![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)
My birthday is coming up in January, and amidst my preoccupations of how I want to celebrate my “big 18,” I can’t help thinking about the significance of this number. At 18, I’ll be a legal adult able to vote, make my own bank account, apply for a credit card — the list goes on and on. These are huge decisions and milestones in my life that used to seem far away, but are now approaching at full speed.
Even as a senior, I still feel tethered to my parents despite spending summers away from home, navigating airports alone, driving my own car and working a part-time job. While I’ve certainly gained more independence from those experiences, there are still so many aspects of adulthood that remain a mystery to me.
We need “adulting” classes in our curriculum. Too many students stumble into adulthood unprepared and make mistakes that can linger for years — one in five U.S. teenage students lacks understanding of basic financial literacy skills, leading them to be three times more likely to fall for scams.
Creating a budget, growing your credit and even understanding how interest works are lessons that should be understood early on and could save students from many years of financial stress later down the line. I only started looking into them recently, often by means of confusing conversations with my parents or Google searches that send me down endless rabbit holes.
Yet adulting involves many skills other than the most blatant ones, like finances. Renting an apartment. Home maintenance. Even how to cook a meal or change a lightbulb. Yes, I can search up how to change an air filter, but what happens when my heater breaks out of the blue? Do I risk making the problem worse by troubleshooting, or should I call a professional I can barely afford?
The consequences of lack of life skills extend far beyond high school. Almost half of parents who have kids under 21 cite that their own financial literacy grade would be a “C” or lower — this cycle pervades across generations.
My decision to take AP Economics this year was partly so that I could learn more about finances, not just abstractly, but in the practical sense: how to manage money, why everyone dreads tax season. But my understanding of these topics remains surface-level. I know more about opportunity costs and how taxes are distributed between consumer and buyers, but there still exists a difference between learning these topics on paper and translating them to real life scenarios.
By creating a standardized course where important life lessons are reviewed, we can all feel more comfortable transitioning into adulthood. Most of the meaningful concepts that shape adult lives are rarely ever taught in the classroom. While 29 states currently require students to take a personal finance course to graduate, California does not.
I know that when I find myself in my college dorm next year, there will be situations I am not ready for, skills I realize I lack. Turning eighteen should feel like a steady next step, not something I feel unprepared for. We spend so much of our lives studying for exams and perfecting our grades, but the real test is how we prepare for our lives independent from our parents.
