MLIH

This year, I ran for Honor Council. Even though I didn't win, I'm still proud that I stood for what I believe in: taking ownership of your work and actions. MLIH

MLIH

Last week, I asked my teachers how they were holding up after hearing about Ms. Padgett passing away. It's important to remember that our teachers are human too. MLIH

MLIH

Don't let APs get to you. It's definitely intimidating to think of sitting in a chair for three hours with a test, but keep your cool! Have faith in your own preparation and in the experience of the Upper School teachers. MLIH

MLIH

Every time I do not do my math HW, I tell my teacher instead of remaining silent and just bringing it in the next day. MLIH

MLIH

A fifth grader trying to identify a woman who was hurt used the word "white" in a completely non-derogatory way and then stated “I’m not trying to be racist or anything! I promise. I just remember seeing a white woman.” Seeing him get so flustered over such a small thing made me have hope that we are becoming a more accepting world. MLIH

MLIH

When given the choice to look up the answers to the AP HW-problems given to me or struggle and try them myself, I choose struggle every time. MLIH

Sandwich Seva | Namrata Vakkalagadda

Every month for the past three years, I have attended a community service project part of my religious school called Sandwich Seva, where we make seventy-five bags filled with two peanut-butter jelly sandwiches, a bar, an apple, and a juice to give to the Julian Center. Although I would regularly attend, I never really gave much thought to how this was benefiting our society. A few months ago, I attended a get-together with other from my religious school where dinner was being provided. There was a lot of left-over food, and so my family said they would take it over to the Julian Center. I had only been there once before, before I started participating in the Sandwich Seva, and so I had never really connected the actions I was doing to the people I was supposedly helping. As we arrived at the Julian Center, I realized why I take a measly one hour every month to make those seventy-five lunch bags: it was to help these people who were at a low point in their lives, and needed a little bit of help to keep them on their feet. The way the center graciously took the left-over food made me feel blessed. I was able to attend a get-together where there was more than enough food present, while others in our city waited for long-periods of time to receive even small amounts of food. After that event, I started to take my participation in the Sandwich Seva much more seriously and tried to make every effort my best, so that I could at least provide these people with the best for this one meal.

MLIH

When pestered by a fellow student as to whether there will be a pop quiz or not in English, I simply decline to respond. MLIH

MLIH

I noticed that a student was being bullied on Facebook and reported the incident to Mr. Williamson. MLIH

MLIH

On Thursday we received our graded Chemistry tests back, and I had not done well. As I was going through, I saw that our teacher had not taken off a point where I had made a multiple-choice mistake. Instead of keeping the point to at least have an okay grade, I told my teacher and braced myself for the consequences. MLIH (She didn’t deduct the point anyway :))

Costume Superstar | Namrata Vakkalagadda

As a dedicated member of the performing arts community, I never truly realized the meaning of character until my experience in this year’s spring musical, Oklahoma! During our tech week and show week, we make use of the middle school performing arts teachers’ classrooms as our respective male and female dressing rooms as well as our green room. All cast members do their make-up, get dressed, hang-out, do homework, relax, prepare for the show, and of course, eat, in these three rooms (and a little hallway). Naturally, by the end of each night, the rooms are a mess. Most of our cast members simply leave and expect the rooms to be clean and ready for classes and the show the next day. I myself was one of these people in previous shows. Every year, Tina Crnko, graduate of 2012, would win the Costume Superstar Award, presented by our costume designer who would be backstage with us and stay after every night cleaning the rooms along with preparing and repairing our costumes. I never really understood what Tina did until this year, when there was no more Tina. Our first day after using the rooms, I was about to leave when I noticed that in just the girl’s dressing room, chairs were strewn about, mirrors were left to be magically put away, the trash cans were overflowing, and yet, people continued to file out the door without a backwards glance. It was at that moment that I realized how much Tina and everyone else who used to stay behind did to help keep the teachers of the rooms we were using happy and letting us make use of their space. It was at that moment that I realized that I did not want to be the person that walked away, hoping that someone else would clean up for me; I wanted to be the person that people could look up to and strive to be, as Tina was and is to so many of the people who knew her, both as a Costume Superstar and as a person.

Don't Blow It | Aaron Lee

As all members of a seemingly tightly-knit community, each and every one of us are obligated to respecting one another. Even when not members of the same community, every one, no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, religious views, is bound to respect each other. As humans afforded certain equal natural rights, no one has the authority to infringe on others' rights and honor. In the recent Boston attacks, the perpetrators have either been caught or killed. As people settle down with relief, one must not help but wonder as to the reason these bombings occurred. What were their motives? Many attacks on society today have been based upon a common discontent with society and its members, based on past injustices and grievances. Of course, the claiming of the lives of so many innocent people is not justified - however, as members of American society, we must always keep in mind that a slip of honor may have been the direct cause of events such as these. Simple accumulation of disrespect towards one person may seem trivial, but it will eventually hurt the perpetrator in the future. Many may think their actions die with the past, but in reality their actions become the future of others. Don't blow it. If disrespect gives you satisfaction in the short term, don't be surprised at how hard you'll fall in the end.

42+0 Isn't the Answer to Life | Aaron Lee

Since today is April 20, 2013, the date struck me. Other than being a normal Saturday morning, today was national cannabis day. Across the globe, many celebrated this holiday. All of us are also fully aware that although illegal, many others - including high school students - make the decision to take drugs like these. Some may take it cause they think its the "cool" trend, some may take it out of curiosity, or some may take it as a solution to their anxiety, depression, and troubles. No matter how intruding some of us may be in attempting to influence others' personal decisions, we should work harder in making aware the influence of drugs. Some, curious as to what a "high" may be, may take it fully confident they can resist addiction. Drugs don't necessarily make you bad people - I found out in the past some of my nicest friends might have taken pot. No matter who you are, however, they will definitely destroy your identity. You may escape its addictive influence, but you will have mangled your identity and allowed drugs to shape yourself a new one.

The Illusion of Swag | Aaron Lee

As a high schooler, I often hear the word "swag" in campus life. Those who think they have "swag" are proud to bear it, as they think of themselves as "cool". In freshman year, I entered Harker, new to high school and Harker society. I formed new friendships as I eagerly adapted to Harker life. There to welcome me that year were a group of upperclassmen who I had no connection to, yet prided themselves on picking on me. Most of them were simply joking around, as some of them became my closest friends, but one simply thought he "was cool" in picking on me. He strutted around campus, thinking he was one of the coolest out of all of us, and he later had the audacity to run for student government, lying to himself and others by priding himself on his character. Having "swag" isn't a bad quality - it allows one to be more expressive with oneself, encouraging individualistic pride. Yet, when people chooses swag over honor, they are simply creating themselves illusions of "coolness". Some may think they have swag in hurting others, but they are fooling themselves. It is far more cool to know that you are being the right person, rather than violating basic tenets of respect and honor. As Harker individuals, we are proud and bold in bearing our individual "swag" - yet we should always keep in mind each and every one of us contribute to the image of honor that this community proudly stands on.

Serving Them or Yourself | Aaron Lee

Recently, a friend of mine quit his volunteering. When I asked as to why he quit, it was because he enjoyed focusing on another organization for volunteering, and he had grown discontent with his current one. After I advised him not to quit, he responded that he had already received a lot of hours and didn't need as many any more. It made me think, just a bit, after hearing those words. After all, service was about giving to the community, right? Those countless hours spent helping his organization - didn't those hours result in a net positive change to the community? Wouldn't people want to keep that consistency? As we serve our community, we should learn to look past the numerical statistics. A hundred hours served without passion is of far worse significance than a passionate thirty hours done with the right mindset. True: we all like to consider ourselves caring members of our community, and some of us might do complete more than thirty hours, for show. But we should all learn to look past the importance of those numbers and instead at the importance of the positive impact you make on the world, as that is a key factor in helping society progress today.

Starting Small | Aaron Lee

Harker is an institution that prides itself on the unifying honor of its community: its members are noble in following basic tenets that keeps the community bonded. As a Harker student, the word honor not only reminds me of ethics, but also of Harker's very own student government and honor council. As elections approach, one must think of the honor that these candidates portray to the community. True, when one runs, he or she might discuss improving the community, making it more honorable, and giving himself credibility by calling himself for example the "nicest guy on campus", in order to appeal to voters. Why not start small? Why not forget all the complexities one involves with honor and attempt to be honorable on a basic level? Keeping yourself honorable on a scale as small as respecting other fellow students, even when not in front of everyone, makes you a better person than that candidate who overlooks honor on the small scale and attempts to envelop himself with it on a bigger scale.

MLIH

After taking my English test, someone asked me how the test was and I simply responded - "It was like a test!" and walked away. MLIH

MLIH

Whenever I see trash lying around Manzanita, I always pick it up, even if it isn't mine. MLIH

MLIH

Today I saw that the teacher had given me extra points on a test and so I went to that teacher to get my grade changed accordingly. MLIH

MLIH

Today, at Safeway, the cashier asked my mother and I whether we would like to donate to Easter Seals for people with disabilities. The cashier also mentioned that she is cautious in using the right terms out of courtesy.  I am very impressed that she not only used the correct term (people with disabilities, not disabled people) but also was very considerate to those with disabilities. MLIH

Proud to be an American, Part Two | Ayush Midha

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post detailing my pride in the American emphasis on community service. My beliefs stemmed from the government’s recent efforts to promote volunteering and service through initiatives such as the National Service Day and United We Serve.

Recently, though, I watched the movie Zero Dark Thirty, and my pride was challenged. Of course, people can act in ways that are right and wrong at the same time, but the movie’s depiction of torture techniques such as waterboarding really struck a negative chord with me.

The movie had a few effects on me. The first was forcing me to rethink the motives behind government’s community service efforts. These initiatives are promoted across America while the United States actively pursues programs like Extraordinary Rendition, the process of transferring a person to another country, often for the purpose of torture. This made me seriously doubt the kind words I had written previously.

Second, I was incredibly disturbed by the idea that the United States was willing to do anything to accomplish a singular goal. After discussing my opinion of the movie with some of my friends, I realized that many people considered the movie a demonstration of the persistence and determination of America. I, however, was troubled that the government was willing to tarnish its moral record and public perception entirely for a single objective, however worthy the goal may be. 

While I thoroughly enjoyed watching Zero Dark Thirty, I drew a conclusion from the movie that was even more significant. Although I am still proud to be an American, I question the government’s efforts to portray itself as entirely benign, and I am alarmed by the horrible acts committed in the process of accomplishing a goal.

Honorable | Hannah Bollar

At Harker, we seem to have our own society. In it, we are given opportunity and the freedom to excel. These, however, are all due to the type of society we have created: a completely honorable one. Honor is one of the underlying features of Harker society. Sometimes it could be a little thing such as holding the door open for someone or not sharing one’s homework, and sometimes it could be a big thing as not cheating on a test. Being honorable is an important part of being a person who does the right things and follows gallant words with dutiful actions. In the Middle Ages, a Lord’s crest on the battlefield aided the soldiers in identifying their allies through a sea of people. At Harker, I feel this sense of pride toward our own Harker crest, which brings a sense of honorable unity to us academically and even on the field. The season has just begun, but every time I stand on the lacrosse field, I can count on my team to back me up as we push for the win. At this school, I have gained many lifelong friends, and the nature of Harker's society will influence how I will approach future situations in my life. With the type of society we have built, I am proud to say that Harker’s Life is Truly Honorable. (HLIH)