![“[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)
Honor Council hosted their annual Honor Week which featured activities based on the three tenets of the Honor Code, honesty, accountability and respect, during the week of Nov. 13.
Honor Council encouraged students to reflect on the tenet of honesty on Nov. 13. Members of the Honor Council wore large cardboard boxes in front of Manzanita Hall during lunch with thought-provoking questions like “When should teachers use generative AI?” and “When, if ever, should a student be dishonest to a friend or a family member?” After writing down their thoughts on post-it notes, students and teachers stuck their answers to the boxes.
For Tuesday’s theme of accountability, upper school speech and debate teacher Scott Odekirk gave a speech during the school meeting about the importance of accountability in the real world, emphasizing its purpose as more than just a source of punishment for students.
To spark discussion about the Honor Code’s tenet of respect, Honor Council organized a chalk activity on Nov. 15. Students used chalk to record their thoughts and ideas on the ground near Dobbins Hall, the Rothschild Performing Arts Center and the art room board in response to various prompts like “If respect was an emoji, what would it be?” and “In one word, what does respect feel like?”
“As a member of the Honor Council, it’s made [Honor Week] a lot more impactful for me seeing the work that’s been done and put into making the activities,” Honor Council member Varun Fuloria (12) said. “It means more to me now, and I’ll definitely be sure to participate in a lot more Harker-related activities because I see a lot of people putting in work.”
Students participated in advisory activities on Nov. 16 to inspire more conscious care for the school’s environment. After students signed the Honor Code in their respective advisories, the Honor Council asked students to spend time outdoors and appreciate the campus. Advisories could also engage in a small scavenger hunt for different plants and flowers around campus.
“We believe that the activities themselves encourage students to analyze their behavior during this week to think about what they’re doing, and if they’re not being honorable then why that is,” Honor Council member Suhana Bhandare (10) said. “For example, the advisory activity for the environment let people notice what they’re not doing. I’ve walked by some of these plants a thousand times and never noticed how pretty they are.”
Honor Week ended with the “Leave a Card, Take a Card” activity during lunch on Nov. 17 where representatives carried a bag filled with encouraging messages written on index cards. Students then wrote positive messages on index cards and took a card that a previous student wrote from the bag.
“The activities during honor week were really thoughtful, and I thought the one with the index cards in the box was really uplifting,” Juliana Li (11) said. “Those kinds of activities just help us think about others a bit instead of always thinking about ourselves, and I think it just helps bring the community together.”
Although Honor Week normally occurs on a four-day week in September, it was pushed to November this year due to conflicts in scheduling. Friday’s activity was an accommodation for the extra day in the week to have students reflect on gratitude and kindness. Honor Council Faculty Chair and Math department head Anthony Silk spoke about the motivation behind Honor Week.
“[The Honor Board] came up with this idea of doing an Honor Week where we could celebrate honor at the school,” Silk said. “It was a way of saying ‘Hey, we have this Honor Code, and people should know what the Honor Code is’ because we were afraid that people were seeing it at the beginning of the year and then never seeing it again.”
