![“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)
How did you get into F1 racing?
Eddie Zhang (12): I started following F1 a few years ago, so it was kind of natural that I also followed this season as well. I watched a few races, specifically the ones in the US or in North or South America, because they don’t require me to get up at any too early time. Because I’m lazy. But yeah, I think all those races were pretty cool and fun. Especially Brazil was pretty nice.
Laya Sunkara (11): I got interested in F1 like around a year ago because I saw F1 edits on Instagram, and they were pretty fun, and then I thought the sport was kind of cool. So, I started watching it and I have F1 TV so I can watch the races and that’s typically how I follow the sport.
Eva Hammerschmied (10): So I followed this year’s F1 season over the F1 TV app. I watched the races, qualifying and free practices when I had time, and what got me interested in Formula One was that my dad used to watch the races in the 80s, and so he would tell me stories about the winners.
Hannah Lin (12): So I started watching F1, at the end of the 2023 season, mainly just started showing up on my feed and looked really interesting. And so I’ve been watching it through the 2025 season. I usually follow it — I just watched the races on their official channel and follow the news and headlines that come up.
What driver and team do you support?
Eddie: I’ve always supported Max Verstappen and Red Bull since like 2020 before that championship year run, and I support Max because he’s probably the best driver on the grid. I really like his aggression and his mindset when it comes to driving. He’s an all risk — high risk, high reward type of person. And I think that’s rewarded him quite a bit.
Laya: So my favorite driver that I support is Oscar Piastri, who’s on the team McLaren, but McLaren is not my favorite team — my favorite team is Williams. So, basically I support Oscar Piastri because I think he’s a very talented driver and I think he has a lot of potential. And I think he has a really good mindset that I think is pretty inspirational.
Eva: I support Charles Leclerc and Ferrari. The reason is because it’s a bit of an underdog team with huge legacy, but no recent successes, and it’s definitely exciting to see and hope for them to win as opposed to teams that win constantly.
Hannah: I support Williams and my favorite driver is Alex Albon, mainly just because they were my first exposure into F1, so I’ve been following them ever since, and I feel like the team is really genuine and fun.
What was your overall reaction to the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix?
Eddie: I was definitely a bit sad because I think it would have been better if Max’s 100 point comeback ended with a championship. But obviously I think it was pretty cool to see Lando win his first championship as well. I think he held on well, especially under a lot of pressure and made some nice overtakes, crucial overtakes, toward the end of the race. As a Max fan, I’m a little bit disappointed with the result, but can’t be too sad about it. I’m also pretty happy for Lando.
Laya: So I was definitely very stressed going into the weekend, to see how the championship would end. Obviously, as someone who supports Oscar Piastri, I wasn’t very hopeful because the chances of him winning the championship after that race were still pretty slim — the other two contenders for the championship, Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, would have had to do really, really badly. So it wasn’t very helpful. But I was still curious about maybe Max winning, because I do think he’s really talented also. I was looking forward to him maybe getting a fifth title, but he didn’t. I’m not the biggest Lando Norris fan, so I was a little bit upset by that result. But I’m still glad he has one championship under his belt, and maybe next year will be Oscar Piastri’s year.
Eva: Honestly, I found the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to have a lot of interesting moments, but not to be an interesting race overall. It’s probably a race that is best watched in the highlights as opposed to as a full race.
Eddie: I expected Lando to win the championship in Abu Dhabi or Qatar, whichever one it was, because I felt like him getting off the podium was a little bit too improbable. Especially because considering Piastri probably would have let him pass if he was off the podium and Oscar was in front of him. Definitely getting another car in front of those two McLarens that’s not Max Verstappen or Red Bull would prove especially difficult. And I think that was supported with the race results as well. I did expect Lando to win because he was coming in with a bigger points lead, and so I feel like the expectations did match my outcome for that particular race.
What do you think will happen next season?
Eddie: Well, it’s kind of hard to say because there’s new regulations next season. Obviously McLaren had the best car this year by a significant margin, especially in the start of the year, but it’s hard to say who will come out on top. I expect Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull all to do well, but definitely I would say Max still has the advantage because he’s by far the best driver on the grid right now. Just based on his driving skill alone, I think that would always keep him in the Championship via a race win, no matter what.
Laya: I’m hoping Oscar Piastri wins. To be honest, I’m pretty new to the world of F1, so I don’t know very much about the science and the cars yet. I’m still learning, so I’m not fully sure about how that’s going to go, but I am hoping that Ferrari will have a better car next year. I’m hoping that Oscar will do a little bit better. I’m hoping that McLaren team orders don’t stay this terrible next season, but I guess we’ll see.
Eva: Like most people, I think that Mercedes is going to be really good. They usually master the motors pretty quickly. Of course, I’m hoping that Ferrari will do well, but it’s pretty 50/50 on almost everyone else because it’s pretty early on.
Hannah: For the upcoming F1 season, I predict Mercedes is going to be very dominant, and I think Lewis is going to be still unhappy with Ferrari.
