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- January 31School meeting recap 1/24/23: Valentine's grams, AI Journal and Black History Month
- January 29Humans of Harker: Critical thinker, community builder
- January 28Humans of Harker: Symphony of colors
- January 28Kevin McCarthy elected House Speaker after unprecedented 15 rounds of voting
- January 27Upper school speech and debate teacher Greg Achten elected to NDCA Board
- January 27Humans of Harker: Athletic artistry
- January 27Lunar New Year welcomes in Year of the Rabbit
- January 26Humans of Harker: Gold medal, gold heart
- January 25Humans of Harker: Ardor for art
- January 25Math Club hosts speaker event and wins Arete Competition
![Cross country head coach Kevin Oliver hands flowers to seniors Kara Kister and Ada Praun-Petrovic. “It’s really sad [to be leaving]; I cried a bunch today,” Kara said. “Since I’ve been on the team for so long, and I see them every single day and all these people, it’s really sad to be leaving.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/DSC_3554-900x596.jpg)
![“[In] golf, I realized that there’s only so much you can control through technique. If you can really just focus on feeling the club and getting your shot and executing something you visualize, you have a much more productive and enjoyable experience. I tend to view a lot of things like that. Even in the way I study, the way I approach the classes, I try to make them as artistically enjoyable as possible, always trying to find a way to sort of visualize an outcome and play around with things until I get it, Athreya Daniel (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AthreyaDanielHOH_JX-600x900.jpg)
![“[Building nerf blasters] became this outlet of creativity for me that hasnt been matched by anything else. The process [of] making a build complete to your desire is such a painstakingly difficult process, but Ive had to learn from [the skills needed from] soldering to proper painting. Theres so many different options for everything, if you think about it, it exists. The best part is [that] if it doesnt exist, you can build it yourself, Ishaan Parate said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/DSC_8149-900x604.jpg)
![“Animation just clicked in a way. I had been interested in art, but that felt different. [Animation] felt like it had something behind it, whereas previous things felt surface level. I wasnt making that crazy of things, but just the process of doing it was much more enjoyable, Carter Chadwick (22) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Screen-Shot-2022-08-16-at-9.44.08-AM-900x598.png)
![“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 its played such a major role in who Ive 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 Im [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)
![“[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)
![“Im 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 theres a lot of people that are really confident in what they do, and I really admire them. Everyones 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)
![“My slogan is ‘slow feet, don’t eat, and I’m hungry.’ You need to run fast to get where you are–you arent going to get those championships if you arent 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)
![“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)
![Upper school speech and debate teacher Greg Achten was recently elected to the National Debate Coaches Association (NDCA) Board. “I want to make debate a more open and inclusive and kind of awesome place for students to come together and express their ideas,” Achten said. “Thats what I would like. [The debate coaches at Harker] all share the same vision of having a vibrant community where we all appreciate each others work.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Mr.Achten.jpg)
![Cards with encouraging messages were displayed around campus during Wellness Week. “We all wrote down some kind of encouraging phrases on notecards to put around school,” Sonya Apsey (11) said. “It was really nice to see our advisory bonding over something [we] normally wouldn’t get an opportunity to talk about, and I think Wellness Week gave [us] that opportunity.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/stringactivity-900x601.jpg)
![“[High school is] finite but not finite. Its finite in the sense that its going to eventually end. If you realize the finiteness of it, you learn to value the experiences you gain from it more, but its somewhat infinite too because the influences you gain from high school and the experiences of your high school journey are not over once you graduate high school, Austina Xu (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/AustinaXu_IM1-900x540.png)
![The Pearl Post adviser Adriana Chavira speaks to student journalists at the Journalism Education Association (JEA) NorCal Media Day at Palo Alto High School today. “There’s a section of the Ed Code 48907 that protects advisers from retaliation,” Chavira said. “That was added about 15 years ago. The Ed Code 48907 was actually added back in the late 70s, and [it’s] the first such law for student journalists in the country. Were lucky we have this: it’s giving you First Amendment protections.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Keynote1_SallyZhu-900x600.jpg)
![“I want to be remembered as someone who hopefully helped other people be better. I want to be a good influence on [people]. I want to be a friend who makes you a better person, Alexa Lowe (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/AlexaLoweHoH_IreneYuan-e1645684554485-601x900.jpeg)
![“Im thankful for jazz because it brought me back to the violin in a roundabout way. Everything youre singing, if youre truly in the moment, its coming out of your music and what you think is right in that moment, and no one can take that away [from] you and no one can be the best at it technically. So that reminded me that I might not be technically the best [at] the violin, but Im the best at my interpretation of music,” Malar Bala (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/MalarBala_IM_PhotoSelects5-878x900.jpg)
![Student Diversity Coalition representatives Uma Iyer (12) and Brooklyn Cicero (12) introduce Challenge Day on Friday. “[Challenge Day] was truly a transformative experience,” Brooklyn said in her speech. “It brought me a lot closer to my peers and allowed me to get very vulnerable with them, something that was a bit hard to do at first, but eventually I got used to it.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/DSC_3179-e1631074854549-900x634.jpg)
![“What I like most about [soccer] is just seeing my team improve along with me throughout the four years of high school because in freshman year, most of us were [junior varsity] … and just seeing us all progress to the varsity team and become varsity players, [is] what I enjoy most about it,” Tuhin Chatterjee (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/TuhinChatterjee_EshaGohil_HoHPhoto-596x900.jpg)
![Director of Roleplays Anika Muddu (10) teaches how to prepare for and present a roleplay at DECA Launch. “The conference experience was mainly something that we might be missing out [on] because the preparation for DECA can be done over Zoom or you can Facetime, but the in-conference experience is something that I don’t think we’ll get to convey to the freshmen this year,” Harker DECA CEO Lisa Barooah said. Everyone who’s ever done DECA can tell you the conferences are the most fun part.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/image5-900x562.png)
