![“[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 students showcased their student-run organizations to prospective members during Club Fair on Tuesday outside the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC).
This year’s Club Fair featured 90 clubs, affinity groups and societies, marking an increase from last year’s 75 organizations. Club officers set up tri-fold boards during morning office hours and the start of lunch before welcoming students to their booths during the later half of the lunch period. Many booths generated interest in their clubs through interactive displays, like Women in Business which offered White Rabbit candy to new members or Model United Nations which invited students to play jeopardy.
“We offered candy for answering trivia questions correctly,” Civic Tech Club President Krish Nachnani (10) said. “That was a huge hit. We also got very good speakers [for this year’s meetings] including Rishi Kumar.”
New clubs like Craft Club, STEM4ALL and Science of Sobriety Club also had the opportunity to showcase themselves to potential members during Club Fair.
“We got a lot of people interested in our club,” Craft Club Vice President Ruby Johnson (12) said. “We gave out a lot of origami paper, a lot of candy, which was very successful. I think people are generally happy about Craft Club and excited to have a fun, enjoyable space to just do a little bit of art.”
Clubs collected new members’ emails through club-specific interest lists or HarkerDev’s new activities website which allows students to sign up for club email lists with the click of a button. Many frosh took advantage of the opportunity to join new clubs and hear about clubs they were interested in joining.
“It was really informative, especially to walk by and be able to look at a club and be like, ‘that looks interesting,’” Ameera Ramzan (9) said. “I really like that they do the Club Fair, so you can see as a new student or frosh all the options you have.”
