![“[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)
SEATTLE – Thirty-eight journalism students and three staff members attended the spring Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association National High School Journalism Convention in Seattle, Wash., from Wednesday to Saturday.
The convention featured hundreds of sessions on journalism-related topics, as well as keynote speakers, publication swaps and the National Journalism Quiz Bowl.
On Thursday, students visited Pike Place Market to practice on-site reporting. Then they attended half day pre-convention workshops in the Sheraton Grand hotel, including workshops on audio podcasting, light in photography and journalism law.
During the main convention, which lasted from Friday to Saturday, attendees had the opportunity to gain journalism experience from a variety of workshops and speaker sessions. Winged Post Editor-in-Chief Ashley Mo (11) participated in a session on obtaining press freedom.
“It was really informational, especially because I wanted to know how as a publication we can report more about school wide issues since we don’t do that as often,” Ashley said. “It talked a lot about the importance of having strong student voices as one of the mission statements of your publication, so that inspired me to consider that.”
Junior Vincent Yagi, a member of the Roosevelt High School yearbook staff, attended the session “Exploring the power of light.” Executive director of the Association of Texas Photography Mark Murray provided tips on how to leverage lighting in photography, using glow sticks to simulate shutter speed effects.
“I had a good time with the photography, and going around exploring was a lot of fun,” Vincent said. “In this conference, I want to get better at journalism in general, and specifically my photography and writing for the most part.”
Three Harker teams of four students each competed at the Quiz Bowl which included questions ranging from technical journalism terms to recent events on Saturday morning. All three teams advanced to the semi-finals, with the team of Aishani Singh (12), Gabe Sachse (12), Claire Tian (10) and Ashley earning second place.
“It was very nerve-wracking, especially because it was the first time i had done any kind of Quiz Bowl,” Claire said. “It was in front of an audience, and the competitors had to be really quick on the draw. Overall, it was enjoyable and exciting. Everyone was a good sport and it was all in good fun.”
Harker Journalism also hosted four presentation sessions: Humans of [Your School],” “Rethinking Repeaters,” “It’s the Little Things” and “ChaRIZZmatic Communication.”
At the end of the competition, JEA/NSPA honored students and publications in an award ceremony. TALON yearbook earned the NSPA Pacemaker Winner for the first time in the program’s history with its 2023-2024 school year issue.
“It’s amazing that we were able to receive this award,” TALON Organizations and People and Seniors Editor Jasmine Hansra (11) said. “Yearbooks have to be contain virtually no mistakes to accomplish this. I know the entire staff worked for hours last year to make sure that they everything from page design to distribution happened as smoothly as possible and I’m excited to see how this year’s and next year’s yearbooks are able to fare in the competition.”
Harker also received its fourth consecutive First Amendment Press Freedom Award, which recognizes high schools nationwide that uphold and defend student expression. The entire journalism program earned recognition in the NSPA Best of Show competition, solidifying its status among the country’s top student publications. Aquila claimed fifth place in the Website category, and The Winged Post and TALON placed third in Newspaper and Yearbook respectively.
Leah Krupnik (10) received the highest mark, a superior, in the National Student Media Contests Commentary Writing category. Suhani Gupta (11), Claire and Sarah Wang (10) received a grade of excellent in the Review, Feature and Literary Magazine: Illustration categories respectively. Eva Cheng (11) received an honorable mention in News Writing.
“It is extremely gratifying for me to see the students get to reap the rewards for the hard work that they’ve done,” TALON Adviser Kevin Oliver said. “Everything that we achieved in terms of individual awards as well as the publication awards and particularly TALON getting the pacemaker reaffirms everything that we’ve valued throughout the entire process, and it is really, really special.”
![Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief Disha Gupta presents the “Humans of [Your School] workshop. Presenters highlighted HoH project’s mission and went over the process of building a senior’s profile.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/DSC_0802-1200x799.jpg)
