![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)
![“[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)
This is Aquila Weekly Wrap-Up, where we bring you the latest updates from around our school community.
Saturday
162 middle and high school students worldwide participated in the 2024 Harker Physics Invitational online hosted by the Physical Sciences Club. The competition also included a speaker panel with past United States Physics Team members and International Physics Olympiad gold medalists, who answered questions and gave advice to attendees about physics competitions.
Monday
Step-up day invited Harker 8th graders to the upper school to learn about various programs including robotics, research, and journalism.
Wednesday
Key Club and Origami Club invited students to help package over 2,000 socks donated by students. On Thursday and Friday, students continued to help pack the socks, which will be donated to people in need at West Valley Community Services. Throughout the week, students also donated gift cards, toys, and pet supplies for the annual holiday giving fundraisers.
Data Science Club invited speaker DJ Patil, who has worked as the Chief Security Officer at LinkedIn and the U.S. Chief of Data Science, to speak to club members about careers involving data science.
Women in Sports Club hosted guest speaker Christa Gannon, an accomplished D1 basketball player at UC Santa Barbara and entrepreneur, to speak about managing time and avoiding burnout as a student athlete.
Thursday
The Language and Linguistics Club hosted Dr. Allen Romano, an AI developer, startup founder, and former professor, for a talk on natural language processing. Dr. Romano holds a PhD from Stanford and works on Khan Academy’s AI assistant.
Friday
Harker experienced significant wind and rain this week as the first wave of an atmospheric river storm hit the Bay Area.
This week also marked the first week the ASB-organized sandwich bar was open, giving students the opportunity to make sandwiches after school every day.
That’s all for this week. See you next time!
