![“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)
Medical Club organized a two-part rat dissection event to examine the thoracic and the abdominopelvic region Tuesday and last Friday. Officers guided members as they worked together to cut open the preserved rats and examine the organs inside.
Participants viewed major thoracic organs like the heart and lungs during the first session and spent most of the second session identifying more difficult to find organs in the abdominal cavity, such as the spleen and pancreas.
Attendee Shivaani Kumara Venkatesh (9) examined the rat’s intestines by pulling them out of the abdominal cavity to gauge their length, which is usually over three feet.
“It was amazing to me that so much matter would fit into such a small space,” Shivaani said. “It’s not something that I think about, usually. Our rat also had a really large spleen, and it was just interesting to see the sizes of the organs proportional to the rat.”
Medical Club adviser Matthew Harley bought the rats in bulk to support the club’s hands-on dissection event. Along with officers, he guided attendees by pointing out unique organs in the rats, encouraging those with female rats to look at the uterine horns, structures where their embryos develop.
“Certainly for these Med Club students, to actually see and be able to rotate the head [instead] of just watching a video — being able to poke and think of the density of these different organs. There’s just so much more that you get,” Dr. Harley said. “You don’t get that from videos and slides.”
For Shivaani, observing the scale of the rat’s organs firsthand highlighted differences compared to human anatomy.
“I feel like people say, ‘Oh, human kidneys are a certain size,’” Shivaani said. “But then seeing that on the scale of a different organism was pretty interesting, especially because [a rat] is a mammal and it carries out a ton of the same functions that our digestive systems do.”
The dissection event, first introduced last year by Med Club, returned this spring. Director of Advocacy Hanz Baek (11) cited the deeper engagement through hands-on learning this event offers as a reason for its return.
“We thought it was a good idea to do it again, because clearly it’s a really interactive dissection,” Hanz said. “It’s definitely more intricate than just the heart, because you can see literally the whole body, the heart, lungs, liver, basically every single organ. It’s pretty rewarding, because members are having fun, but they’re also learning as much as they can.”
