![“[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)
Homecoming Week Day 3: Sophomores clinch victory in dodgeball finals, seniors and frosh dress up for class themes
Oskar Baumgarte (10) throws a ball at the opposing team of juniors during the dodgeball finals on Wednesday. The class of 2025 defeated the class of 2024, taking them to first place in the dodgeball tournament.
The sophomore class defeated the juniors in the dodgeball finals, while the frosh team bested the seniors in their matchup, hosted in the Zhang Gymnasium during lunch today. To celebrate the third day of Homecoming Week, the senior and frosh classes dressed up following their themes of the movie universes “It” and “Harry Potter,” respectively.
After losing to the juniors on Monday’s preliminary dodgeball games, the frosh team lined up against the seniors, who lost to the sophomores in the preliminary round, to compete for third place. The class of 2026 quickly took the lead as the seniors failed to catch many of their throws. When only two seniors were left standing against eight frosh, the class of 2023 made a comeback and evened out the numbers, but at the end of the game, only one senior was left standing.
The game went into overtime, with senior Brian Chen pitted against five frosh competitors. After taking two of them out with well-placed throws, a ball hit him, and the frosh took their victory amidst boisterous cheers from the crowd.
“Winning feels great, it feels great to have done what everyone always wants to do — show up the seniors,” dodgeball participant Yash Sachdeva (9) said. “They feel like they’re so much better than us, but we just feel proud that we did good work, and, well, we made it.”
After the consolation game, the sophomores and juniors faced off for the dodgeball finals. Despite an initial difference in numbers, with the sophomores outnumbering the juniors, the game started out evenly-matched, with both sides losing players at a similar pace.
The juniors caught many of the balls that the sophomores threw, pulling them into the lead as sophomores got out. However, the sophomores then made a comeback, with their hard-hitting throws ultimately crowning the class of 2025 victorious.
“Everybody’s so excited and happy, screaming, jumping,” dodgeball participant Claire Anderson (10) said. “The environment was just amazing.”
Throughout the rest of today, seniors donned costumes themed around the horror movie “It” while the frosh class picked up their wands and cloaks to represent the “Harry Potter” series. Jessica Zhou (12), who dressed up as Pennywise from “It,” reflected on Spirit Week so far.
“My favorite part of Spirit Week has actually been the dress ups because it’s seeing what people come to school as, and also seeing the sea of different colors — that was really cool,” Jessica said.
Tomorrow, the Homecoming Rally, which features the class lip syncs and Homecoming court relay race, will take place in the Zhang Gymnasium after seventh period at 11:10 a.m. Tomorrow’s dress-up will be class shirts for each grade, and students can again check-in at Manzanita Hall to earn spirit points.
“I guess it wasn’t so good that [we, the seniors] lost both dodgeball and tug of war, but the lip sync tomorrow — we’re gonna blow it away,” Jessica said.
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