![“[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)
Harker Robotics rebounded from a shaky start to win the 2025 Capital City Classic alongside alliance partners BioMechs, Boba Bots and CTEC Titans. The event saw 39 teams from across California compete at Pleasant Grove High School from Oct. 24 to 26.
2025 marks Harker Robotics’ fifth year competing in the Capital City Classic and their first victory at the event — just three weeks after their historic CalGames triumph. Junior Kevin He, who serves as Co-Director of Harker Robotics’ design subteam and helps develop competition strategies at events by analyzing other teams, reflected on the team’s poise throughout the competition.
“We performed very well — beyond our own expectations,” he said. “Some of our qualification teammates had hardware issues that hurt our ranking, but we knew that we could be confident in our robot’s capabilities.”
Teams loaded their bots and tools into the venue on Oct. 24, and qualification matches began on Oct. 25. Multiple significant technical issues resulted in Harker Robotics winning only 3 of their 7 matches, but members of the mechanical and software subteams were able to identify and resolve them to set the team up for a better performance the next day.
By winning 2 out of their 3 qualification matches on Oct. 26, Harker Robotics secured a rank of 12th entering alliance selection. Captaining the third-seeded alliance, fourth-ranked BioMechs from Richmond High School selected Harker Robotics with their first pick, Boba Bots (from Mills High School) with their second and CTEC Titans (from Career Technical Education Charter High School) as the alliance’s backup bot.
Harker Robotics’ alliance swiftly claimed decisive victories over the sixth-, seventh-, and fourth-seeded alliances to reach the finals, where they faced off against the first-seeded alliance, which included 5-time Capital City Classic winner and 2015 FIRST Championship winner Citrus Circuits from Davis Senior High School and 2022 FIRST Championship semifinalist BREAD from Design Tech High School.
A mechanical issue with Citrus Circuits’ robot forced alliance one to substitute in Wolverine Robotics’ machine, allowing Harker’s alliance to secure the first win in the best-of-three finals. Citrus Circuits returned for the second finals match but was unable to mount a comeback. Harker Robotics finished the event with a record of 10-5-0 and ended the 2025 competition season with an overall record of 50-21-0.
“This year is my first year of actually attending competitions, and this event was more memorable than CalGames because we were able to beat better teams,” scouting and strategy sub team member Hanwen Cui (10) said. “I actually felt that we didn’t have a really good chance of winning [against alliance one], but we had a strategy for this matchup because we thought it would be the finals. Winning felt a lot more fulfilling to me because our match strategy really mattered, and that’s mainly what I do.”
Team mentor Esther Martosoetjipto commented that the team’s positive attitude throughout helped them overcome their subpar start to the competition.
“The team was able to do a good job because everyone stayed focused despite the losses,” Martosoetjipto said. “The thinking after a loss was ‘ok, this is fine, there are other matches we can perform well in.’ People were supportive, and the team’s performance improved a lot.”
The 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) game, REEFSCAPE, challenges competing alliances of three robots to place PVC pipes representing coral on a reef consisting of branching pipes while removing rubber balls representing algae from the reef before climbing hanging metal cages. Each 150-second match begins with a 15-second autonomous period when robots must operate independently and ends with a 20-second endgame, during which robots ascend the cages. The intervening duration typically features robots scoring coral and algae under human control.
Capital City Classic marks the end of Harker Robotics’ 2025 competition season, and the team will next compete at the California District Sacramento Event from March 20-22.
