![“[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)
After a long day at school, a student slumps into bed. The weight of their backpack is an unforgiving reminder of the amount of work they have left. Yet within two minutes, all is forgotten as they sit upright on their covers in front of a ring light, animatedly talking to an invisible audience. After they hit the post button, they watch, shocked, as comments begin pouring in from users. The like count quickly rises from one thousand to one million.
The prevalence of social media today makes gaining millions of views and likes easier than ever. Even within Harker, members of the community experienced going viral through social media like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
Junior Spencer Chang went viral on Instagram for his comedic videos under the account spencerbfunny, which currently has 1,602 followers. His account is solely dedicated to comedic puns and dad jokes. Spencer’s trending reel, featuring one of his friends making a pun about his crush not knowing he existed, blew up on March 15 this year. It garnered 4.1 million views and around 253,000 likes.
“It was an interesting experience because that was the first reel that really took off,” Spencer said. “From the creator’s side, I kept on seeing notifications, and that was pretty cool. When that happened, there were some other reels that were also doing decently well, so I didn’t want to stop.”
At first, Spencer mainly posted jokes by using slideshows with pictures. However, earlier this year, he changed the format into reels in order to reach a wider audience.
“I made the decision this February to actually tell the joke and record a video because I figured that would reach more accounts, because reels tend to be seen by more people,” Spencer said. “It’s funnier when someone’s telling a joke rather than you reading it on your own. If people can relate to it and choose to comment, then that helps with the algorithm.”
Sophomore Stellan Lindh went viral multiple times on TikTok for his short, trend-following videos. He first went viral for a TikTok about not brushing his teeth in summer of 2022 and has 8,200 followers under his account Mama Carol Gracie.
“I saw the potential and creative expression in TikTok to post weird videos just for fun,” Stellan said. “I just post videos that use a popular audio and I caption them. Going viral is very much chance and how the algorithm works. In my case, it was a lot of chance.”
Because of the randomness inherent in going viral, Stellan suggests that social media users focus on themselves and what they want to post. He uses social media as a creative outlet.
“It definitely positively influenced my life because social media is a fun way to creatively express yourself or post stuff that you don’t say to other people,” Stellan said. “If your thoughts are weird or strange, you can express yourself on social media that way.”
Contrary to the instant popularity that TikTok and Instagram can bring, YouTube offers the opportunity to create a more steady platform with longform videos and more loyal subscribers. Business entrepreneurship and economics teacher Patrick Kelly has two YouTube channels, both with over 100,000 subscribers.
His first, Patrick Kelly, is a medical history channel, while Corporis is a more general medical channel focusing primarily on biomechanics and kinesiology. After realizing the effect that videos can have in classrooms, he was inspired to take his own interests and explore them through YouTube.
“I am genuinely curious about the stories myself, and YouTube is a place to put my curiosity into,” Kelly said. “It gives me a place to put all of my thoughts and think, ‘How does this fit into this story?’ It gives me a way of synthesizing all the different things that I read. I’m thinking less about the audience when I make a video and I really am selfishly thinking about ‘What do I want? What story do I want to tell?’”
Kelly emphasized the power of stories on the Internet, believing that, for one person who has something to say, there is another who will listen.
“I encourage Harker students, if they think that they have cool stories to tell or an interest that they want to share, to put it on the Internet,” Kelly said. “You never know what’s going to happen. Either a bunch of people are going to watch, or you get to put your own curiosity out there and make some friends along the way.”
