![“[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)
Research Club members visited the middle school campus to mentor Science Research Program (SRP) students on writing abstracts and creating posters on Monday and Tuesday.
Club members took turns speaking about the purpose and structure of an abstract, emphasizing its brevity and clarity to capture the judges’ attention. The presenters incorporated excerpts from a sample abstract throughout the slides and ended with the full example to demonstrate structural cohesion.
“[The presentation] was pretty informative,” SRP student Reyansh Malla (8) said. “Before, there weren’t many good resources, so I really like how they brought in high schoolers to help us. They gave us step-by-step instructions that I’ll follow.”
Speakers also discussed how to present content on posterboards, display requirements and design tips like layout and visual appeal on Tuesday. They shared techniques for effectively communicating their research through their board display like readability and showmanship and to judges like projecting confidence. Students then asked about research guidelines, time allocation for their presentations and the suitability of their project ideas to conclude the workshop.
Research Club co-vice president Jacqueline Huang (12) noted the importance of writing engaging and structured abstracts. The workshops aimed to help students understand how to communicate their research effectively.
“Learning scientific writing is a very useful tool not only to improve one’s writing skills but also to practice science communication,” Jacqueline said. “Explaining what you’ve done in research over a year in less than ten clear and concise sentences is harder than expected. This is a great way for middle schoolers to reflect on what they’ve been doing as a part of their SRP projects.”
The middle school’s SRP offers eighth-grade students the opportunity to participate in the Synopsys Science and Technology Championship each year under the mentorship of teachers. With the science fair’s abstract submission deadline and judging day approaching in the next couple of weeks, students focused on finalizing their projects for the competition.
SRP Adviser Kathy Peng noted that the program has been both exciting and challenging and expressed her appreciation for the club’s efforts.
“It’s so helpful to have experienced upper schoolers who have been in this position to come back and teach the students about what they know,” Peng said. “Just by seeing all these upper schoolers who’ve been through it before, [the middle schoolers] don’t feel as alone—they don’t have to do it all from scratch.”
