![“[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)
Conservatory representatives Simon Kirjner (12), Taylor Summers (12), Megha Unny (11) and Emma Zhou (10) kicked off School Meeting by introducing the Student Directed Showcase (SDS) program, where students direct a play of their choosing. This year’s directors are seniors Holly Templeton and Charlotte Ludlow working together, Daniel Miao and Simon. Staged readings for SDS will be taking place on September 23.
Eagle Updates hosts Charlotte Ludlow (12) and Pedro Castro (11) announced the Athletes of the Week: Ricardo Sanchez (10) for boys varsity football, Sai Kaneshiro (10) for girls varsity golf and Alejandro Cheline (12) for boys varsity water polo. They also commended Axel Schlouza and Aiden Coviello for helping Harker secure a win against Crystal Springs at a recent cross country race.
Honor council officers Suhana Bhandare (12), Yash Greene (12) and Linda Zeng (12) announced Honor Council’s new goal for the year: visibility and transparency. They presented a written message from IT Director Jesse Lara, which clarified that this year’s changes allow users to more quickly connect to the correct local area network while keeping logs which are only reviewed when deemed necessary. In that memo, Lara also explicated the hot-spot ban, stating that hot-spots can be used to violate academic integrity and slow down the actual network.
Math department chair Anthony Silk notified students that sign-ups for the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) are open. The exam will take place on November 5. Silk reminded students that they must be active members of Math Club if they want to take the AMC 10B or 12B. Silk also requested students to not break the giant chess pieces outside Nichols, presenting the recently-discovered severed head of a chess king.
Jewish Affinity Group officers Shaina Cohen (12) and Abby Rose Sachse (11) invited all students to a Rosh Hashanah party on September 22, in Mr. Acheatel’s room. The event featured traditional Jewish games and food.
HSLT president Leana Zhou (12) and Green team officer Kristiyan Kurtev (11) dressed up as trash cans and performed a sustainability skit alongside other representatives from the Campus Leadership Coalition (CLC). The CLC announced that the green compost bins will be relocated to lunch stations instead of being paired with the blue “other” bin to avoid waste misplacement. The CLC members also inaugurated a new sustainability challenge between grade-level advisories, conducted on the Goosechase app.
ASB President Luke Wu (12) closed the meeting by dismissing the class whose advisories signed up for the sustainability Goosechase first.
