![“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)
Aerospace Club hosted a building session to prepare materials and electronic equipment for the American Rocketry Challenge on Thursday.
The club members are designing, building and testing a model rocket to launch during the competition. They began preparations in October, running simulations on the design software Open Rocket and altering designs based on requirements set by the contest. Aerospace club officer Matthew Deng (10) explained the club’s work so far.
“We’re working on creating model rockets to launch, and they have to fulfill certain goals, like altitude goals, and the payload has to be one egg for this year,” Matthew said. “We started preparing by training some of our members on how to use the Open Rocket software for rocket simulations. We designed rockets in December, and now we are building them.”
All the materials for building the rocket were ordered online and made primarily of cardstock and wood, including the thin cylindrical body of the rocket and the rounded head. Because the team member in charge of the building tools was absent during the club meeting, team members improvised by using a small flip knife and nail file to cut the rocket body. Other attendees weighed materials with a scale to ensure they met the design criteria.
The club participated in the challenge for the first time last year, and members hope to apply the insights they gained to this year’s rocket build. They aim to add and code electronics, which would control parachute deployment and improve performance.
The team will compete in the regional competition in mid-March at a launch site in Fremont. Because over one thousand teams participate in the American Rocketry Challenge, only the top 100 teams can proceed to finals. The Aerospace Industries Association’s (AIA) hosts this annual competition to inspire future engineers and spark creativity.
“It was definitely a learning process, but we have that experience now,” Evan said. “In the design process, we made edits based on what we learned last year, and we might try to be a bit more adventurous this year with things like electronics or trying to fiddle with the design to try and get better results.”
Club Vice president Evan Zhang (12) explained the benefits of incorporating electronic elements.
“Instead of using time to determine how long we wait before we deploy the parachute, we’re going to have the servos deploy at a specific height, and that’s going to increase our accuracy,” Evan said. “If we do qualify for the national competition, it’s important that we have electronics because they will randomize the height that you deploy at, so you can’t necessarily just be based off of time.”
