The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“It's very important to make sure the people in your life know they're important to you. Whether that's doing small acts of kindness or just being there whenever they need you, having a really strong support system is what gets you through life, and it's a really valuable life skill to have," Sofie Marino (12) said.
Humans of Harker: Pillar of support
“My karate teachers emphasize that as black belts, we should be living up to the standard of our rank and acting as an example for the students who are lower-ranked.' When I’m helping out and someone messes up, I don't necessarily say, ‘You did this wrong, try to do this.’ I take a more relaxed approach and act out what they did a little comically. It's finding the balance between being strict and being more playful with the students," senior Claire Perng said.
Humans of Harker: Playing with purpose
“I have the ability to convey my opinions and ideas through art, which in my opinion, is the most powerful tool I have because not everyone has it. It requires me to, first of all, have an opinion or thought, and second of all, be able to convey it with this medium. Together, that is the strongest calling for an artist," senior Eva Li said.
Humans of Harker: Artistry in abstraction
"I like challenging myself to really, really high expectations and then surprisingly, somehow it works, and I think I have the most fun doing that. Rather than making a beginner thing, I wanna be the best .I wanna do the craziest thing first," senior Gabe Li said.
Humans of Harker: B-roll to your beat
“Sometimes when you're too carried away with the thing that you're so passionate about, it's hard to take a step back and realize that you need to be sharing this information with others. Through all the errors, although it's really demoralizing at times, it provides a lot more insight as to how the entire thing functions and then from there you can know what to do next," senior Tiffany Gu said.
Humans of Harker: Exploring the finer edges
Humans of Harker: Cooking with creativity
Humans of Harker: Cooking with creativity
“There's a lot of value in every moment and everyone around you. I appreciate people who just appreciate the little things. For me, I feel like everyone you meet can teach you a little bit, and that's something that I've really internalized over the years. I think that's part of why I like being around people and different communities so much. Because in each of these communities, you can learn so many different things from everyone," Olivia Xu ('24) said.
Humans of Harker: Purpose towards progress
“I get to choose how much effort and detail I put in, and that’s what you’re going to see in the end. I love that you can see the truth on paper. A lot of my work is in black and white, so I can’t rely on color to cover it up or make it more interesting — I can only rely on my skill and willingness to go into the studio and add to my piece," Katelyn Zhao ('24) said.
Humans of Harker: Envisioning the everyday
"I used to think that I have to keep doing dance just because it's what I’m known for. But now I’ve realized there’s beauty behind all the madness that happens. And it’s now a part of me, so not doing dance or not having Legos is like I’m losing a part of my identity," Luke Mehta ('24) said.
Humans of Harker: Building with style
“Why not? So many things are very foreign or unknown to us, but there’s not much to lose by just trying things. I initially wasn’t very comfortable with DECA, especially with impromptu, but the community really helped me grow out of that. And DECA is now one of my top high school memories. Just giving things a try is really worth it, and if it fails, the worst thing that can happen is you just try something else," Claire Luo ('24) said.
Humans of Harker: It’s all in the details
“I love using performing arts as a method to positively impact the audience. With every single show I do, I always want to have my performance be moving, leaving the audience with something new to ponder, something for them to take away," Shareen Chahal ('24) said.
Humans of Harker: Voice behind the story
"Being a lifer, I really want to put my knowledge to use. Being a TEDx speaker is a really big honor in and of itself, but to be able to actually address the Harker community was really important to me because I wanted to have an impact on the place that I've been at for 13 years," Arissa Huda ('23) said.
Humans of Harker: Prescribing change
"I’ve learned discipline: practicing a lot and then knowing what your strengths are, knowing where to improve. That discipline is definitely going to stay with me. If I’m trying to get a big piece of work done in general when I'm interested in it, I'll stop at nothing to reach my goals," Linette Hoffman ('23) said.
Humans of Harker: Artistry in motion
"I have this philosophy with theater. I wholeheartedly believe that my life was made for the stage, and all my make or break moments have happened there. While some people learn best through lectures or visuals, I learn best from having a spotlight on me," Zubin Khera ('23) said.
Humans of Harker: Scripts to success
"One of the most important things for me about performing is its transformative power. There was one concert where we were singing this commission about gun violence, followed by a piece about climate change, a piece about the Holocaust. Watching the audience's expressions and how they reacted to the music we were singing was the first time that I was like, ‘Whoa, music has the power to change lives and engender positive change,’” Sawyer Lai ('23) said.
Humans of Harker: Symphony of spirit
"It’s been fun getting to know the chefs at La Mar, their team and how different cultural influences blend together. For example, they make ceviche, which is a traditional Peruvian dish, but they infuse it with many different cultures. They have a version of their ceviche which is inspired by African tastes and spices, and they also have a Japanese form of that same ceviche dish. I think it’s interesting to watch how these fusion dishes form," Alex Lan ('23) said.
Humans of Harker: Flavors of knowledge
“As an actor, I'm able to say things in a way that nobody else can. If I want to convey a message, being on stage and being a character and telling this story the best way that I can is my preferred method of communicating my ideas with you. So whether that be social justice or family issues, I can really say whatever I want, by being whoever I want. I think it's a really cool way to communicate with people," Lucy Feng ('23) said.
Humans of Harker: Taking center stage
Prakrit Jain ('22) searches for new animal species to help the environment and wildlife.
Humans of Harker: Scorpion spotter
Arnav Gupta ('22) moves a DNA construction.
Humans of Harker: Coding for a cause
“[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.
Humans of Harker: Blast of creativity
"Every single person I've interviewed for Humans of Harker has said one killer quote that has stuck with me even through four years of high school, and I think I really do internalize those messages. There are nuances in every single person's experience that makes it unique to them and also makes it a good lesson for everyone else. It's just amazing to see how much wisdom every single person at Harker has, and it's fascinating to learn about those stories," Erica Cai ('22) said.
Humans of Harker: Harmony in humanity
“Something I took away from baseball is that there's always the opportunity to bounce back when things don't go particularly right. Even the best hitters only go one for three, so being able to push through that is one of the most important parts of the game. Being able to identify what goes wrong and learning from that is important to being able to find success in the future," Mark Hu ('22) said.
Humans of Harker: The perfect pitch
“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 wasn't making that crazy of things, but just the process of doing it was much more enjoyable," Carter Chadwick ('22) said.
Humans of Harker: Creating his own world
Humans of Harker: Perseverance on par
Humans of Harker: Perseverance on par
It's been obviously rough, turning on the news and seeing another death, seeing another acquittal every single time … but, ‘How much can I do?’ is the question I'm asking myself. ‘How much can I help, and what impact can I have?’” Brian Pinkston ('21) said.
Humans of Harker: For the future and the present
“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.
Humans of Harker: Leading with DECA-cation
Class of 2021: Humans of Harker compilation, part three
Class of 2021: Humans of Harker compilation, part three
“I feel really good about myself when I'm relaxed and enjoying the world. There’s so much to learn about the world and so many ways to do so," Daniel Wang ('21) said.
Humans of Harker: Mapping the unknown
“I always try to do things in a different way. Maybe that’s me trying to be experimental, that experimental side from performing arts where you play with different things, find out what’s best. In any sort of situation, I’m always trying to do something unique. During projects and presentations, I always try to be funny and add humor, which helps me stand out in different classes,” Benjamin Soraire ('21) said.
Humans of Harker: Curtain call
“[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.
Humans of Harker: Learning to fall
“You just have to go for it. You think, 'In the future, if I think back and regret it, is that how I want to end up — or would I rather just try something and see what happens?' Usually, it turns out well,” Montek Kalsi (’20) said. 
Humans of Harker: All fun and games
“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.
Humans of Harker: Leadership and love
Humans of Harker: Grit and grind
Humans of Harker: Grit and grind
Humans of Harker: Artistic nonconformity
Humans of Harker: Artistic nonconformity
“I like being guided by the idea of making the most out of any situation because it is intentionally ambiguous. It gives me the flexibility to define it as I see fit. And then pursue it as I see fit,” Nerine Uyanik (’20) said.
Humans of Harker: Make the most out of every moment
"I'm the person that always has a plan for everything. And then I have backups for the plan, and I have backups for the backups," Nicole Chen ('19) said.
Humans of Harker: Calendars for a cause
"I don’t ever intend on letting the internal love of life that I have leave me. As I grow up and I maintain my love for the random things I do, I know I’ll be happy– and hopefully people around me will be, as well," Mathew Mammen ('19) said.
Humans of Harker: Jack of all trades, master of fun
Humans of Harker: To dance, to feel
Humans of Harker: To dance, to feel
"The more serious side, people will never see. You'll never see who's behind one of these websites that people may be using," Neil Ramaswamy (12) said. "Several freshmen have approached me like, 'hey, you're the really funny guy at school meeting' and I'm like 'hey, yeah, nice to meet you' and at the same time they might be using an application that I've written not knowing that it's me. I kind of get that personal satisfaction knowing that there is a serious side to me, you just don't know about it."
Humans of Harker: Dueling with duality
Humans of Harker: Humanity in art
Humans of Harker: Humanity in art
“150 years ago, no one even dreamt of making a car or what they could be. But someone out there just asked, ‘Why can’t we move on an engine instead of horses?’ or ‘Why isn’t there an easier solution?’ and like that, someone just created a feat of engineering that is still used today. It’s fascinating to see how such brilliant inventions stem from simple curiosity and questioning,” Suraj Pakala ('19) said.
Humans of Harker: Curiosity beyond bounds
“I can be serious, and I care a lot about a lot of things, but I also just like having fun and people feeling comfortable being their true selves,” Isabella Spradlin (12) said. “You don't have to be one-sided — you can have different sides of your personality, and different moods.”
Humans of Harker: Isabella Spradlin gleans insight from sisterhood
“This is like a melting pot of Cupertino, Lynbrook, Saratoga, some people from De Anza, so you meet all kinds of people,” Rahul Mehta (12) said. “Half the time I’m not even playing with my friends, so I’m playing with random people. You start off in the beginning a bit wary of each other, and then by end you’re playing like they’re your friends. It’s kind of gradual. Like after a really cool play, you’ll high five each other, and that’s how it all begins.”
Humans of Harker: Rahul Mehta befriends others through banter
"People are always debating, you know, ‘should I go up to a higher weight or not?’ And I’ll just yell, ‘do it, you won’t,’" Tiffany Shou (12) said. "And then, you know, it’s like that challenge, and so it always pushes them pick that higher weight, and then they can accomplish it, so it’s even more gratifying."
Humans of Harker Video: Tiffany Shou pushes her limits in the weight room
“First, I start at my house,” Sparsh Chauhan (12) said. “Then, I turn on Saratoga, and it’s always crowded with traffic and stuff. That’s when I’m setting the music, checking the tire pressure, the gas. After downtown, the road gets smooth, which is when I put the windows down. I go all the way down until there’s a dip and then I go back. Even when I have stuff to do, I drive that same route every day. I don’t have to take directions. I know all the traffic times; I know exactly where I’m going.”
Humans of Harker: Sparsh Chauhan takes pride in his work
“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.”
Humans of Harker: Angel Cervantes chases his goals
“Even when it's the 15th time you've done the scene, it's still a new experience and there're still new things to be discovered,” Maxwell Woehrmann (12) said. “You can always strive for better during rehearsal and finally when it comes to the show, just a seconds before I go on stage. That's why I do theater, it's for the seconds before I go on stage because I feel very alive. You're so aware. You're full of adrenaline. Your fight or flight response is kicking in, and you're about to go on stage and cannot forget your lines. It's very intense and I've learned to kind of crave the anxiety that comes with performing.”
Humans of Harker: Maxwell Woehrmann acts incisively
“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.
Humans of Harker: Neymika Jain finds balance in life
“A lot of the time, when I’m out at nail salons, nailers ask me if I‘m Vietnamese. I say yes, but they say that I don’t speak the language and have never been back to Vietnamese, so am I really? I always felt disconnected, like I would be Vietnamese-American but never Vietnamese. When I went to Vietnam for the first time, it brought me closer to my culture. I realized I shouldn’t view myself as a different. I have to see Vietnamese-American and Vietnamese as one and the same," Haley Tran (12) said.
Humans of Harker: Haley Tran values her cultural identity
“One time, I was hiking up this giant off-trail path, and this is going to make me sound like a complete hippy, but what I was thinking at the moment was that every single tree out there must have had some sort of backstory. Even when I was walking to Shah, there was this tree right next to the building, and I was like, ‘Maybe this tree had a lot of other tree friends, but then this building came up and they had to get cut down.’ That made me pretty sad. So, when I was coming up with backstories for trees, it reminded me of my childlike innocence of playing pretend or playing with my stuffed animals because I thought my imagination would never run as wild as it once did. But, this experience made me feel happy because it’s something that I’ve lost, and I feel like I gained some of it back," Aashish Jain (12) said.
Humans of Harker: Aashish Jain finds inspiration in painting through watching Bob Ross videos
“For me, robotics has always been a great way to learn about how to build things and how things work. Honestly, that is the reason why I love robotics. When you see everything working, you look at it and say 'I helped make this happen,' which is really really gratifying," Andrew Tierno (12) said.
Humans of Harker: Andrew Tierno reflects on his passion for robotics
“A lot of being a choreographer is about digging deep, understanding, and finding out which event leads to the next, which is basically what science is. You would take a circuit and break it apart to understand each of the components, and you would do that to a song,” Sneha Bhetanabhotla (‘17) said.
Humans of Harker: Sneha Bhetanabhotla learns to connect robotics and dance
“Corrie ten Boom once said, ‘When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away your ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.’ When I feel like life’s got me backed up against a wall, I do get stressed out. But, the basis of my eventual recover is that I know God loves me. I know his plan may have a lot of detours, but I know he has one for me and everyone else. I believe in Catholicism, but no matter what you believe it, if you believe in something, don’t be afraid to practice that belief. Don’t be afraid to tell people about your beliefs and passions because why not express to someone else what is most important to you?” Alex Youn (’17) said.
Humans of Harker: Alex Youn is passionate about his faith
The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Eleanor Xiao , TALON Student Life Editor

Eleanor Xiao is a junior and Co-Student Life Editor for TALON Yearbook. This is Eleanor’s third year on staff. In her free time, Eleanor enjoys dancing, sitting in coffee shops drinking iced lattes, and listening to indie music.

All content by Eleanor Xiao
“I think over the past year I sort of just realized that friendships and any relationships in general just come from effort from both parties, and so it's really like for the longest time I sort of expected things to come and I think that's like a major problem in thinking,” Randy Zhao (12) said. “I was always expecting friends to want to talk to me. I was expecting things to come to me without having to work for them myself and I think in any friendship or relationship in general that's like the worst thing you can think. There has to be that understanding that any relationship comes form effort from both sides, so I think that couples with my willingness to open up to more people. I’ve started putting a lot more effort into people I care about and people I want to care about me and I think that sort of manifested itself in stronger relationships with friends.”

Humans of Harker: Randy Zhao finds silver lining in brother’s accident

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Editor-in-Chief
April 19, 2018
“My relationship with my siblings is really not different from others — I don't know, it's just that some people think of taking care of their siblings as an onus, a chore for them to do, but I think of it as something happy,” Michael Kwan (12) said. “Like when the mom has the baby it’s like a blessing, right? I think of taking care of them as a blessing as well. And with friends it's the same thing — having friends is the blessing, it's not like some sort of chore where you have to drive them around and everything, just spending time with them is okay and should not be taken for granted.”

Humans of Harker: Michael Kwan embodies caring role among friends and family

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Editor-in-Chief
April 15, 2018
“I definitely think that reading is a big part of empathy," Makenzie Tomihiro (12) said. "Because, the way I look at it, it’s like everyone is the main character of their story, and every story has its own conflicts, and every protagonist has an antagonist, and while I’m the main character of my story, all these supporting characters have their own main stories as well.”

Humans of Harker: Makenzie Tomihiro reads to empathize

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Editor-in-Chief
January 24, 2018
“I mostly just live my life thinking, ‘Why not?'" Shaya Zarkesh said. "If the possible regret is not probable or not that big, then I’ll do it. I don’t judge things based on importance, I judge things based on how much fun will result out of it.”

Humans of Harker: Shaya Zarkesh doesn’t shy away from spontaneity

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Editor-in-Chief
December 11, 2017
“In general, I’m really bad at planning really far into the future, because I always think about how much could change and how much will change,” Megan Cardosi (12) said. “I can’t really picture where I’m going to be in the future, so I just focus on what I can control for the next small part of my life. If you keep doing that, eventually you'll look back and realize how far you've come.”

Humans of Harker: Megan Cardosi thinks small to achieve big

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Editor-in-Chief
October 17, 2017
Students and faculty visit booths at last year's Research Symposium in Nichols Atrium. Similarly to this event, the Artificial Intelligence Club plans host a series of workshops and lectures about biology, math, computer science and a variety of other topics.

Prospective clubs for 2018

by Gloria Zhang, Aquila Asst. Features Editor
September 6, 2017
Attendees visit corporate booths in the Nichols Atrium. The annual Harker Research Symposium was held on Saturday.

Annual Research Symposium features Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality Theme

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Co-Student Life Editor
April 16, 2017
“I always like to try new things. That's not something a lot of people know. Every time that I'm put in a role, I always make sure to always try something new and try to go out of my comfort zone and see if I can discover a new way or a way that I've never tried before to connect with the character. There's just something really exhilarating about doing something you've never done before, and that's something I love to do," Kayvon Solaimanpour (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Kayvon Solaimanpour’s adventurous personality compliments his hobbies

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Student Life Editor
March 14, 2017
“Coaching has taught me a lot of leadership skills because it's pretty hard to organize kids who really don't know you. I've also had to interact with parents, and that can also be challenging. Sometimes you have to take that criticism and use that to adapt, and other times you just have to tell them that you're the coach so you have to stand up to them," Rahul Shukla (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Rahul Shukla coaches youth basketball

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Student Life Editor
February 5, 2017
“[Meditation] has definitely affected me in a very positive way. I remember a couple years ago, before I started doing this I used to be very tense about everything and worrisome, and I wasn't very good with managing my time. After I started this I get into everything with a better mindset and much more calm and empty mind," Surabhi Rao (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Surabhi Rao meditates to alleviate stress

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Student Life Editor
January 10, 2017
Aditya Dhar (12) reads the newspaper while playing the protagonist character, Phileas Fogg, as Matthew Kennedy (11) speaks in the background. The Harker Conservatory is performing “Around the World in 80 Days,” a comedy musical about a British man traveling the world, for the 2016 fall play.

Preview of “Around the World in 80 Days”

by Eleanor Xiao
October 28, 2016
"To be honest, I guess [what keeps me up at night is] why we’re here. I guess what the meaning of life really is. So many people exist and so many different lives and so many people do different things in life. We’re all so separate but so similar at the same time that it’s just pretty mind boggling. What the human race is it just pretty mind boggling. Just the whole scheme of things is just pretty interesting. There’s not answer to that question, but I mean we're here so just gotta make the best of it and just do what you love," Parth Pendurkar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Parth Pendurkar develops a love for exploring

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Student Life Editor
October 19, 2016
New ASB officers reflect on upcoming school year, extracurriculars and family

New ASB officers reflect on upcoming school year, extracurriculars and family

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Business Manager
April 12, 2016
Nate Kelly (10) lunges forward in preparation to throw a pitch during the second inning. Nate was one of three Sophomores to pitch during the game, alongside Akhil Arun and Dominic Cea.

Varsity boys baseball loses to San Mateo High at home

by Eleanor Xiao
March 8, 2016
Senior Doreene Kang prepares to hit the ball over the net during a varsity game. She was mentioned in The Mercury News for volleyball.

Varsity volleyball players Doreene Kang and Rachel Cheng recognized in the Mercury News

by Trisha Dwivedi, Executive Sports Editor
January 7, 2016
Students write messages for those affected by the various attacks in Paris, Beirut and Baghdad. FNHS posted these messages on its Tribute Board in Main.

French National Honor Society creates Paris tribute board

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Business Manager
November 19, 2015
Kaity Gee: Coming out about mental illness

Kaity Gee: Coming out about mental illness

by Eleanor Xiao, Talon Business Manager
November 15, 2015
Kaity Gee (16') presents her Ted Talk at TedxHarkerSchool last year. Tickets for this year's conference are on sale now.

Annual TEDx conference to be hosted this Saturday

by Ria Gandhi and Shania Wang
October 18, 2015
Miranda Larsen (10) stretches while playing the music for her solo piece. All sophomores chose to self-choreograph their pieces, which includes choosing and altering their own music.

Dance certificate students perform Sophomore Juries

by Eleanor Xiao, Talon Business Editor
September 17, 2015
The search: strategies to finding the ideal prom dress

The search: strategies to finding the ideal prom dress

by Eleanor Xiao, Reporter
May 15, 2015
Freshman members of 2013-2014’s JV Dance Troupe, LeAnn Nguyen, Lindsey Trinh (10), Noor Singh (10), Tamlyn Doll (10), Hazal Gurcan (10), and Surabhi Rao (10) pose before performing at the Santana Row Tree Lighting ceremony. They danced to the Christmas classic song It’s a Wonderful World.

Behind the scenes: Conservatory Santana Row performance

by Eleanor Xiao, Reporter
November 17, 2014
Upper School students present at national journalism convention

Upper School students present at national journalism convention

by Eleanor Xiao, Reporter
November 11, 2014
Members of the jazz band play music for the audience, as students from each grade level showcase their float. These members were already familiar with the songs they were going to play, but still had to put themselves in the mindset of having fun and showing their spirit.

Float parade carries on a recently developed tradition

by Eleanor Xiao and Eric Jeong
October 3, 2014
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