![“[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)
Harker Journalist-in-Residence and Executive Director of the Association of Texas Photography Instructors Mark Murray gave photography tips to Introduction to Journalism classes and guided them through the process of creating photo stories from Feb. 20 through Feb. 23.
Students practiced setting exposure and shutter speed and Murray provided in-depth explanations of camera features such as f-stop on the first day. He sent them out of the classroom in groups on the first day to prepare a photo story, a collection of pictures arranged in a narrative way. Each group also prepared specific photos to practice adjusting settings, like a picture that stopped motion and a picture that blurred motion.
Intro student Ethan Liang (9) found that practicing photography with Murray helped him improve. Ethan believes that photos are an integral part of journalism, and he hopes to continue improving his photography skills in the coming years.
“It was very exciting to take photos of different things and exercise my knowledge, not just learn about it but put it to use,” Ethan said. “Photography fits really well [in journalism] because you have pictures and you have words, so you can pretty much fully describe every situation ever … It allows the reader to be more immersed in the story.”
After students saved their photo stories, Murray looked over them on the second day together with the class to find areas of improvement. He gave each group feedback, then sent them out onto campus again to take new and improved photos. Once the students returned, he reaffirmed the importance of chronology with example photo stories.
Murray emphasized the importance of pictures because of their emotional impact.
“It’s important to understand that we’re a very visual society,” Murray said. “Imagery tends to provoke more emotion and reaction than the written word does. One of the things that I’m the proudest of is all the students who didn’t go into photography, but still talk about getting better photos because of the things that they learned in photography class.”
Murray closed off with suggestions about how to prepare for and shoot photo stories. He emphasized visualizing your photos before shooting them and planning what photos to take using a shotlist.
Intro student Urvi Singhvi (9) described the power strong photos can have in journalism.
“Even though it might take multiple tries to get the perfect photo, I like the process of taking photos again and again, adjusting and improving,” Urvi said. “As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, and I think that really applies to journalism.”
![LALC Vice President of External Affairs Raeanne Li (11) explains the International Phonetic Alphabet to attendees. "We decided to have more fun topics this year instead of just talking about the same things every year so our older members can also [enjoy],” Raeanne said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_4627-1200x795.jpg)
