![“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)
Upper school students and faculty visited student-run culture booths inside the Auxiliary Gym and tasted various cuisines from food trucks outside the Rothschild Performing Arts Center for Wednesday’s Culture Week activities.
The 15 booths featured posters, traditional snacks and artifacts from various cultures. At the booths, student organizers dressed up in cultural attire shared their culture with students and faculty. Visitors tried ube desserts and pastries from the Philippines booth, received Henna designs at the India booth and learned about the Korean alphabet at the Korea stations, among other interactive activities.
Senior Katelyn Hsu, who helped run the Taiwan booth, brought stamps and stickers from a recent trip to Taiwan to showcase Taiwanese designs. The booth also offered boba, scallion pancakes, Taiwanese sausages and tangyuan, a traditional Taiwanese dessert.
“When I was in elementary school and middle school, I never knew anyone else who was Taiwanese,” Katelyn said. “The booth at least gives me an opportunity to know other Taiwanese people and share stories [about] our trips back to Taiwan, or the stereotypical Taiwanese things. And some of my friends don’t know what I eat, so I get a chance to show them.”
As the Student Diversity Coalition continues to expand Culture Week within and across campuses, students share more about their own culture and engage in other cultures. Sikh Student Association co-president Sidak Sanghari (11), who helped manage the Punjab booth, highlighted the increase in interaction compared to last year’s event.
“It was really awesome,” Sidak said. “We had a booth last year, but this year, I just got so much more support from everyone. We also started our Sikh Student Association this year, and having people on that who also identify as Punjabi help out with this was really nice, and it was such a big community.”
In addition to the increasing prominence of Culture Week in the Harker community, student and faculty engagement and reactions to the event continues to improve. Muslim Student Association president Minal Jalil (10) recognized the enthusiasm from students running the booths and the positive impact of this event on the community.
“While visiting each booth, you could see the excitement on everybody’s faces because they took pride in sharing their culture with the student body,” Minal said. “I think an event like this reaffirms the bonds within our community and connects the students on a deeper level. It was really gratifying to see other students interact with our booth.”
Students had the opportunity to get lunch from four different food trucks from 11:45 a.m. to 1:25 p.m. The trucks offered Mexican food from Wonk’s Street Tacos, Indian food from Lalkhan’s Indian Express, Hawaiian food from Fresh Catch Poke and Salvadorian food from Pupusa Lady. Students were given wristbands and tickets to order food and each grade was assigned a 15-minute time slot to receive their tickets. The trucks ran out of food before all students were able to get food, leading some to eat regular lunch from Manzanita Hall.
Leana Zhou (10), who visited the culture booths, reflects on how the cultural events expanded her perspective of the world.
“I think the events today definitely help us learn about the different cultures and show a lot of where each culture is special,” Leana Zhou (10) said. “Like, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know that this famous celebrity was from this country,’ or ‘Oh, I didn’t realize how bomb the Filipino food was.’ It definitely was really cool seeing everyone dressed up and proud of their culture.”
![“Probably the most important thing that I can do is to help raise awareness amongst youth because [students] are the ones that sadly are going to inherit this mess. It’s important for us, the people who helped take the planet to the place it is now, to really lean in and make a difference about this issue," Moss said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/DSC_9315-e1778880890147-1200x873.jpg)
