![“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)
With new students joining the Harker ranks, club officers ready themselves to advertise their own clubs during Club Fair tomorrow. Join Aquila as we visit Data Science Club, Tri-M Music Honor Society, Film Club, Research Club and Harker Spirit Leadership Team to understand their preparation process for the year ahead.
Data Science Club
The Data Science Club aims to educate students about tools that can be used to manipulate and understand data through demonstrations.
Entering their second year as a club, Data Science Club officers Rayan Arya (12), Shiven Balaji (12) and Vedant Balanchandran (12) hope to increase student interest by inviting industry and professional speakers to give guest speeches.
“One of my goals for the club is [to] teach everyone about the importance of data and how it can be used and also misused,” officer Rayan Arya (12) said.
“I hope [people] would recognize that this is a really useful skill set to have no matter what you’re going into, and participating is going to give you that degree of exposure,” officer Shiven Balaji (12) said.
“This year we want to take more of a speaker-focused [approach],” officer Vedant Balanchandran (12) said. “We contacted as many people as we could to see if they’d be interested in talking to the student population.”
Tri-M Music Honor Society
Tri-M Music Honor Society transforms the power of song into a medium for community service. Club members perform at various locations like senior centers and retirement homes for community service hours. Performances range from solo instrumental pieces to ensemble acts with members playing a diverse range of instruments including violin, clarinet and trombone. This year, they aim to increase the number of performance opportunities, allowing club members to gain more experience on the stage.
Co-presidents Bhavya Srinivasan (12) and Hasini Namala (12) revamped the club fair poster board on Friday night.
“We perform at senior centers, and this year we’re trying to increase opportunities to perform in general for our members,” Bhavya said. “We’re looking into small festivals like the Touch-a-Truck festival so singers can perform in front of larger crowds.”
Film Club
Film Club consists of two branches: film appreciation and film creation. Each year, the appreciation branch holds movie screenings and discussions while the creation branch produces one or two short films.
Film Club officers brainstormed their poster layout during Friday office hours. They plan to accompany their trifold with large posters of past club films and movie trailers, and they will also provide popcorn. This year, the Film Appreciation branch looks forward to hosting weekly movie screenings, while Film Creation aims to produce more short films.
“I’m hoping to make new films, meet new people and especially recruit more people to join the creation branch of the film club,” Film Creation Club Vice President Sophie Pellet (11) said. “I look forward to making a new short film, maybe even two. We’re making history, we’re making art here.”
Research Club
Research Club serves as a hub for STEM enthusiasts, bringing together students passionate about research across all scientific disciplines. Senior officers offer support and mentorship to underclassmen seeking to present and compete with their research. The club provides research tips and information through talks and panels.
Research Club’s booth will feature trivia questions and candy, and they plan to host an event in the Patil Theater to introduce research to frosh on Sept. 24. Co-president Melody Yin (12) wishes to encourage people to learn about research even if they might not be inclined to compete in science fairs like Synopsys.
“This year, we hope to include some activities to draw in people who might be interested in just learning a bit more about research,” Melody said. “We’re really hoping to pivot the focus of Research Club to include other research oriented activities apart from just competitions like Synopsys, though we definitely aren’t going to drop those.”
Flight Crew
Flight Crew, a new Harker Spirit Leadership Team committee, aims to drum up more interest in spirit through Spirit Club, which is open to all students and does not require the application like HSLT. Officers worked on their poster and printed out photos of fun past events during the meeting on Wednesday after school. Their booth will include a spinning wheel for prizes and Instagram photo cards.
“We are trying to get everyone hyped up for spirit events, whether that be for our rallies or for our athletic games,” HSLT flight crew officer Leana Zhou (11) said. “We’re trying to get people interacting and being in the community.”
![“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)
