![LALC Vice President of External Affairs Raeanne Li (11) explains the International Phonetic Alphabet to attendees. "We decided to have more fun topics this year instead of just talking about the same things every year so our older members can also [enjoy],” Raeanne said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/DSC_4627-1200x795.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)
Student leaders from various organizations gathered to host the first Campus Leadership Coalition town hall in the Quad on Wednesday.
Serving as a platform for representatives from Student Council, ASB, SAB, HSLT, Green Team, Honor Council and SDC, the event aimed to increase transparency about ongoing initiatives and address concerns about what student leadership groups actually accomplish on campus.
Despite the attendance of only five people, organizers viewed it as a first step to better communication between leadership groups and the student community.
“The concept of the event is beneficial and it would solve a lot of the issues that we hear around student leadership,” head of ASB Outreach Committee Ameera Ramzan (11) said. “If people were here they might find it interesting, and there’s definitely things that we could do to make people come to the event. While it wasn’t exactly the most well attended event, we all have to start somewhere, so I’m not exactly disappointed.”
The event was organized by the ASB Outreach Committee, which coordinated representatives for the event as well as the pre-submitted questions.
“One issue that we face is people don’t know if anyone’s working on anything or they don’t feel like they are aware of what the leadership groups are actually doing,” Ameera said. “We were trying to find ways for them to ask questions about what we’re working on and get a quick recap about all the great work that all our leaders on campus are doing.”
ASB President Luke Wu (12) offered updates on current initiatives, like the tailgate barbecue ASB helped organize last Friday. He clarified the structure of the council: the Student Events Committee organizes performances and musical shows, the Community Service for fundraisers, Campus Life for daily student concerns and Outreach for maintaining transparency.
HSLT and SAB offered a comprehensive recap of Spirit Week, with ASB Spirit Coordinator Albert Yao (12) explaining increased transparency with communicating themes in advance through edited spirit reveal videos.
HSLT president Leana Zhou (12) then shared a glimpse into upcoming winter festivities aimed at helping students decompress.
“HSLT sets up a lot of events and a lot of people should really, really consider joining, especially the ones that are in Spirit Week when everyone is all hands on deck” Leana said. “We do have a lot more really cool events that are coming up that we want more people to show up to”
Honor Council representatives outlined next week’s Honor Week activities and their ongoing work revising Saturday Five essay prompts to encourage deeper reflection. The council has also been visiting frosh advisories to clarify their roles in promoting honor at Harker.
SDC integrated its frosh officers and is working on building a more structured foundation for the Cross-Cultural Congress, which connects and supports various affinity groups at Harker. In addition, SDC continues to refine its school meeting announcements about important cultural events throughout the year.
Green Team recapped their initiatives this year, including a smoothie fundraiser for Karma Bikes and a climb carnival both at Harker Day. They also introduced upcoming projects like a collaboration with Film Club and more speaker events.
The town hall concluded with questions from the audience. In response to a question about a possible conflict of interest in Milk Tea Mondays, Luke responded by explaining how decisions and funds are managed within ASB.
“For [Milk Tea Mondays], the decisions about pricing are made as a collective by ASB as a whole,” Luke said. “The fundraising money is not connected to the money used for expenses, and all the money we make directly goes to charitable causes.”
Frosh Ryo Sugaya attended town hall to learn more about what Harker student leadership has been doing this year.
“I enjoyed this town hall because it promoted more transparency about what students are doing, and how the whole system works,” Ryo said. “I asked a question so I can know how the student council can help me with my problems on a daily basis.”
