![“[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 2Groove back into school with Aquila
- December 2Humans of Harker: Kindred spirit
- November 30Friday Five: Top childhood book series
- November 27Club Corner: Language and Linguistics Club hosts speaker event on language models
- November 26Perspectives: Artificial Intelligence in education
- November 25Aquila Weekly Wrap-Up: Nov. 16-22
- November 25School Meeting 11/22: Winter Wishes, De-stress Week and sock drive
- November 232024 recap: Fall sports highlights
- November 23Legacies of service
- November 23The six staples to a fall capsule closet
![“[Writing is] a lot about being introspective, so speaking about things that maybe you aren’t comfortable with. A lot of it is about race, identity, politics and the intersection of the three … A lot of these issues don’t affect me personally, but it’s still interesting to me, because I just like listening to stories and talking to people,” Catherine Zhao (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/CatherineZhao_NicoleTian_HoHPhoto-900x596.jpg)
![“Sometimes I pick up my phone and I get sound bytes of footsteps or the wind blowing through leaves, things that happen around you [that] you don’t see without a camera. I like taking photos or making videos and putting my vision into these things because I really want to share them with others and make people feel something when [they] see it," Heidi Zhang (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/DSC_1834-601x900.jpeg)
![“If you do something, you should try to put as much effort into it as you can, because through my experiences, I’ve seen people who are really talented at what they do, but then they don’t put as much effort as they can and they kind of waste that talent,” Alex Yu (12) said. “Similarly, [there are] people who started from the bottom but then really worked their way up to the top.”](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/AlexYu_KathyFang-900x601.jpg)
![“I think [soccer] allowed me to connect with a lot more people and kind of to build confidence in myself. My soccer team is made up of a lot of people with very different experiences; it’s definitely not like Harker in that sense, and because of that, I have a wealth of experiences to learn from,” Sara Min (12) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Screen-Shot-2019-03-06-at-8.41.09-PM.png)
