![“[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)
‘It’s Time!’ for TALON yearbook distribution
![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/AZ1A1843-900x600.jpg)
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.
May 24, 2023
TALON distributed its yearbook themed “It’s Time!” to celebrate this year’s events, accomplishments and highlights on the upper school campus May 15 and 16.
“We put so much love into it with our new staff and old staff,” Angelina Hu (11), TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief for the 2023-24 school year, said. “We work on it 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.”
The class of 2023 picked up their yearbooks on May 14 during the senior trip to Laguna, while sophomores and juniors received their yearbooks May 15, and the frosh class collected their copies on May 16. Former TALON Co-Editor-in-Chiefs Lakshmi Mulgund (12) and Lavanya Subramanian (12) led the 21-student yearbook staff, advised by upper school yearbook advisor Kevin Oliver, in the creation of the yearbook over the course of the school year. Yearbook staff members attended school events for photographing, interviewing and recording. Angelina comments on the challenges that came with putting the yearbook together especially with the influx of new reporters to the yearbook team.
“Sticking to deadlines was definitely hard,” Angelina said. “Sometimes content doesn’t come in on time by the deadline, so you’re rushing to get it all in because the pages have to be submitted on time. Onboarding new staff — since we had a lot of reporters this year — and having a proper distribution of work between them and us was also really hard.”
During Editors’ Week from August 15 to 19, the TALON staff worked on practice designs and staff bonding while in September, the staff began organizing the details of the yearbook. Student Life Editor for the 2023-24 school year Shiv Deokar (10) recalls the complexity of the yearbook production process earlier in the year as a new member of staff.
“I remember when I first came into [TALON], I had no idea what I was doing, [so] the fact that it’s finally out is amazing,” Shiv said. “I’m really proud of all the work we did this year.”
Since the yearbook could only include coverage of the year up to around the end of winter, the TALON staff will continue working on page designs and finalizing them for their Spring Supplement. In August, students and faculty will receive the Spring Supplement in advisory.
