![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)
![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)
![“[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)
View the full transcript here:
Vyom Vidyarthi (‘25): My life is mostly academics, chess and sports. That pretty much covers it.
Ever since when you could first start playing interscholastic sports in fourth grade, ever since then I’ve been playing as many sports as would allow. Then, it was four seasons and you could do track as well as the other sports so it was five sports every year. And then eighth grade was unfortunate because of Covid. We couldn’t do anything pretty much, but it’s been pretty similar for me. Not much of like I went from playing one sport to now playing a bunch.
I’ve always enjoyed sports, I’ve always played multiple. There are people have suggested ‘Oh, you should focus on one,’ and okay, sometimes I do consider if I did focus on one, maybe I would be this much better at it and it probably is true. Like if I did focus on just water polo, I’d be a little bit I’d be a little bit better than I am now. But what would I do with that whole other time, like is it really worth it. I guess water polo is one season, and okay, you could play club year round but I feel like playing those other two school sports, they might not help me later on but there’s something I really, really enjoy and I definitely wouldn’t change a thing about it.
A lot friends have come through sports. Of course there’s just general friends that I have but many of them, I’ve played some sport with since a very young age. And then sports has helped me with my time management, helped me with school. A lot of the stuff I learned from sports is very applicable to school, leadership, stuff like that. And I think it’s just something that in life is very important. I think it teaches a lot of skills that you will end up using later on. I think it’s a very good measure. And then just generally I guess I do it because it’s fun. it’s not really something that’s like ‘Oh, I need to do this for college apps or something.’ I do it because it’s fun
I guess it’s just something I’ve gotten used to. My free time is playing the sports, that’s what I enjoy doing, and I’ll find time for chess in the car or when I’m taking a break from homework, but that’s that’s just kind of the routine I’ve gotten into.
I personally feel that compared to most people at that level, they spend hours on chess and they have prepped everything. If they know what you’re going to play, you’re not going to be a good situation. And for me I feel the best thing that I have is I think I understand the game better than most people. I don’t have the same level of preparation necessarily, but if I can get into a position that neither of us are familiar with then I like my chances. So I try to just play something different that they haven’t seen and get into a game where you can actually play the game. You really have to know who you’re playing against, and when you feel like you’re not improving it’s time for you to change something.
Omya Vidyarthi (10): I think one thing is since he’s always been very hard working and maybe me not so much, looking at him really inspired me to become a better version of myself. Seeing how much he practices, it made me want to practice more as well and just to live up to what he’s done is really incredible, and I think he’s really helped me along the way. Even though maybe we don’t talk as much when we’re with other people, I think at home it’s very clear that he’s very helpful and kind.
Vyom: A lot of time she’s played against someone who I’m paired against or vice versa. And then we’re going to show the game that we’ve played, because we have it saved. And we can say ‘Oh, this is their tendency. I noticed this when I played them.’ So it’s kind of like giving some feedback about what to expect. And then a lot of times it’ll just be like, ‘Oh, I suggest you look at this file,’ because we just share all our chess files. So like ‘Oh, you should look at this opening. He’s likely to play that.’ ‘Oh, you should look at this general position because she’s likely to play that.’ That kind of thing where we kind of help each other out, but I mean during the game, you can’t do anything. I like to actually watch her game and see what’s going on in her position. She likes to just sit at her board and play her game the entire time so we’re kind of different like that. Chess is what I want to do and so it’s not me being forced to do it because it’s going to benefit me in any way. It’s what I enjoy doing so I just keep doing it.
