![“[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)
- December 17Festive cheer and family traditions
- December 17Predictions for the 67th Grammys
- December 17Embrace winter magic with Aquila
- December 16Tiny love stories: End of year nostalgia
- December 14Junior varsity boys basketball trails behind Mountain View 36-43
- December 14Downbeat dazzles crowds at annual holiday tour
- December 13Annual Winterfest celebrates community and holidays
- December 12Destress Week helps students unwind before finals
- December 11Gingerbread house building inspires class spirit
- December 10Ease into finals prep with Aquila
!["I mainly build model kits because it’s pretty relaxing. I can just spend like 10 hours listening to music and kind of decompressing after the week’s over, and I’m not doing the thing that’s stressing me out. I think a lot of us are stressed out by school and stuff but it’s nice to get away from it all. [Building model kits] is definitely a daunting hobby to get into, like on Reddit and Instagram’s model pages, [you might think] all of this stuff this guy did is really good, but that guy probably has ten years of experience doing it. If you like how it looks, then it’s good. There isn’t any objective quality, if you like it, you like it," Andrew Koonmen (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/AndyKoonmen_DevanshiMehta-900x596.jpg)
![“[Track] is just a fun time. A lot of my friends were there, and it kinda just taught me that if I work on something that I’m not good at, it’ll eventually get better. You’ll get better, but most importantly you’ll have fun,” Surya Gudapati (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SuryaGudapati_EricaCai-600x900.jpg)
![“[Martial arts are a] different way to deal with stress instead of just keeping it inside. You get to punch bags, and you can just forget about all the other stuff and just focus on trying to win and do your best and maybe knock someone off the ground sometimes. You don’t really have to worry about the test you have tomorrow or the homework you haven’t done yet," Nicole Selvaggio (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/NicoleSelvaggio_EricaCai-900x600.jpg)
![Four Harker students share their stories of living and learning abroad. “You get to experience different cultures and learn more about the world through doing things rather than learning about other places at school. Even though it’s a difficult transition process, in the end, I think [living internationally] really helped me as a person,” Caden Lin (9) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ComingHomeLogoJournalism-copy-900x877.png)
![“At Harker, every year, I just really enjoy coaching everybody, enjoy having the people around, we don’t have a lot of pains in the [butts],” Chisam said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/chisamportrait-e1550795430566-900x791.jpg)
