Who Are You? | Nitya Mani

What defines us, nowadays, is unfortunately becoming our grades, successes, failures, and the exterior perceptions we project onto society, and seems to becoming less about who we are. Countless people at Harker are often described as “the one with all A+’s” or “the person who won XYZ contest”. Even when we mean to be complimentary, we are unknowingly reducing people’s value to that of their accomplishments, but there are a plethora of other qualities that make people special, unique, and worthy of remembering. Furthermore, when we judge people by their grades or the amount of social media they use, we often distance ourselves from them as people and lose out on friendships and camaraderie that can last a lot longer than the memory of their outstanding grade on that one biology test.

Harker is a very competitive environment and so is the world out there, but that doesn’t mean that we should lose sight of what is truly important in life, not numbers on a page, but the people who will potentially be with us for our lives if we take advantage of the friendships we can form in high school and instead of judging people by an arbitrary quality, befriending them for who they are inside.

Relax | Hannah Bollar

This past summer, I had the opportunity to go on my first scouting tournament in which college coaches actually came and sat on the sidelines watching my every move. The first couple of games were so stressful. Every time I screwed up on defense, missed that one ground ball, or waited to long to make that assist pass, I could feel their eyes watching me. I would become so stressed in what I was doing wrong that it started to reflect in my playing abilities. My coach eventually pulled me to the sidelines and said, “Hannah, relax, get your act together, and score.” As I returned to the field, my coach gave me a little comforting pat on the back. Following her advice, I took a couple breaths, hyped myself up by jumping a few times, and set up for the draw. Sweat dripping down my face, I reached up for the ball, pivoted left, dodged down the field, and scored. It was my first official goal of the tournament.

Everyday, there are times when one becomes anxious or stressed. It is in these moments that if one takes the time to stop, take a breather and look at life from a third-person point of view before throwing oneself back into the chaos, the results of one of these moments improves. Instead of worrying about the stress, if one actually does something about it by taking it in stride with the experience, it’ll be a lot easier to quell that anxiety. So the next time you find yourself blanking during a test, panicking on the field, or even just worrying about the upcoming class, stop and think to yourself: is this worrying actually helping the situation? Or would it be better to take a quick breather, and then refocus myself with calmed nerves and a better view on the predicament?

I chose the latter. Which one will you choose?

Opportunity | Hannah Bollar

Going through daily life seems to be the most natural thing for everyone to do: the studying, the homework, the hard work that we put ourselves through and complain about many a time.

However, during my first NHS KIPP session, I had an eye-opening experience. I never realized the drastic difference in opportunities that Harker actually provides. I had a prior understanding that Harker taught students diligently and instilled within them a love for learning; however, I never truly understood the extent to which this made us truly privileged people. On the way home from the first session, my brother and I compared notes on our experiences there. He was tutoring a small group of sixth graders who would stumble on even some of the easiest words in  children’s books like Dr. Seuss. I was astonished; I had always taken my ability to read for granted. If children such as the ones I encountered, who are attempting to escape their impoverished life by aiming for college and trying to perform well at school are not even able to read fluently, then what about those who do not have the opportunity to aim for colleg?. What about those who have to drop out of school to help with family expenses or other reasons? What about them?

Before, I took all my experiences, privileges, and abilities for granted: my parents’ decision to send me to a private school and the opportunity to explore my future and give it multiple possibilities.

To my parents – I cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for me and working to better my future possibilities.

Don’t take your opportunities for granted.

McQueen | Hannah Bollar

This past month was hectic. Everyday, I woke up at 6:00, got dressed, fed my dog, grabbed a bagel, crammed some studying during the car ride, mindlessly went from class to class, changed and went to lacrosse practice. Afterward, I did some running and practice on the bounce back while waiting for my ride, returned home at about 7:30, tiredly scrambled to finish my homework in a race against sleep, took care of my little brother, studied for all my tests, and crashed into bed, just to do it all again tomorrow.

After following this schedule multiple times, the results started to digress. This digression was shown not only in my academics but also my family life. At school, I began to notice that I wasn’t as focused in class, and it was harder to concentrate during tests. I was becoming forgetful. At home, I was sharp with my older brother, had no patience for my younger, and holed myself in my room everyday.

At first, I thought it was just from a lack of sleep. However, in reality, it was my entire schedule. Because of the time consuming activities I participated in during the week, I had decided early on that I would make up for the sleep I missed during the week on the weekend. This tactic, however, didn’t actually work. Because I was used to sleeping so little during the week, whenever I slept for more than that I messed with my sleep clock. Thus, every time I went from a few hours of sleep during the week to almost double the hours on the weekend, I felt more rested. However, when the new week began and I returned to the few hours of sleep, I was even more exhausted than before.

Most people have probably heard of Lightning McQueen, the famous racecar movie. At one point, my little brother had such an obsession for it that that was the only thing he would watch on television.

At the beginning of the movie, McQueen had just tied with two other famous racecars in the biggest race of the year, and was headed to a rematch race in which the winner would be decided. When his superior calls to congratulate McQueen on the way to the next race, the superior invites the racecar to a party stating that he is allowed to bring three friends. McQueen suddenly realizes that because of his self-involved personality, he has none. This realization leads to a change in the racer when McQueen falls out of his carrying truck late at night and finds himself in Radiator Springs, an old dying town because of a recently built highway bypass. There, he learns the value of taking one’s time while repaving the town’s only road, the importance of friendship that he finds in Mater, Sally, and eventually the whole village, and with these, McQueen breaks from his shell of self-centeredness. This compassion is ultimately depicted when, during the last lap of the tiebreaker race, McQueen stops to aid The King, an old racer who usually gets first place but crashed from being pushed by the third racer Chick Hicks. When the crowd gasps at McQueen’s action of losing the tiebreaker race and the trophy to save the dignity of the old racer, McQueen remembers the old words of a previous winner of the race, who he found in Radiator Springs, jokingly stating that it’s just an empty cup.

Like McQueen’s sudden realization of his self-centeredness, I eventually grasped the realization of my tiredness. McQueen was able to change this narcissism by changing the way he viewed life, taking things one step at a time, and recognizing the importance of the bonds he made with people. Like most students my age, I also needed to change my view on life. Instead of going blindly from class-to-class, project-to-project, and activity-to-activity, I need to slow down my activities. Better time management will lead to better sleep and more work productivity, along with more time to enjoy with my friends and family.

McQueen’s sudden change of view about the trophy being just an empty cup allowed him to actually enjoy the race and still remain happy after losing the biggest race of his life, because he had the relations to support him. Akin to this analogy, I realized that in order to change my schedule, I also had to understand that though every activity is important, it is also important to not lose oneself in the onslaught of daily life and to enjoy its little moments instead of remaining in the fast lane.

Honor in Representation | Katie Gu

Growing up, I had always perceived the quality of honor to be an intangible, abstruse concept, one that was buried in various actions: doors held open for strangers, integrity over cheating, and truth over deception. As a result of some quaint notion, I never conceived that one could find honor in representation.

Two summers ago, I discovered this alternate medium of honor. After earning a spot on the US National Synchro Team, I traveled to Milan, Italy for the 2011 Mediterranean Cup. There, while meeting and speaking to girls from a vast array of countries, I realized that there was something implicitly altered in my carriage and comportment. I was holding myself to a higher standard of dignity and poise than my habitual demeanor. As a result of being consciously aware of my presence as a representation of my country, a certain degree of honor was placed onto my shoulders, and I elevated myself to meet those standards. From my experiences that summer, I realized that I needed to integrate those very levels of decorum I held during the competition to all the situations and aspects of life.

The opportunity to represent comes with certain expectations. That one should carry a particular degree of esteem and finesse is certainly an implicit, if not explicitly stated, stipulation. Although these obligations present themselves more saliently when members of an organization are placed outside of their communities, the degrees of honor in their carriage should be kept at a consistent, unwavering level, not to be shaken by the circumstance of their environments.

What Is Service? | Vikram Sundar

I have spent two years at Reading Partners tutoring a fourth-grader, Angel, in basic reading and writing. Angel had fallen far behind grade level due to a lack of basic phonics education. In the time I have spent with him I have watched him grow from a hesitant picture-book reader to a mature and confident chapter-book reader. While he still has room for improvement, he now reads any nonfiction book he can get his hands on. I have seen him learn about the world around him, the plants, animals, planets, and stars, through his newfound capability to read. The change in his approach to books and his knowledge is remarkable, and this is a result of the hour that I spend with Angel every week, as well as the work of Angel’s teachers over the year.

My experience with Angel has taught me what service itself is about. Service is not just about the number of hours on our college application or the mindless labor that volunteers are too often relegated to. Service is about us making a positive impact on the community by reaching out to other citizens and improving their lives actively. Through my tutoring, Angel now has a chance to escape the cycle of poverty that would otherwise have trapped him within his community. I have given him more than money or food donations could possibly do; my service has provided him with the knowledge and armed him with the tools he needs to confront the real world and succeed. I have opened a whole new world of opportunities for him by teaching him how to read and he is taking advantage of it by reading as much as he possibly can and learning everything he can. As I watch him learn and read now, I know that I have succeeded in making a positive impact on his life; he has the tools he needs to move up the social ladder.

100 Hours or 100 Lives | Nitya Mani

To many people, community service means 30 or 100 hours or a bullet point on their college application. So many people only do community service for the rewards they reap from helping out their community. And while it’s perfectly alright to benefit from helping others out, there is a notable distinction between incidentally gaining from truly trying to help those in need, and stopping all aid once you hit the 10 hour mark or attain a certain status in an organization. Imagine what a different place our world would be if people stopped counting hours and only sought to reach their goals to help out as many people as they could. I think that our mercenary attitude towards community service has made some of us detached from the people we are helping out, and we often fail to realize that what we see as a checkbox are often human lives.

That’s not to say requiring community service is necessarily a bad thing. By mandating students help out in the community, you provide everyone with exposure to the world around them, and many times, people will connect and realize the truth behind community service. So many charitable endeavors have proceeded over time as people’s motives for doing service have changed over time, and yet, there are still so many people who stop once they have met the minimum requirement. I wish people could take a closer glimpse at what exactly community service is, giving back to the people around you in an effort to help those in need and save human lives, because just that knowledge itself can make a world of difference.

Embracing the Truth | Aaron Lee

In this world, human nature is often a tricky complex to analyze. One can never truly tell what another's personality is like until knowing the other, and even so, human nature is mysterious. Often, we are not what we appear to be on the outside - we are "phonies", a word that commonly recurs within J. D. Salinger's best-selling novel Catcher in the Rye. All of us, at some point in our lives, sometimes more than others, have been "phonies", creating facades of fake personalities to display to our community. Will doing so really help? Sure, you might gain something in the short-term; will you feel content about it? Will your character accept what you never were? How about we learn to embrace the truth and never let it go, instead of kicking it down.

Nostalgic | Vasudha Rengarajan

Nostalgic for the days of grade school, NHS members and other volunteers sit under the multi-colored parachute tent between tours.

NHS Members | Vasudha Rengarajan

NHS members pose for pictures before guiding visitors on tours of the spacious new Union campus.

Leadership As More Than a Title | Vasudha Rengarajan

Through the rose-colored glasses of my naivety, I had perceived the word "leadership" as simply a position of prestige and glory, of power and influence. I didn't find much evidence to teach me otherwise until late in my freshman year.

It was one of the many long car-rides to school. Music blaring through my shock-white headphones, I stared intently at a video on my iPhone screen. All the movement in the dance clip I was watching was so exquisite, strong and, well, perfect. That was the moment I had the idea for a new dance club, a way for students to express themselves through any form of dance and entertain the community simultaneously.

So I went through all the motions. I sought a faculty member to serve as an advisor, asked students to generate interest, filled out the necessary paperwork, and wrote up a three page plan for the club.

Then I learned that others wanted to join, and I was thrilled. But that meant I could not be president of the club. Instead, we formed a committee of officers without any leader in name.

 At that moment, I realized that I was absolutely fine without the glory, as long as I got to see my idea come to life. As of now, I still send out the emails to the officers, organize meetings, and contact community service venues. I love my job - I've found it rewarding to do the thing you love, even if there is no title.

Though I'm not president of the Harker Dance Club, I hardly call it a loss. Being a leader is about thinking about the project rather than oneself. Suddenly, there's a whole team larger than yourself, whose success you must account for. To me, that's one of life's most valuable lessons.

Honor: Looking Past the Black and White | Vasudha Rengarajan

To me, honor isn't holding the door for someone. It isn't turning in your own work. It isn't encouraging someone to better himself. Honor is the reason you do these things.

When I was young, I looked at things as black and white. Gray didn't exist in my world. I had never been taught that good people could learn from their transgressions, or that they made mistakes at all. 

Disney didn't help in that field either. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White were the pinnacles of purity, the paragons of perfection. 

School became my first glimpse into the duality of man, when my world view was turned upside down. We had classes about morality, read books about ethics, and eagerly watched short films about righteousness.

A common vein ran through all these stories: the characteristics of righteousness and integrity were rewarded. That was why I used to run home to tell my parents about all the "good" things I did: not because I was trying to develop my character, but because I wanted ice cream after dinner or a pat on the back. I don't blame my former self; after all, I was only four.

But the real problem is when this mentality persists as we grow up. Not transgressing because one is afraid of the consequences doesn't make him or her a good person.

What makes people honorable is the approach they take to their lives. It is doing what you think is right because you truly want to be a better person. Although I started out as any selfish four-year-old would, I've come to realize what it means to be a better person, and after everything, the satisfaction of knowing I am who I want to be is the most valuable reward I can hope for.

As a high school student, I still haven't gotten tired of the princesses or the dragons or the overoptimistically simplistic character traits, but I do understand now that the representation of morality in those contexts are slightly skewed, and that gray is one of the most common colors we will see in people.

Union | Apoorva Rangan

Taken at 3/9 Harker Union Preschool Campus Tour. Submitted by NHS member Apoorva Rangan.

Scavenging for Success | Sahana Rangarajan

Without a doubt, second semester thus far has proven more trying for me than first. As a result, I have grasped at every opportunity to pad my grades, even through endeavors as minor as getting all my homework in promptly or jumping at tiny opportunities for extra credit. Admittedly, my desperation for points has deflated my ego. A few days ago, I went to sleep much later than I would have preferred purely because of two of these "tiny" extra credit assignments that turned out to be much, much longer than I had originally anticipated. My mother, having stayed up with me as usual in an almost distressingly dedicated act of support, listened to my complaints with patient ears as I grumbled about how pathetic I was, scrambling for points like a vulture scavenging for scraps of a lion's meal. Just when I was feeling at my lowest, my mother did the best possible thing to mitigate my pain: she comforted me with profound words of wisdom: "But that's not pathetic at all! That's what sets the winners apart--others may wallow in their failure, but winners will do everything in their power to fix it. You're doing the right thing, now just keep at it!" And that's exactly what I've been doing.

Beethoven | Zina Jawadi

I have played classical piano since Kindergarten, and for many years, I preferred other classical music composers over Beethoven. However, over the years, I have gained a deeper appreciation of Beethoven, not only because music theory has increasingly allowed me to better understand his music, but more likely because I started connecting with him through our common disability: hearing loss.  For example, Beethoven had just completed a magnificent performance of one of his operas, earning him a standing ovation; however, Beethoven did not even hear the applause and ignored the audience, leaving everybody in tears.  In my humble ways, I have unknowingly ignored people waving at me or greeting me.  My father told me that one day, as he had just dropped me off at school, he noticed that a student waved at me and said good morning, but I had completely walked by the person without even smiling. While I had no intention of being disrespectful, I may have been perceived as rude - and I apologize immensely for all the times I have done this, which I cannot estimate, because I don't even know!  These small common struggles have allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of Beethoven, and Beethoven has now become a new source of inspiration for me, somebody who defied all odds and continued to compose music, even after he became deaf.  Let's all become the next Beethoven - the next person who defies all of society's underestimations and, instead, changes the world.

MLIH

Even after my volunteer shift had ended, I helped an elderly man get to his car. MLIH

OLIH

My friend took the last two cookies. Seeing that another Harker student wanted one, he gave one to that student. OLIH

OLIH

After most of my friends left lunch, the others who remained, including I, helped pick up after them. OLIH