The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Dr. Sue McNeill-Bindon takes a walk with her rescue dog Honey. McNeill-Bindon found the dog 12 years ago at the dump and nursed her back to health.

So you wanna be an animal shelter worker?

by Medha Yarlagadda, Reporter October 10, 2021

When Dr. Sue McNeill-Bindon first found her dog Honey at the dump, the dog was sick and unfamiliar to humans and interaction. It took months before anyone could touch her, making it difficult to treat...

Upper school Intro to Journalism teacher Whitney Huang sits at her desk in the back room of the journalism classroom, holding her Harker Journalism mug. Huang, a 2008 alumna and Harker lifer, returned to Harker due to her deep connection to the schools culture and environment.

Meet your teacher: A return to Harker, 20 years later

by Sarah Mohammed, Features Editor October 3, 2021

Thumbing a photograph from 2000, new upper school journalism teacher and Harker alumna Whitney Huang (‘08) laughs with upper school activities director Kerry Enzensperger, recalling fondly each of their...

Explore the variety of jean styles that students love and wear around campus as well as the great ripped versus unripped jeans controversy. 

Denim for days: Jeans hit the campus catwalk!

by Trisha Iyer, Reporter September 28, 2021

Denim has come a long way from being the sturdy pant material of choice for gold miners in the mid-eighteenth century. The fabric is now so pervasive that not wearing denim is an identifying personality...

Samvita Gautham (11) dances with a partner during one of the bonding activities. After upper school participants linked arms and danced to music, they turned around and shared their answers to a prompting question introduced by a Challenge Day facilitator.

Strength in community: Challenge Day embraces growth with return to in-person format

by Anika Maji and Alena Suleiman September 25, 2021

“I love my neighbor, especially the ones who… go to Harker!” A commotion fills the Blackford gym as all students and faculty leap up from their seats and jog to an empty chair across the room....

Members of the QAnon disinformation committee vote to hold a discussion on Saturday between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Harker Model UN held the Model UN Kickoff in Shah Hall to both educate members about Model UN and simulate a real Model UN conference.

Diplomatic debate: Model UN inspires collaboration with kickoff event

by Selina Xu, Dilsher Dhaliwal September 24, 2021

harkeraquila · Aquila Audible of "Diplomatic debate: Model UN inspires collaboration with kickoff event" Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the doors of Model UN? Or how members develop...

Link Crew members Melody Yazdi (12) and Rigo Gonzales (11) demonstrate how to play the game “Zip, zap, zop with Intro to Journalism teacher Whitney Huangs freshman advisory on Sept. 1. Link Crew members visit assigned freshmen advisories once a month to relay advice, play activities and answer questions.

Bridging the gap: Link Crew leads freshmen, step by step

by Esha Gohil and Anika Maji September 22, 2021

Have you ever wondered how freshmen learn their way around campus? How do they get to class on time, after over a year of online learning, no less? Following a global pandemic and classes over Zoom,...

The American and Californian flag fly over the San José Fire Department Station 21 on Sept. 19. Out of the 415 emergency service workers who died on Sept 11., 343 were firefighters according to the New York City Fire Department.

Remembering 9/11, 20 years later

by Ananya Sriram, Nicole Tian, and Alysa Suleiman September 12, 2021

“Some things you just remember, [and] they stop you in your tracks,” upper school history teacher Karen Haley said. On a couch in her home in Dallas, Texas, Haley, a retired U.S. Army captain, sat...

Students stand in the lunch line trailing into the quad on Aug. 23. Due to Harker’s COVID-19 practices in trying to limit student numbers indoors, faculty have been trying to keep the line inside as short as possible, leading to longer lines outside.

Campus crowding: Did longer lines lead to seating shortage?

by Sally Zhu, A&E and Lifestyle Editor September 10, 2021

During the first weeks of school, students have crowded in lunch lines stretching from Manzanita all the way to the Quad, and the traffic has been worse, with students showing up late to class. The crowding...

Students and faculty fall fashion bring new shopping and styles to this school year. Some have explored thrifting and trends from social media.

Fall fashion: Rise in the realm of thrifting

by Sally Zhu, A&E and Lifestyle Editor September 7, 2021

Fashion, by definition ever-changing and transitory, inevitably continues to evolve in the form of trends or individual styles. After more than a year of shelter-in-place, thrifting and secondhand shopping,...

The Harker upper school welcomes new faculty members this year. Among them are the new head of school, the new Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, an athletics trainer and nine new teachers.

New faculty faces join upper school community

by Michelle Liu and Mark Hu August 31, 2021

This year, Harker will be welcoming 10 faculty members to the upper school community. As the school transitions back into in-person learning, new faculty members Caren Furtado, Whitney Huang, Bianca Cung,...

Harker alumnus and bestselling author Andrew Shvarts (‘03) poses with his most recent fiction publication, “It Ends in Fire,” a featured Recreate Reading book for the 2022 school year. Shvarts has had a fascination with storytelling from a young age, eventually leading to his current career as an author.

So you wanna be a fantasy author?

by Sarah Mohammed and Lavanya Subramanian August 29, 2021

“Being a hero doesn't mean getting rewards or praise. Being a hero means suffering so other people don't have to. Being a hero means pain,” Andrew Shvarts (‘03) writes in the final book of his fantasy...

Talk around campus: Club showcase

Talk around campus: Club showcase

by Jessica Tang and Katie Wang August 19, 2021

In light of a new year, club officers are looking to take advantage of an in-person campus after adapting to an online setting during the 2020-21 school year. Some have used the summer to explore, improve...

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