![“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)
Eagle Updates hosts Charlotte Ludlow (12) and Pedro Castro (11) opened the school meeting and announced the Athlete of the Week: Varsity Girls’ Basketball player Sanika Das (11), who averages 12 points and 13 rebounds per game.
Varsity Girls’ Basketball players Finley Ho (11) and Selena Chen (11) invited students and faculty to come to their senior night on Feb. 13. They honored seniors Claire Yu and Alicia Yan by reciting poems that celebrated their years on the team. Pedro and Charlotte quickly returned to congratulate Varsity Boys’ Baseball player Jackson Powell (12) for having the most rushing yards among the North team in the first half of the 51st Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Games and leading his team to a 31-20 victory over the South last weekend.
Conservatory representatives Mindy Truong (12), Jessica Skylar Chen (11), Léa Kandl-Zhang (11), Anya Lu (10) and Aarya Vaidya (10) invited students to attend the chamber music concert on Feb. 20, featuring senior concerto winner bassoonist Vinayak Sinha (12) as well as the wind and string ensembles. They also announced the Conservatory Concert Series taking place on Feb. 27, featuring Seraph Brass, who will be giving a masterclass to jazz and orchestra students. They concluded by announcing that Harker had been selected to perform at the 2027 American High School Theater Festival at the Edinburgh Festival Bridge in Scotland and shared an interest form for people interested in attending, either as part of cast or crew.
DECA officers Eden Kelly (12), Colin Li (11), Alrisha Chen (10) and Sofe Jalil (10) shared details about February as Career and Technical Education (CTE) and DECA Advocacy month. They highlighted events like the ice cream social on Monday, giant soccer match on Wednesday and a letter writing initiative on Feb. 20. These events aim to inform California legislators about how DECA and the Silvanus Foundation, founded by Harker alum Nathan Liu (’24), advocate for career and technical education. Eden encouraged DECA members to attend the first DECA office hours on Feb. 20 to prepare for the State Career Development Conference (SCDC).
ASB Campus Life Committee members Nikhil Sharma (12), Nicole Dean (11), Samaara Patil (11) and Srikrishna Kataru (9) shared that the final match from the third round of the Clash Royale tournament will be broadcasted during a future school meeting. Samaara clarified details about hot food: muffins are for everyone, but hot food is reserved the grade specified at the end of each school meeting.
ASB Community Service Committee members Luke Wu (12), Lucas Chen (12), Chelsea Xie (11) and Ameya Choudhary (10) presented the Literacy Fundraiser collaboration between ASB, National Chinese Honor Society, African Literacy Club and various other organizations related to advancing global literacy. Clubs will sell food, drinks and merchandise on Feb. 18 during morning office hours and Feb. 20 during long lunch and after school.
NCHS officers Léa, Isabelle Niu (11) and Grace Fu (11) announced that they will be selling pre-order teacher-themed tote bags and bookmarks for the fundraiser. Proceeds will be donated to support a rural elementary school in Shandong, China.
ALC officers Krish Nanchani (12) and Kayla Chen (11) revealed that they will sell buttered popcorn in different flavors to raise money for creating libraries in Africa with the African Library Project. They will also be collecting lightly used books for donation.
Nonprofit Music for Impact founder Nathaniel Steeg (9), presented the organization’s first concert scheduled to take place on Feb 20. in the Quad. Music for Impact aims to help children with pediatric cancer at St. Jude’s hospital.
Spikeball Club officers Cameron Jones (11) and Vova Shchegrov (11) will be hosting a Spikeball Tournament during the fundraiser. There will be two five-to-ten-minute simultaneous games, and winners of individual games will receive tickets to spend on fundraiser items. The winner of the entire tournament will earn boba for their advisory.
HSLT Competitive Events Committee members Lily Peng (11), Jennifer Liu (11) and Aydin Mesic (10) invited two members of each class to take part in a pickup line contest in anticipation of Valentine’s Day. Participants competed to complete half-finished pickup lines on the spot in a way that made sense and was school appropriate.
