![“[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)
Students raced against each other in the Regatta and competed in a Belly Flop event at the Singh Aquatic Center on March 26.
Teams of four, representing each class, raced across the pool and back using paddles while riding on pool floats. Sophomores Ian Cheline, Akash Dubey, Tvisha Ganesh and Trisha Shivakumar won first, with the senior team, consisting of Oskar Baumgarte, Marcus Blennemann, Adam Pawliger and Alex Zhong, close behind.
HSLT member Kashish Priyam (12) introduced the Regatta event, which followed a bracket-style competition. Sophomores beat the frosh and seniors beat the juniors in the preliminary bracket.
Senior Adam Pawliger described his team’s strategy during the race, reflecting on the seniors’ winning strategy last year.
“Initially, we thought that it would be all four rafts, so there would only be one oar,” Adam said. “But once we learned that two team members could have oars, we adopted a different strategy of having two people kick behind the raft and then two people paddling.”
Juniors Spencer Chang, Stanley Chen, Timmy Chen, Kairui Sun, Brady Tse and Terry Xie performed a Titanic-inspired skit for the belly flop competition before jumping into the pool together, scoring a seven and a 6.723. Frosh Edmund Wang also participated, scoring a seven and a six. Assistant to Dean of Students Kelley McCoy and Assistant to Dean of Academics Eric Lee judged the belly flop competition.
“The belly flop is a really great, non-competitive way to show out class spirit and to get together in groups and make up a routine,” HSLT secretary Yasmin Sudarsanam said. “This year the two belly flops we had were all really spirited and really exciting, and one of them was a freshman’s first time belly-flopping, so that was really great to see.”
Students and faculty dressed up following the theme of Rhyme without Reason. Some groups included ‘lawyer and Tom Sawyer,’ ‘berry and merry,’ ‘napper and rapper’ and ‘blind ref and kind chef.’
Sophomores Kaitlyn Nelson, Arshia Sankar and Aurelia Spura dressed up as ‘Fourth of July,” ‘tie dye’ and ‘frat guy.’ Aurelia appreciated how dress-up days unite the community.
“Spirit drives grades apart, because we’re competing against each other, but it brings classes together,” Aurelia said. “We don’t always get the chance to work together since we don’t have classes with everybody, but it’s really nice to see everyone like working to beat other grades. Dress up days encourage creativity, and if you see someone with a cool outfit, you want to go talk to them and that also brings people together.”
