![“[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 elected juniors Sam Parupudi, Alicia Ran, Jia Jia Jiang and Daniel Chen and sophomore Ananya Pradhan for the positions of ASB president, vice president, secretary, spirit coordinator and treasurer, respectively, last week as the Associated Student Body officers for the 2024-25 school year.
The newly elected ASB council is the first to have four non-male members out of five. According to assistant to upper school dean of students Kelley McCoy, ninety-five percent of students voted in the election, one of the highest voting turnouts for an election at the upper school.
English teacher and junior class dean Christopher Hurshman reflects on the increasing gender diversity of ASB officers. He notes that the trend of non-male officers is becoming more prevalent, with this year marking the first instance of only one male officer.
“It cannot be the case that in nine consecutive years the most qualified candidate to lead the student body was a male-presenting person,” Hurshman said. “The more years a trend like that continues, the more you start to suspect that something other than merit is playing into it. I think that the best response to that is to do more student education about civics and civic responsibility.”
For the 2024-25 ASB election, Sam ran against Aaron Bao (11), Alicia ran against Luke Wu (10), Jia Jia ran against Kairui Sun (10), Ananya ran against Gabe Li (11) and Daniel ran against Charlotte Ludlow (10).
“I loved looking at what the other candidates were proposing and hearing all their ideas,” Jia Jia said. “I really enjoyed listening to their speeches and their answers to the Q&A because I think all of them have a lot to bring to this school and the potential to make a difference on student council.”
ASB primary elections took place on March 22, where students elected two candidates from each office to move on to the final runoff. Following speeches and a Q&A session on April 9, the final round of voting took place during advisory on April 11, and McCoy announced the results through a Schoology post on April 12.
Luke noted ASB officers’ important role in organizing events and broadcasting information to help students thrive throughout their years at the upper school.
“In order for students to get the best experience out of high school, I think it’s really important to have a functional student body of leadership,” Luke said. “As well as [the fact that] student elections should encourage each student to have a sense of civil responsibility because once we’re out in the world beyond high school, we’re going to be engaged in some sort of way to the world in politics.”
Hurshman pointed out that many events and improvements unique to the upper school, like Quadchella and the block schedule, happened with the help of ASB.
“I think sometimes there’s a natural tendency among teenagers to be either really exaggerated in your idea of what a student leader could do, or really dismissive of anything that a student could do,” Hurshman said. “And the reality is in between: you can accomplish meaningful things, you just can’t accomplish world-changing things overnight.”
