![“[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)
Five alumni shared advice on research and college life during a virtual panel hosted by Research Club on April 30 during lunch.
Panelists Ella Lan (‘24), Adrian Liu (‘24), Fiona Yan (‘24), Arnav Swaroop (‘24) and John Zeng (‘22) answered audience questions on high school research opportunities, labs, skill development and university.
“I really wanted to attend this panel to get to see what college students who had already gone through this entire process thought about it,” frosh attendee Charlene Li said. “I liked hearing about some of their little stories and personal experiences from throughout high school and in their first years of college.”
For high school students interested in advanced research, the panelists recommended cold emailing professors, networking with teachers and older students in college, developing technical skills and maintaining high grades in relevant classes to gain research opportunities. They also offered insights into university research.
“One of the more overlooked things that’s really important when you get to like college research is having a certain degree of like resilience — not just in research, but in classes as well, because stuff moves really, really fast.” Swaroop said. “We sometimes forget that it’s not as important how fast you go as how far you go. So you gotta stick to something that drives you.”
Research Club officer Linda Zeng (11) organized this year’s panel and invited the speakers, all former members of Research Club who now attend universities like Stanford, Carnegie Mellon and University of Pennsylvania.
“It’s really inspiring to learn from people who were directly in their shoes,” Linda said. “I hope people got a little less stressed about what they’re doing right now and how that’s going to help them or hurt them in college because I think the general sentiment was that no matter what you do now, you’ll be okay in college and you’ll find your path.”
