![“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)
Aileen Jang, Assistant News Editor: National Spanish Honor Society hosted their annual La Noche Cultural on Mar. 6 in the Auxiliary Gym, where students and faculty enjoyed diverse aspects of Spanish culture, like food, music and dance.
Isabel Garcia, Spanish teacher: The event is organized by the Spanish teachers and the Spanish Honor Society. We have some committees, right. The students are in charge of different parts of the event. Everything is organized because everyone knows what they have to do. Then, we promote the event, not just for the Spanish Honor Society, but also among our students and our own classes, so everyone is invited.
Aileen: The evening featured eleven special performances from students and concluded with a salsa dancing competition.
Yena Yu (12), NSHS member: One thing that was familiar was the annual Caso Cerrado. I remember last year when I was in AP Spanish, and I was doing that performance. It was so nostalgic looking back and seeing a new, you might say, generation of AP Spanish students doing that same performance. I think just seeing how much fun they had with it and also the audience being so engaged with it just brought back so many fun memories.
Manan Gupta (11), NSHS member: I really want to show that, obviously this event is not mandatory for everybody. Most people just take Spanish in 9th grade just to complete a requirement or something like that. But I think that Spanish can really come full circle. Whether it’s Spanish music in your Spotify playlist or just going to Spanish countries just to practice talking, I think that Spanish is really the full experience, and at Harker, this is one of the greatest epitomes of how you can really see Spanish come alive at Harker. It really represents my journey through Spanish as well.
Aileen: Students sang a modified version of “Recuérdame (Remember Me)” from the movie Coco to honor Mrs. Moss, who is retiring after 30 years of teaching.
Garcia: Well, she’s leaving.
Diana Moss, Spanish teacher: Well, I will come back after I retire, but the students were so sweet. They wrote a song for me. They took a song from the movie Coco called Recuerda Me (Remember Me), and they changed the lyrics to say, Remember us, Mrs. Moss, and that was very sweet. It made me cry. I’m not gonna think about leaving all my sweet students yet, but it was a very special thing to be celebrated like that with all my wonderful students and friends and colleagues.
Garcia: When you learn a language, it’s not just the language. It is the culture, the history, the art behind the language. This was the very beginning of Noche Cultural. We wanted our students [to experience] the same way they experience culture and history and art and literature in our classes. We want them to have fun and experience cultural activities in a kind of practical way.
