![“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)
South Asian Heart Center co-founder and executive director Ashish Mathur spoke about methods to improve wellbeing, diabetes and heart attacks at a speaker event hosted in collaboration with Public Health Club and Med Club on Monday.
Mathur emphasized the importance of addressing body, mind, lifestyle and relationships to decrease one’s chances of developing heart disease, the most common cause of death in the United States. He also explained four metrics that incorporate values like cholesterol level and blood pressure to help predict heart disease risk.
“The indices that we look at are similar to financial indices,” Mathur said. “In wealth management, you’re always looking at how to increase your return and where you should place your wealth. In health, it’s similar—with a lifestyle based approach to risk reduction, you can get a very high return on investment.”
The South Asian Heart Center’s specialized prevention plan includes MEDS (Meditation, Exercise, Diet and Sleep), a program that helps patients adopt lifestyle behaviors to reduce their risk of potential heart conditions. Mathur recommended 20 minutes of meditation twice a day, 150 minutes of exercise a week, a balanced diet and seven to eight hours of sleep a night.
“I was very curious [about the event] because I am South Asian, and I know that a lot of genetic profiles for illnesses are not diverse,” mathematics teacher Caren Furtado said. “I didn’t realize that your chances of diabetes and of heart attacks can be controlled by just changing your lifestyle. Now I definitely want to make changes in my diet and sleep.”
Mathur and Dr. César Molina founded the non-profit South Asian Heart Center at the El Camino Hospital to address the increased prevalence of heart diseases among those who trace their ancestry to the Indian Subcontinent in 2006. The center, which has served over 7,200 patients, has been recognized by former U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and the U.S. Congress.
“He was a good choice because he does a lot of promoting public health education, which is one of our primary goals,” Public Health Club Vice President of Internal Affairs Terry Xie (11) said. “I hope people learned more about heart disease and diabetes and saw what work in public health looks like and what public health is all about.”
