![“[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)
Making a smoothie typically involves plugging in a powerful blender into an outlet, dumping in an assortment of fruits and pressing down on the lid. The blade instantly accelerates to thousands of revolutions per minute, and voilà, the contents turn into a consistent puree.
However, nearly 775 million people worldwide lack access to electricity and live without the everyday commodities that many have grown accustomed to. The upper school Green Team, working together with Harker Robotics, designed a bike capable of blending smoothies solely powered by pedaling.
Talk for a collaboration between Green Team and Harker Robotics first began at the beginning of last year as a way to promote sustainability by upcycling materials. Green Team sourced all of the parts for the bike from thrift stores or bought them secondhand, demonstrating the possibilities of reusing resources.
“It was kind of a cool way to show how stuff has a longer life than we think it does,” Green Team co-president Siddhi Jain said. “You can repurpose things that you’d normally throw out. Obviously, some of it isn’t the most practical, but the point of [the bike] was to show that you can do zero waste things and sustainability can be fun.”
Although delays caused by the Robotics regular season pushed back the construction of the smoothie bike, Harker Robotics managed to build the bike in around one month’s time, finishing the design at the end of September.
During the engineering process, the team encountered significant obstacles. Firstly, the ovular shape of the gears in the bike resulted in an uneven feel as the rider pedaled. They eventually reduced this problem by designing a tensioner to prevent the bike chain from skipping on the gear.
Additionally, in order to achieve an RPM high enough to blend fruit, the team combined gears of various sizes to increase the number of blade rotations for every pedal cycle. Harker Robotics mechanical and machining co-director Akul Goyal (11), the primary lead for the smoothie bike, remarks on the project result.
“I think it’s a success because it addresses what the project was meant to do,” Akul said. “The smoothie bike gives you an idea of the amount of energy it takes to blend a smoothie and the effort that goes into it, and it also reminds you to be more carbon efficient.”
During Harker Day, Green Team used the bike to fundraise money for Good Karma Bikes, a nonprofit community bike shop. Selling smoothies blended through pedal power, they raised around 1,500 dollars. Going forward, the smoothie bike will star in Green Team’s Earth week activities after some mechanical improvements, alongside annual events like Earthchella and the Buy Better Boba sale.
Green Team advisor Diana Moss explained how initiatives like this highlight how young people, students in particular, can make a meaningful impact on the environment in their communities.
“It’s really important for students to get behind climate solutions,” Moss said. “Let’s get off the fossil fuels; let’s get off those dependencies. I’m very hopeful that smart, young people will take the initiative to solve these problems.”
