The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“You only live once, right? My family has always taught me to do as much as you can for the community, because what you're gonna leave behind is your community. Helping them in the best way you can will also be in your best interest. I don't really have an external motivator, but it just makes me happy," senior Sriteja Kataru said.
Humans of Harker: Building more than a brand
Humans of Harker: Kicking off conversations
Humans of Harker: Kicking off conversations
Humans of Harker: Leading with every lesson
Humans of Harker: Leading with every lesson
“For me, discipline can only happen when I try the things that I really like. Since I like basketball and I like guitar, I'm willing to contribute to the discipline. It's not really discipline at that point — it's passion," senior Advay Monga said.
Humans of Harker: Dribble and drive
“Working on Roobi has taught me how to bounce back from failures, and that problems need to be addressed one bit at a time because you can't just tackle huge goals. I learned to not be afraid of failure because every failure is a step towards success. I try not to look back and wish I could change something because I can't. It's the past. Instead, I look forward," senior Daniel Dorfman said.
Humans of Harker: Steeped for success
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
"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
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
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'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
“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
“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
“[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
The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
Olivia Rodrigo on her "SOUR" album cover. The album surpassed Spotify's record for the greatest number of streams for an album in 2021.

Brutal and beautiful: Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album shamelessly floods with feeling

by Sarah Mohammed, Features Editor • August 14, 2021

“God, it's brutal out here,” 18-year-old Olivia Rodrigo exclaims in the opening track of her debut album “SOUR,” the snappy trill of her voice mingling with bass drumming and a pounding guitar...

Art Club members stand behind their work after the completion of the "Love Not Hate" mural in Downtown Palo Alto on June 12. Club members painted the mural in support of the Stop AAPI movement and to show solidarity with the AAPI community.

Pulse of the People: Where color and paintbrushes meet local issues

by Sally Zhu, A&E and Lifestyle Editor • June 22, 2021

If you were to walk down University Avenue in Downtown Palo Alto the summer afternoon of June 12, the streets would be filled with tables outside restaurants, families and many large canopy tents to block...

Celebrated during the month of May, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month recognizes and celebrates AAPI history and their impact on the history and culture of the United States.

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

by Michelle Liu, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief • May 27, 2021

Throughout history, the experiences of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have been surrounded with grief, loss and violence. But there have also been moments of joy, resilience and progress...

“Three Ring Circus: Kobe, Shaq, Phil, and the Crazy Years of the Lakers Dynasty” is a 390 page nonfiction written by Jeff Pearlman that was first published Sep. 22, 2020. Pearlman is also the author of “Football for a Buck: The Crazy Rise and Crazier Demise of the USFL” and “Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s.”

Three-peat

by Aditya Singhvi, Managing Editor • May 21, 2021

Aditya’s ranking: ★★★★☆ What do you get when you combine a “Santa-like,” seven-foot-one hulk who can’t hit a free throw for his life; a legendary coach coming off a legendary three-peat;...

Dancers in the Harker Dance Company stand on props in the first few measures of the 2021 dance production. After the senior members of Harker Dance Company opened the number, the rest of Harker Dance Company and Kinetic Crew joined for their segments.

Leaping “Outside the Box”

by Emily Tan, Winged Post Features Editor • May 20, 2021

From breaking free of Zoom squares that have confined dancers all year to thinking creatively in terms of choreography, students and faculty involved in this year’s upper school dance show have had breakthroughs...

Austin Killam (12), who pursued the musical theater discipline, holds up a pair of boots in his Senior Showcase performance of "Step One" from the musical "Kinky Boots." The Senior Showcase was live streamed on May 13.

Senior Showcase celebrates certificate program students, reveals future productions

by Aastha Mangla and Alysa Suleiman • May 19, 2021

Twenty-two seniors marked the end of their tenure with the upper school conservatory’s certificate program during Senior Showcase on May 13, a livestreamed event that celebrated their dedication to and...

Vidya Jeyendran (12) points at a piece of artwork to Fonda Hu (12) as they walk through the Nichols Atrium. All the exhibitions belonging to the End of Year Art Show are being exhibited across campus from May 7 to May 28.

Truly a work of art

by Aastha Mangla and Sabrina Zhu • May 16, 2021

Two students step into the Nichols Atrium, looking at walls filled with patterns and colors. They slowly walk through the hallways and observe the black and white photographs, complex graphic designs and...

Twenty-five-year-old JJ Niemann is a Broadway performer who has appeared in "The Book of Mormon" and the recent TikTok musical "Ratatouille the Musical.” After Broadway shut down March 2020 due to the pandemic, Niemann turned towards TikTok to continue showcasing his acting, singing and dancing as well as behind-the-scenes of Broadway life. Niemann has rose to popularity on the platform, with over 660 thousand followers on TikTok.

Where Broadway meets TikTok: A performer’s journey from stage to screen

by Sally Zhu, Humans of Harker Profiler • May 12, 2021

“Remy, the ratatouille, the rat of all my dreams. I praise you, my ratatouille. May the world remember your name.”  The original movie “Ratatouille,” featuring the loveable and wholesome Remy...

"Be the person you are and write the poems and the stories that are in you and that you're surrounded by because that's what's going to make fantastic poetry," Siraganian said.

The Poet’s Project: “There’s this musicality in us that comes out”

by Sarah Mohammed, Features Editor • May 8, 2021

Upper School English Teacher Jen Siraganian is the Los Gatos Poet Laureate and the author of “Fracture” a poetry chapbook published by Deconstructed Artichoke Press.  She has discovered strength...

"Blood Will Out: The True Story of a Murder, a Mystery, and a Masquerade" is a 200 page true crime memoir by Walter Kirn that was first published on March 3, 2014. Kirn is also the author of "Up in the Air," "Thumbsucker" and "Lost in the Meritocracy."

A murder for the sake of literature

by Aastha Mangla, Reporter • April 20, 2021

Aastha's ranking: ★★★☆☆ From simply grazing my eyes over my bookshelf, I can easily identify red covers and crackled text, the telltale signs of horror novels. My interest in horror novels...

"My biggest tip [for young writers], the thing I would have told myself, is just to be as weird as you are in your writing. Let your images be strange. Pretend you're talking to yourself: give yourself that permission to talk. Be as weird as you are," Benaim said.

The Poet’s Project: “Poetry can show us what is possible”

by Sabrina Benaim, Guest Writer • April 12, 2021

Sabrina Benaim is a poet from Canada who believes in the power of words as a source of togetherness, love and solidarity in the face of hardship. From teaching at workshops to posting snippets of small...

“Becoming" is a 421 page memoir by former first lady Michelle Obama that was first published on Nov. 13, 2018. Obama is also the author of “American Grown."

Politics, race, family: Michelle Obama shares her challenges and triumphs in “Becoming”

by Lucy Ge, Winged Post News Editor • April 9, 2021

Lucy's ranking: ★★★★★ As I flipped through the first pages of Michelle Obama’s memoir, “Becoming,” I felt as if Obama herself was sitting next to me, speaking directly to me in a candid,...

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