![“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)
Honors Biology students dissected pigs’ hearts during their cardiology unit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Pairs of students used dissection kits with scalpels, probes, scissor, and pins to dissect the hearts. They identified structures like the aorta, arteries/veins, ventricles, atriums, atrioventricular valves, septum and semi-lunar valves, enabling them to see the anatomy of the hear they are studying up-close.
For Honors Biology teacher Eric Johnson, the pig heart dissection lab is their favorite because students being able to see and interact with structures they’ve learned about in class gives them a new level of context for the unit.
“We’re in our cardiovascular unit, so we are talking all about the heart, we’re talking all about the lungs, the respiratory system, the circulatory system, the blood,” Johnson said. “You can stare at a diagram. It’s not getting the same detail as if you were looking inside of a pig heart, so that’s what we did this way.”
Junior Anika Basu felt that the lab put the lessons she learned this year in context. By supplementing the class’ lectures and presentations, the dissection gives a more realistic, detailed perspective on class material.
“This was definitely one of my favorite labs we’ve done, because it really translates what we’ve learned theoretically and on PowerPoints to real life,” Anika said. “We were able to see the different parts of the heart and the respiratory system that we were learning about.”
The pig hearts were purchased from Lion Market on Saratoga Avenue. Because of their anatomical similarities to human hearts, like having four chambers and a similar vascular layout, pig hearts are a common choice for lab dissections. Students were also given the choice to opt out and do a virtual heart dissection.
Junior Ethan Gu believes the real-life dissection made viewing different structures much easier, which helped improve the learning experience.
“Just getting to feel the heart and cut through it was quite the experience,” Ethan said. “Everything was just tissue and muscle and like the heart is already so big. So it was easy to find the individual compartments and examine them without needing a lot of precision.”
Beyond supplementing class material, the lab is memorable for many students because it reveals the connection between biology and human life.
“When we get to human physiology, our labs become really connected to my students. We make sense of things like the heartbeat,” said Johnson. “I have a small heart condition, so when I study the heart, I relate back to my own experience with my heart condition. There’s something about studying human health, where it’s just an easy connection to your life.”
