![“[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)
Homecoming Week continues to build momentum for Harker Day as students, dressed in their class colors, marched in the annual spirit parade and competed in tug-of-war preliminaries on Tuesday at 9:35 a.m.
Each advisory sent one or two representatives, who dressed in costumes and accessories according to their class color — the seniors in white, the juniors in green, the sophomores in yellow, and the frosh in black. When the parade began, a student from each class led their grade by lifting their class’ flag.
HSLT Community Events Committee member and parade representative Finley Ho (10) helped plan the dress-up days and lunchtime activities for the week.
“I was chosen by one of my fellow advisory members, so I dressed up as a banana,” Finley said. “It was fun to be able to represent my advisory in this tradition, to be able to celebrate with the rest of the people in my grade who were very enthusiastic. I was the flag bearer for my grade, and that was really cool too.”
Pep band led the procession, followed by the advisory reps, and lastly the rest of the students, who joined the parade one class at a time. Senior Adam Pawlinger, a spectator, highlighted senior Caio Cammer’s Baymax costume.
“The Baymax costume was one of the best parts of the parade,” Adam said. “Caio always goes all out each year for these dress-up days, and it’s really cool to see how spirited we can all get.”
Gathered on the field, the students began tug-of-war preliminaries: the juniors faced the frosh and the seniors faced the sophomores. The juniors and seniors won their respective matches. Thirty students from each grade comprised their team, and junior Oliver Chen reflected on his experience as a member of his class’ tug-of-war lineup.
“I was ecstatic that we won because we worked really hard,” said Oliver. “I was the anchor and we were able to use our body weight to secure the win. To be honest though, I never doubted our victory.”
Director of Student Organizations Eric Kallbrier organized the event and judged the competition. Tug-of-war senior Kyra Cui celebrated her grade’s victory and anticipated the competition finals during the homecoming game on Saturday.
“I’ve been on this team for three years, so I know what’s going on,” Kyra said. “I’m excited for homecoming and going against the juniors during halftime. Our school is also very spirited this year in general, which is great; I’ve seen some amazing costumes.”
Remaining spirit days are twin dress-up day on Wednesday and class shirt dress-up day on Thursday, when the spirit rally will also take place.
“I’m really excited for the twin dress-up day because I’m planning to twin with Selena Chen,” Finley said. “We will be wearing our Spiderman T-shirts. As the week continues, people get more into participating with their friends in these activities, which brings the community closer together.”
