Alysa Suleiman, Aquila Co-Editor-in-Chief
Alysa Suleiman (12) is the co-editor-in-chief of Harker Aquila. This is her fourth year on staff, and she previously served as Aquila’s first A&E editor, a sports reporter and a staff reporter. Alysa especially loves photojournalism and social justice reporting, and she feels the happiest working with the staff to make every new story pitch come to life. When she’s not editing an article or chasing down sources, Alysa enjoys competitive fencing, attempting new recipes and obsessing over BookTok.
![“[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)
![“It’s satisfying to have an experience where I put a lot of work in and it finally paid off. All the countless workout sessions, all the countless running, all the countless throwing the ball, it all paid off. And I realized that anything I set my mind to I can do. [Football] is something I had to spend time developing to do, which was new to me and different to me,” Vijay Vyas (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/VijayVyas_AlysaSuleiman_HoHPhoto-e1616175824247-702x900.jpg)
![“There's a very limited number of subjects, and there's a lot of people on earth. It's very hard to be the best at anything. My goal would be to help other people be the best that they can because it's very pleasing to see whoever you teach finally understand [the topic].” Michael Eng (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/michael-600x900.jpg)
![“The way I see myself and [what] I pride myself [in] is not be[ing] subjected to one group of friends. Now, it’s tougher to do so online, but I still have another semester. I just want to end on a good note with everyone, and I don’t want to hold grudges or any regrets,” Anmol Velagapudi (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/AnmolVelegapudi_AlysaSuleiman_HoHPhoto-696x900.jpeg)
![I could never personally relate to any of the struggles [Lana del Rey] pens down in her poetic lyrics, but enhancing the severity of her own battle scars by rubbing salt into the wounds of others was a petulant move, lacking both empathy and respect.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG_3236.jpeg)
![“My mom always says, ‘don’t shortchange yourself’, [since] I feel like within Harker, there’s always the idea of not being good enough ... I think my mom does a really good job of encouraging me, because ... sometimes I get swamped in with the Harker culture. She tells me to focus and do what I can do, and that it’s going to be okay,” Amanda Cheung (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/AmandaCheung_AlysaSuleiman_HoHPhoto-601x900.jpg)
![“I’m most happy when I’ve done for myself [something] that is making better changes towards my life. But obviously, I couldn’t have done that without my friends and my family, my grandma, so I’m happy about the relationships that I have with people and the memories I created with people over the years. I’m not really an emotional person, but when it comes down to it, I would say the people I fall back on are always my friends and family that I rely on, and they definitely have always come through,” Zoey Rosa (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/ZoeyRosa_AlysaSuleiman_HoHPhoto-583x900.jpg)
