The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“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
“With volleyball and Medical Club, I love working with people. I get to work with people who aren't necessarily in my classes or aren't my friends specifically, but we get to work hard and work together towards a common goal. That collaboration aspect is really important to me," senior Navya Samuel said.
Humans of Harker: Cooperation through competition
“Human connection is very important to staying grounded and stable. The people around me are one of the reasons that I'm not fully burnt out, so I really prioritize keeping a good schedule for myself. Being able to prioritize the things in life that give me internal satisfaction is important to me because that's what allows me to have the drive to do good with the rest of my time. Talking to people is a way for me to replenish," senior Kashish Priyam said.
Humans of Harker: Pep in every step
“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
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
“As a creative person, I think about hitting shots that no one else ever thinks about. I like taking risks, as opposed to a lot of people who would rather play it safe. As a golfer, I really just want to have fun and pull off the best possible shot. Taking risks is not only more exhilarating; you only get one opportunity," Avi Khemani (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Avi Khemani risks it for the biscuit

by Vijay Bharadwaj, Aquila Opinion Editor • October 28, 2016

Avi Khemani (12) has a routine before putting the golf ball. He kneels down and shuts one eye, spends 30 seconds meticulously lining up his shot, then strikes the ball with a gentle but powerful tap from...

When asked for the most important piece of advice he has ever received, Danny replied with a something he has followed his whole life: “Live life to how you want to, not to other people’s set rules," Danny Reidenbach (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Danny Reidenbach stays calm to get in the zone

by Michael Sikand, Social Media Editor • October 26, 2016

While his football teammates yell and jostle each other to energize before the game, Danny Reidenbach (12) prefers to stand quietly off to the side, focusing inward. “I stay more quiet, I’m not...

"I always think that being underwater is the closest thing you could ever get to being on the moon just because everything is so quiet, and you actually have that zero gravity feeling, and it’s really cool. It is like another world, and it has its own culture, too," Taylor Iantosca (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Taylor Iantosca develops a liking for rowing

by Megan Cardosi, TALON Sports Editor • October 26, 2016

3:30 a.m. wake-up call, three times a week. Before sunrise, Taylor Iantosca (12) has driven the 20 minutes to Palo Alto and is already out on the water, squeezing in a rowing practice before school. “Most...

"I found part of who I am through my injury definitely because rarely do you have time to just sit and reflect. You’re always just pushing to get ahead and catch up...I found more so what I value. Before, I had been pushing and pushing and pushing, but I didn’t know where I wanted to go. After that, I was trying to find what am I striving for."

Humans of Harker: Jordan Goheen bonds with his father through bikram

by Julia Huang, TALON Organizations Editor • October 24, 2016

104 degrees Fahrenheit. 40 percent humidity. Jordan Goheen has practiced hot yoga, or bikram, every summer with his father ever since the seventh grade. Initially, they started this activity to support...

"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

Earphones in and hands gripping the bike handles, Parth Pendurkar (12) begins his ritual night-time bike ride around his neighborhood in the Los Gatos Hills, surrounded only by the fresh summer breeze...

“I don’t really get nervous before performances. I always get really excited. I love the exhilaration and the rush of being backstage and walking on the main stage and waiting for the music to start. We just hit it and have that adrenaline rush and then coming off after feeling like the performance was only three seconds," Noor Singh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Noor Singh loves travel and dance

by Jenna Sadhu, Reporter • October 17, 2016

Unlike most teenagers who cherish sleeping in, Noor prefers to wake up early and watch sunrises with her friends or working out. “I’m such a morning person,” she said. “I’m up at 6 a.m. no...

“Often times, humans try to isolate themselves from nature. People want to sit in their house next to a computer a lot of the time, and I feel like in a way it's those moments [in nature] that remind you that nature can be infinitely interesting. It can be something that's like a life long journey," Venkat Sankar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Venkat Sankar hikes to surround himself with nature

by Sharon Yan, Student Life Editor • October 14, 2016

Immersed in nature’s serenity, Venkat Sankar (12) relishes the feeling of independence when out on a hiking trail by himself. Surrounded by nothing but wildlife and the outdoors, he frequently takes...

“When I do art I feel like I can do whatever I want, and there really are no limitations to it because it’s such an ambiguous subject. When you produce something that people end up liking and [they] support your ideas it does make me feel more powerful because it’s my own personal vision being supported by others," Sarah Tien (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Sarah Tien devotes her time to architecture

by Justin Su, Sports Editor • October 12, 2016

Growing up in a household with three older brothers, she has broken the mold that the rest of her family has followed. Rather than pursue a career in the medical or engineering fields, senior Sarah Tien...

“Keep moving forward -- I think that’s an amazing phrase because I think many people get drawn back by negative things in their life, and they’re unable to move past that, but I think keep moving forward is the best phrase. Find a new passion, find the things that you love, it’s okay to go through these struggles, just keep moving," Sravya Cherukuri (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Sravya Cherukuri’s love for dance grows into a passion for theater

by Nicole Chen, Features Editor • October 11, 2016

As a child, Sravya Cherukuri’s (12) viewed Bollywood movies as her main source of entertainment. Her early interest later grew into a passion for dance and theater. Sravya began exploring dance almost...

"Work hard, and it'll pay off. I say that to myself every day, because it's going to be worth it, although it can be hard at the beginning. When I first started coming to Harker, it was very difficult, because public school and private school are completely different. Everything is different. It was hard for me; it was a really rough transition. But I transitioned very well, and I worked hard every day, and I didn't give up. There was one point where I almost did give up, but I told myself, 'hard work pays off, hard work pays off.' And I did it, and I got through it, and I'm almost graduating," Norman Garcia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Norman Garcia develops a liking for sports and music

by Rose Guan, Winged Post Copy Editor • October 11, 2016

Norman Garcia loves sports and music, but it’s his golden necklace that connects him most to the past. “I love history. It's just my passion. Ever since second grade I've loved it,” Norman said....

“For a while, I was really fascinated with beehives. I have always loved hexagons and how they look, so I went through a design phase where everything was based around honeycombs. [I] spent a lot of time learning and messing with how to raise bees and how to make hives and then taking all that information and putting it into design aspects," Davis Dunaway (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Davis Dunaway designs furniture

by Darren Gu, TALON Photo Editor • October 10, 2016

Fingers run on and vibrate steel strings, creating a low, metallic, funky hum. Pressing down on the handle, a metal saw is powered on, followed by a constant deafening whirr and occasional light sparks....

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