![“[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)
Associated Student Body President Daniel Lin (12) opened the school meeting on Jan. 29.
Director of Standardized Testing and Scheduling Troy Thiele talked about student transcripts and Parchment accounts, letting students know that they must create an account in order to access and send their high school transcripts through an email he sent. Thiele said that there were 38 sophomores, 43 juniors and 41 seniors who had not yet made an account.
Juniors Emma Milner, Keren Eisenberg, Emily Mitnick and Sara Glusman shared their stories of their relatives who survived the Holocaust. The group also reminded everyone that Holocaust Remembrance Day was on Jan. 27, noting a recent increase in antisemitism on college campuses and urged students to create a welcoming environment by respecting the cultures of others. They held a moment of silence for the victims of the Holocaust.
Juniors Jason Shim, Yinan Zhou and Kyle Li presented upcoming Lunar New Year celebrations, which the Chinese National Honor Society, Harker Spirit Leadership Team and the Asian Pacific American Caucus are organizing, and the various Lunar New Year activities will take place on Wednesday in front of Manzanita Hall, featuring activities like Red Envelope Grams, bookmark making and lantern origami. They revealed that it is the year of the dragon and invited students and faculty to attend the Lunar New Year Gala, which features dragon dancing, singing and Chinese instrument presentations during long lunch on Feb. 22.
Upper school visual arts department chair Joshua Martinez announced Honors Directed Portfolio exhibitions held in the upper floor of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center, featuring the works of seniors Ruby Johnson, Julie Shi and Brittany Tsui on Jan. 29. Martinez congratulated senior Maya Cheshire’s work, which was featured in her reception located in Shah gallery on Jan 25. and had record attendance.
Winged Post co-editors-in-chief Kinnera Mulam (12) and Ariana Goetting (12) introduced the new double issue of the Winged Post, which features four additional pages and splits the newspaper into two sections. They mentioned new articles in the newspaper such as an advice column on relationships, an APEX profile featuring soccer co-captain Claire Anderson (11) and an article about the increased demand for Stanley cups. Journalism staff will hand out the paper on Thursday.
Juniors Kylie Anderson, Claire, Alec Zhang and Jonathan Wang from the girls and boys varsity soccer teams reminded everyone about soccer senior nights. Boys soccer senior night is on Monday at 3:15 and recognizes seniors Ryan Barth, Jack Yang, Dhruv Trivedi, Ben Cha, Alex Guo and Jason Monaghan. Girls soccer senior night honors seniors Anya Chauhan, Dina Ande, Heidi Lu and Cynthia Wang at 3:30 on Tuesday. The teams also told everyone that the Kicks Against Cancer game would be on Feb. 2, and halfway through the varsity boys game, there would be a ceremony for Camp Okizu. The soccer team sold baked goods throughout the week to help fundraise for the camp.
HSLT representative Charlotte Ludlow (10) revealed the Athletes of the Week, including Bowen Xia (11) on the varsity boys basketball team for being top six in the West Bay and varsity basketball co-captain Claire Miao (12), who ranked second in West Bay and averaged 18 points per game.
Cheer team members Kashish Priyam (11), Ollie Masoni (10) and Jessica Chen (9) led upper school math teacher Caren Furtado, upper school head Paul Barsky and upper school English teacher Christopher Hurshman in a cheer routine before introducing cheerleading senior night. The cheerleaders led the teachers through a ‘Let’s go for a win’ cheer. Kashish announced that cheerleading seniors Sarah Westgate, Divya Venkat, Anaya Mandal, Katherine Fields, James Blenko and Owen White were honored on Friday, and additionally boys basketball senior night is scheduled for Feb. 13.
Director of Student Organizations Eric Kallbrier mentioned the blood drive happening in the Nichols atrium on Jan. 29, adding that students should stay away from the area if they are not donating blood. Spots for seniors and faculty were still available, and Kallbrier encouraged people to volunteer. Holding a 49ers Nick Bosa cutout, Kallbrier announced that around 100 people signed up for a competition to win the cutout and congratulated Cynthia for correctly guessing the winning score of the 49ers versus the Lions game.
