![“[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)
Sophomores, juniors and seniors gathered in the Athletic Center (AC) for a schoolwide spirit event from 9:35 to 9:50 a.m. on Wednesday.
Associated Student Body (ASB) Spirit Coordinator Luke Mehta (12) and Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) Community Leader Anish Jain (12) started off the meeting by calling up fall sports captains Juhi Madala (12), Margaret Cartee (12), Carol Song (12), Emi Fujimura (12), Keren Eisenberg (11), Adam Sayed (12), Kashish Priyam (11), Charlize Wang (11), Caio Cammer (11) and Rayan Arya (11), who each introduced themselves and their sport. Luke then led a game of “Guess the Song” in which he played the beginning of popular songs such as “Barbie World (With Aqua)” by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice and “Night Changes” by One Direction. Team captains competed to be the first to guess the correct song name and artist for points.
Sophomore HSLT representatives chose six winners, Eric Zhang (11), Claire Perng (11), Jason Li (11), Natalie Barth (10), Sathvik Vemulapalli (10) and Nikhil Ranjit (12), out of all students who participated in the raffle at Spirit Kickoff. They won various prizes, ranging from boba and Starbucks deliveries to a panda plushie with a boba cup. Nikhil, the last winner to be chosen, received an option to exchange prizes with another student.
“It was great to see people enjoying [the spirit event],” Leana Zhou (10), a HSLT representative who conducted the raffle, said. “I loved that [the winners] were laughing and enjoying their prizes and [that] their classmates were cheering them on.”
Justin Chao (12), who attended the event, appreciated the effort from ASB and HSLT put into organizing the event and enjoyed watching other students participate in the raffle and games.
“The ‘Guess the Song’ game was well-prepared, and I liked it a lot,” Justin said. “It was definitely fun, and it was a good introduction to spirit this year.”
