![“[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)
During class meeting on Tuesday, September 25, students from the freshman and junior classes gave campaign speeches to be elected for the newly created student council position of spirit coordinator.
For the sophomores and seniors, Riya Godbole (10) and Bobby Kahlon (12) are the only candidates and automatic winners. Because no other students ran against them, they did not have to give their campaign speeches.
The freshmen and juniors each have three students running. The candidates for the junior class are Nithya Vemireddy, Monika Lee, and Kenny Zhang, while those for the freshmen are Eesha Chona, Alisa Wakita, and Shivani Gohil.
In their speeches, the candidates tried to convince their peers to vote for them by promising to help their class win spirit events while having fun the whole time. Some, including freshman candidate Alisa, also stressed the importance of spirit activities in strengthening class unity.
“My favorite thing about spirit events [is] how you get to put academics to the side for once and stop thinking about schoolwork, and everyone comes together as family, as friends, and most importantly as the class of 2016,” Alisa said.
The candidates expressed their excitement about the position and their classes’ participation in upcoming spirit events. In particular, Bobby looks forward to “leading the spirit events and taking on a bigger role.”
According to Student Activities Coordinator Kerry Enzensperger, the spirit coordinator position was created to make the spirit duties of student council easier for the original members.
“We have the same amount of student council members as when we had 200 kids in the school. We now have almost 700, so we needed another spot,” she said.
Junior candidate Kenny agreed that adding a new position in student council would be beneficial.
“With an officer and a council who can control [spirit activities], it’ll be much more efficient,” he said.
In addition, sophomore spirit coordinator Riya felt that there needed to be a stronger connection between spirit club and student council.
“Last year, there was a disconnect because the class wanted to do one thing and the spirit club wanted to do another, so I think [the spirit coordinator] will make it a lot more organized and make it run a lot more smoothly,” Riya said.
The spirit coordinator’s position consists of attending spirit club as well as student council meetings and helping the other members of student council organize spirit events and activities.
The juniors will vote for their spirit coordinator during advisory, while the freshmen will hear the rest of the campaign speeches today and vote during lunch on Friday.
![Winged Post Editor-in-Chief Katerina Matta and Managing Editor Young Min were selected as first place winners from a pool of around 2,000 students. “This page [shows] how much we paid attention to detail and how much we pushed ourselves to ensure the best quality that we could,” Young said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG_4254-900x1200.jpeg)
