![“[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)
Upper school journalism staff present at CSPA Spring Convention
TALON Yearbook co-Editor-in-Chief Lavanya Subramanian (12) presents at a session titled “Afflicting the Comfortable while Comforting the Afflicted.” Along with Winged Post co-Editor-in-Chief Sabrina Zhu (12), they explained how their staffs handled the reporting, writing and design processes for sensitive or uncomfortable topics that Harker journalism has covered.
March 17, 2023
NEW YORK — Upper school journalism staff hosted three 45-minute sessions at the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Spring Convention at Columbia University on Wednesday.
The convention took place from Wednesday to Friday, with sessions offered throughout each of the three days. Students and advisers from publications across the country presented on various journalistic topics, including creative headline writing, photojournalism tips and advice on making portfolios.
Winged Post co-Editor-in-Chief Sabrina Zhu (12) and TALON Yearbook co-Editor-in-Chief Lavanya Subramanian (12) led the first presentation alongside Upper School Journalism Director Whitney Huang at 10 a.m. Titled “Afflicting the Comfortable while Comforting the Afflicted,” their presentation discussed sensitive or uncomfortable topics that Harker journalism has covered between 2020 and the present day, alternating between newspaper and yearbook examples. Topics were divided into four categories, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), politics, activism and other sensitive stories, and they included California wildfires, the Black Lives Matter movement, school shooting threats and sexual assault cases. Within each topic, Sabrina and Lavanya explained how their staffs handled the reporting, writing and design processes. They also gave advice about interviewing with sensitivity and compassion and maintaining a balance between respect and timeliness, which are crucial to remember when covering controversial stories. At the end of the session, they answered questions posed by nearly 90 attendees.
Next, Winged Post Managing Editor Arjun Barrett (12) gave a presentation on “New App: Newspaper Organizer” during the 11 a.m. session. During his talk, Arjun outlined the need for a more organized behind-the-scenes system for the upper school print newspaper. To address this need, he built an app using Javascript over this past winter break, which allows staff members to upload in-progress pages from Adobe InDesign so that the leadership team can monitor progress. Additionally, the app offers built-in newspaper visualization features, displaying what the final product would look like after individual pages are combined into spreads. During the question and answer segment at the end, Arjun discussed the possibility of deploying the app for other schools to use.
Huang discussed the inception of the app and helped demonstrate the app in a live demo. Winged Post co-STEM Editor Edward Huang (11) and Sabrina also contributed to Arjun’s presentation, describing how the app has streamlined the Winged Post design process and kept them on track for deadlines.
“I thought it was pretty cool because using the Winged Post organizer for our Issue 5 was really convenient, and I thought the organizer was a big improvement from what we had before,” Edward said. “It was good to just share it with other schools.”
Finally, for the 1:30 p.m. session, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief Tiffany Chang (12) and Humans of Harker Managing Editor Michelle Wei (11) gave the “Humans of (Your School)” presentation. They discussed the origins of the Humans of Harker project, its current implementation and how to start a similar profiling project at the high school level. Co-Editor-in-Chief Sally Zhu (12) and Lavanya described the various print and multimedia formats that such a project can take, while Photo Editor Jessica Tang (12) and Assistant Sports Editor Kevin Zhang (11) offered advice on how to take a strong “Humans of” environmental portrait.
Melissa Waas, a student reporter for The Blaze from Rock Ridge High School in Ashburn, Virginia, attended the “Humans of (Your School)” session. The Blaze had published similar profiles earlier in the year, and Melissa learned new ideas and approaches from Harker’s presentation.
“I thought [the session] was inspirational, and I actually got some ideas after watching this,” Melissa said. “I liked the video part because I hadn’t thought about the whole aspect of doing multimedia coverage other than putting it in an article.”
The journalism program plans to present in more sessions at the JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention in San Francisco from April 20 to April 23.
