![“[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)
![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)
Journalism staff editors led four workshops — “Humans of [Your School],” “Rethink Repeaters,” “It’s the Little Things” and “ChaRIZZmatic Communication” — at the Journalism Education Association and National Scholastic Press Association Spring convention on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Seattle Convention Center.
Humans of Harker Editors-in-Chief Sidak Sanghari (12) and Disha Gupta (11) and managing editors Aryana Bharali (12), Victoria Li (10) and Heather Wang (10) presented the “Humans of [Your School]” workshop.
They covered the HoH project’s mission: commemorating the members of each year’s graduating class. Presenters went over the process of writing a senior’s article and how to take an environmental portrait. Near the end of the session, they conducted mock interviews with seniors in the audience.
Student journalists June Baeck and Audrey Hurst attended the workshop to learn how to localize the content they publish. They enjoyed learning about the versatility of environmental portraits as well as putting together a profile.
(Ram Batchu)
“I’m really glad that we came to this session — it was so impressive,” June said. “You guys are high schoolers and this is way more interesting than a lot of the presentations we saw yesterday. There’s not a single question that I have that wasn’t answered in here.”
Winged Post and Harker Aquila Editors-in-Chief Ashley Mo (11) and Eva Cheng (11) and editors Suhani Gupta (11), Sam Li (10) and Claire Tian (10) covered repeaters which are stories written following a theme and published every three to four week news cycle. They shared Harker’s repeaters like “Friday Five,” “Music Monday” and “Global Reset,” and they gave advice on how to develop and renew these ideas.
“I learned that I should start putting this into the school newspaper,” attendee Latrice Wright (11) said. “A lot that you guys do for your school like ‘Meet Your Staff Feature’ and the ‘Friday Five’ segments focus on individual people and put them out in the open.”
2024-25 Editors-in-Chief seniors Katerina Matta, Alison Yang, Chayce Milhem, Yifan Li and Victor Gong discussed the easily overlooked yet crucial aspects of leadership in “It’s the Little Things.” They explored recruiting reporters and Harker Journalism’s “cub” system where freshmen learn the basics of journalism through the Introduction to Journalism class and mentorship by upperclassmen.
They also emphasized the importance of bonding and culture-building within the journalism staff. Through silly photos and examples, they highlighted how production nights, shout-outs, Slack communication and gratitude circles form the foundation of Harker Journalism culture.
In the last session of the day, Winged Post and Talon editors Tiffany Zhu (11), Connie Xu (11), Jasmine Hansra (11), Cynthia Xie (10), Sarah Wang (10) and Samaara Patil (10) presented “ChaRIZZmatic Communication,” echoing many sentiments from the previous workshop about the importance of communication. To conclude, the editors passed out creative printed shout-outs for attendees to take home and fill out for their fellow staff members.
Timberland High School student attendees Addie and Cate felt inspired by the leadership style of the editors presenting.
“I was impressed at how well all of the speakers worked together,” Addie said. “They ran the presentation really smoothly, and I was impressed at the cohesion because also there were people from the yearbook, people from [Aquila] and people from [Winged Post]. The intentionality behind the culture is really cool. I like how you guys come in two weeks early for Editors Week so that you kick off the school year with success and understanding.”
Additional reporting by Samuel Tong.
