code poster. This document represents the students’ agreement to the terms of the Honor Code. While they signed the poster by advisory, others watched a video which displayed various students’ and faculty’s opinions of honor.
On Tuesday, September 11, the Honor Council held the annual Honor Code poster signing assembly for each class. Signing the poster represented the students’ understanding of the Honor Code and their willingness to obey its rules.
During the meeting, each advisory signed the poster one by one, while others watched a video that consisted of students and faculty describing their interpretations of and experiences with honor.
The video was filmed last spring by Honor Council members, including sophomore representative Sahana Rangarajan.
“We worked hard from the end of last year to start making a video. Overall, the organization was better [than last year’s video], and it was just a lot more efficient,” she said. “This year we had people from Honor Council, people from Student Council, people who were known for something around school, but we could have people from different activities [interviewed] as well [for next year].”
A participant in the video, Vivek Sriram (10) thought the assembly was a great opportunity to consider and reflect on the meaning of honor.
“I thought it was really helpful as it gave other people’s views of the honor code of Harker,” he said.
Others, including Nina Sabharwal (12), have been attending this event for many years and have started to feel that it has “become a Harker ritual.” However, she believes some aspects of the assembly could have been better.
“Maybe [there could be] a more updated video, [and] the volume should be louder,” she said.
Likewise, many freshmen, who were viewing the video for the first time, had mixed opinions on the assembly.
“I thought it was very informative, and I liked how we could see people interviewed for what they thought honor meant,” Jillian Shaw (9) said. “[To improve,] maybe not make the video so long because people tend to get bored with it.”
Honor Council faculty chair, Dr. Mark Brada, felt that the meeting went smoothly and ran efficiently.
“There were some very small hiccups, but from what I heard from the other students, […] it went very well overall,” he said. “I think the main point of having this assembly is to bring the idea of honor and academic integrity to the forefront of students’ minds.”
According to Honor Council members, they will begin preparing for next year’s assembly and filming clips for a new video in the spring.
Shannon Su is the Managing Editor and Executive News Director of Harker Aquila. She joined the program as a reporter her freshman year and has held many...
Anokhi Saklecha (12) is the Global Editor for the Winged Post. She has been in the journalism program for the past three years. She loves the creativity,...