![“[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)
Twenty-eight students competed in Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Math and Science (TEAMS) by completing a multiple-choice exam and design-build challenge on Friday.
Following this year’s theme of “Engineering for Extreme Weather,” the exam focused on the topics of wind power, building design, logic circuits and storms. Students worked together in teams of four to solve 40 multiple-choice questions within one hour.
“We all helped each other out even though one of us might not have known how to solve some problems,” competitor Chetana Pramanik (10) said. “The collaborative aspect of TEAMS is really unique compared to the other olympiad-style STEM competitions I’ve done.”
Students used items like sheets of paper, straws, index cards and popsicle sticks to design and construct a house on stilts resistant to wind damage. Teams competed for their structures to last the longest in front of a box fan, which produced “winds” with increasing intensity, as well as the height of their structure.
“We spent a lot of time coming up with our final design,” competitor Eddie Zhang (11) said. “In the end, I was happy with how [our build] came out because it almost got to the end without moving. It was cool to see the other teams’ designs because they were all different, and some worked better than others.”
TEAMS is an annual competition run by the Technology Student Association (TSA) consisting of an essay, exam and design-build challenge. Prior to Friday, competitors wrote a 1000-word paper about ways to make a Caribbean hotel more resilient to extreme weather. Groups with the best overall performances in the nation qualify for the Best-in-Nation competition at the National TSA Conference in the summer.
“I hope [students] learned teamwork and how to read instructions together and work as a big group,” Harker Chapter TEAMS Coach Anthony Silk said. “The other thing I hope [they learned] is trial and error in success and failure—trying something that you know is never going to be perfect, but you still keep going and don’t stop.”
