![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)
![“[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)
On Monday, October 8, the school day was shortened for teachers to finish making comments. As a result of class ending at 1:30 p.m. compared to the usual 3:40 p.m., students were given a few hours of free time.
Many students utilized this time to complete the homework they usually did after their sports practice.
“It’s weird to have all this time to finish all my homework because normally when I practice, I just go home and I have to stay up late finishing it, and now I can go to bed at a reasonable time,” Varsity volleyball player Selin Ekici (9) said.
Ayush Midha (10) agreed and similarly planned to take advantage of this time to get academic work done.
“I will be spending those few hours sitting at home studying for my [AP European] test and working on debate stuff. There’s always something to do; I like having more time,” Ayush said.
Although many students, including athletes, were able to complete their homework during this extra two hour time slot, the cross country team pushed practice up to 1:35 p.m. until 3:45 p.m., instead giving the runners more time to do homework afterwards. Claudia Tichler (11), one of the cross country members, enjoyed the fact that practice had been moved up in order to better fit students’ schedules.
“It’s nice having [practice] earlier in the day because then I can get home earlier,” she said.
Some students took a different approach towards spending their afternoon. Shivali Minocha (9) attended President Obama’s speech at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium.
“I’m going to go see Obama’s speech […] that is in San Francisco because of the half-day,” she said.
For others, after school activities still took up most of the afternoon as Rahul Nalamasu (12) explains that he spent much of his time in the drama room.
“I have 10 minutes after school and then fall play rehearsal until 5 p.m. and and then homework, so it’s still pretty busy,” Rahul said.
As the teachers worked on their comments, many students had the chance to spend more time completing academic work and participating in extracurricular activities.
