![“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)
Eagle Update host Pedro Castro III (11) opened school meeting by commending Athletes of the Week varsity girls track athlete Sophia Ou (12), who broke Anjali Yella (‘24)’s 2022 long jump school record at a recent meet and varsity boys golf player Ernie Singh (9), who shot 8 under at a recent meet, helping bring the boys golf team to an undefeated 12-0 regular season record.
Conservatory representatives Jessica Skylar Chen (11), Léa Kandl-Zhang (11), Shridhar Chaware (10), Anya Lu (10) and Aarya Vaidya (10) announced that the spring musical “Something Rotten!” is a finalist in the Rita Moreno Awards for the Best Overall Production. They also congratulated student actors Simon Kirjner (12) and Omar Khan (11) on their nominations for Best Lead Actor and Best Supporting Performer, respectively. The cast will compete live at the Rita Moreno competition in San Jose on May 18.
The representatives then awarded Performing Arts Student of the Month to orchestra violinist George Yang (12), who won the concerto competition and played in the pit during the spring musical. Finally, they celebrated the 20 senior certificate candidates and reminded students about the upcoming Senior Showcase and Hammy Awards on May 16.
Writers’ Advocate president Maddie Avila (11) and officers Duncan Marquardt (11), Sarah Wang (11) and Sahra Zyed (10) commended the winners of the Writer’s Award contest: Mason Lam (10) in nonfiction, Annie Yu (10) in poetry, Lucas Yuan (10) in audience awards and Reyansh Malla (9) in fiction.
HarkerDev president Demi Zheng (11) and Green Team officer Elaine Zou (11) announced the relaunch of Swap N’ Share, a book exchange website where students can reuse and repurpose old textbooks to reduce waste while saving money. Elaine explained how to navigate the website while Demi talked about the specifics of the exchange process.
Harker Aquila Editors-in-Chief Lily Peng (11) and Cynthia Xie (11) and Winged Post Editors-in-Chief Claire Tian (11) and Chelsea Xie (11) revealed both publications as NSPA Pacemaker Award winners and invited students to read about staff experiences at the JEA/NSPA 2026 convention at Minneapolis on Harker Aquila.
Lily reminded students to fill out the Community Pitch Form if they have story ideas for Harker Aquila or want to write a guest opinion for their repeater Heart of Harker. Finally, Claire and Chelsea shared details about Issue 6 of the Winged Post and encouraged students to pick up a copy during lunch that Friday.
Lily Ahluwalia (10) and Bartu Milci (9) played a clip featuring Arab Americans that emphasized the importance of honoring April as Arab American Heritage Month. Lily and Bartu spoke about celebrating the history, culture and contributions of Arab Americans while avoiding reliance on stereotypes or judging based on appearances.
LIFE Board representatives Liana Barooah (10) and Nathan Mao (10) introduced the finals of the 3v3 basketball tournament, an initiative that aimed to promote recreation and relieve students’ academic stress. The finals included a students versus teachers match to determine third place and a students versus students match to determine first place. Players frosh Stephen Gao, Ethan Xu and Eric Zhang won first place, while the teachers placed third.
