![“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)
Saria Lum, Assistant STEM Editor: Classes competed for the Spirit Champion title at the annual Spirit Rally for the fourth and final day of Spring Spirit Week in the Zhang Gymnasium today. The seniors prevailed with 3700 points, followed by the juniors with 3350 points, sophomores with 2575 points and the frosh with 1325 points.
Each class performed choreographed dances based on their respective movie franchises: “Star Wars” for the seniors, “Fast and Furious” for the juniors, “Avengers” for the sophomores and “Men in Black” for the frosh.
Aileen Jang, Assistant News Editor: Judges ranked seniors first place for spirit dance, juniors second, sophomores third and frosh last.
Frosh incorporated green alien headbands and inflatable props, including a cow and an alien, into their routine. Transitional dean and English teacher Christopher Hurshman also made a special appearance, dressed in a black and white suit to match the Men in Black theme.
Sophomores used green and red finger lights to represent Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch, along with silver pom-poms for their Thor-themed dance.
Grace Yao (10), Spirit Dance choreographer: We knew we wanted to incorporate the Thanos glove and the Infinity Stones because we wanted to center the dance around Thanos. But some of the different props like the thumb or the finger lights for Doctor Strange came later as we were choreographing, and we were like, “Oh, this would be cool.” We added this certain prop into this certain dance. I think also for Thunderstruck as well, like the pom-poms. It’s just a crucial part of the dance because it’s DCC (Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders).
Aileen: Juniors handmade four cardboard cars to simulate a race between the four grades and incorporated black and white racing flags into their routine.
With 120 dancers, the seniors featured lightsaber duels and characters from the Star Wars series, including Yoda and Darth Vader.
Kallie Wang (12), Spirit Dance choreographer: The process for doing choreography this year was similar to how it’s been in the three years before. It’s definitely bittersweet. It was pretty nice to win spirit for our last year, obviously. It’s also always nice, even if you don’t win in the dance or in the banner or other spirit activities, to just use the time to bond with the rest of your class. Even just doing spirit rehearsals, working on choreography with your friends and also teaching it to people in your grade who might not have like a decade of dance experience but are also willing to try new things and put their all and energy into the dance is just really fun. It’s definitely something that I’ll miss a lot in high school.
Aileen: Two representatives from each grade participated in three relay games. In the first, participants identified which of the two given images was AI-generated. The second game challenged students to shoot balls into a basket in the center of the gym from poly spots, collecting the spots they made. For the third game, each class calculated the sum of numbers on notecards hidden beneath the student bleachers.
Seniors took first place in the relay, with sophomores and juniors tied for second and frosh in last place.
In the scream-off competition, seniors secured first with 124.9 decibels, followed by juniors with 123.5 decibels, frosh with 122.1 decibels and sophomores with 121.8 decibels.
Saria: To end the rally, Upper School Director of Student Organizations Eric Kalbrier awarded the Spirit of Spirit Award to Spanish teacher Diana Moss for her unwavering eagerness to promote spirit and inspire others.
Ava Alvarez (11): I just love watching the dances. It’s so fun. I love seeing all of the hard work that’s just come to this one moment, seeing like everyone’s dances. I love seeing all of the spirit. I love seeing everyone get involved, seeing the other classes cheer for each other. It just really shows that spirit is about the community.
