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
“When I watch a kind of strange TV show, it's kind of like I don't want to know what's actually behind everything, but then at the same time there’s this strange, ‘You must figure out what it is, or you will be forever trapped!’" Justin Au (12) said. "Even after the finale, there's still questions and there’s this pondering of how the story could've been different or things that you still don't know.”

Humans of Harker: Justin Au uncovers truth through observation

by Arya Maheshwari, Reporter • April 30, 2018

From academic pursuits to watching TV, Justin Au (12) strives to observe. Rather than trying to be in the spotlight, he sits back, smiles and watches, just paying attention to the small details and letting...

“Everyone who knows me can attest that I can easily be a stick in the mud, that I'm way too uptight, but that's something I really want to learn how to work on, because when you relax and when you stop caring about how you try to comport yourself and when you stop taking yourself too seriously and just let go around a bunch of people who are pretty supportive, you start to learn a lot more about what you like and what you want to do in the future and who you want to be around," Linus Li (12) said. "And I learned it's a lot less about keeping up a certain image and more about knowing what a kind of a person you are and who you want to be around.”

Humans of Harker: Linus Li takes pride in the process

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor • April 29, 2018

The beats of electronic dance music blare from the speakers in the corner of the dance room as Linus Li (12), with a dozen other dancers, runs an intense hip-hop routine for the hundredth time. Towards...

“Being at Harker so long, there's been a lot of ups-and-downs,” Uttara Saha (12) said. “The first half of high school, I had this giant pre-mid-life crisis. So like, ‘what is the point of this? Do I even like school?’ Or like what I want to do, blah-blah-blah. Because I was in a bunch of hard classes, and they were just drowning me. But, I don't know, I just saw the brighter side of things, and you just have to push through it. And it helps that I got a cat, and that made things better. Now I'm a little more optimistic.”

Humans of Harker: Uttara Saha crafts her multifaceted identity

by Anna Vazhaeparambil & Melissa Kwan • April 28, 2018

When it’s through her earbuds or through her speakers, Uttara Saha (12) loves to blast the music. She listens to a jumble of genres, the stream of sound interrupted only by an occasional “turn down...

“It’s sometimes hard when I had three surgeries in one year and it was hard to tell myself to keep going," Elizabeth "Lizzie" Schick (12) said. "It would have been easy if I had quit tennis. No one would have said anything to me. But my coaches told me to trust the process. Whatever happens, happens. I just have to roll with the punches. I just have to get back up and see what happens. I did figure it out, so that’s fine. I feel like everyone has a point where they can choose to stop or keep going. And if you do, you look back on it, you’re pretty happy with yourself.”

Humans of Harker: Elizabeth Schick remains unfailingly positive

by Mahika Halepete and Anna Vazhaeparambil • April 27, 2018

Elizabeth “Lizzie” Schick’s (12) name often appears in Eagle Update emails, recognized for tournaments won and CCS rounds advanced. But despite being challenged with severe injuries and a choice...

"I think we're all drawn to life in some way or another because it's organic and because it's not structured and it's just very honest and pure in itself," Darren Gu (12) said. "That wildness — that untamed craziness, that passion — is the sublime."

Humans of Harker Video: Darren Gu revels in the sublime

by Heidi Zhang and Melissa Kwan • April 26, 2018

This is the second installment of the Humans of Harker 2018 video series. Through this project, the Harker journalism program aims to tell the story of the senior class, one profile at a time.

"In middle school, I was always with my friends," Vijay Bhardarwaj (12) said. "I don't think I could ever stand a time when I wasn't with my friends. In high school, probably during my freshman and sophomore years, I began to realize that it's okay to be alone. Being alone is a good time to reflect more on yourself and do some more thinking about the person you want to be. Being comfortable with being alone was a huge step in finding a home at Harker, because, you know, when I was okay with being alone, I knew how I could be at Harker."

Humans of Harker: Vijay Bharadwaj learns to find contentment in new environments

by Katherine Zhang, STEM Editor • April 21, 2018

As a middle schooler, Vijay Bharadwaj (12) was content: content in his friendships, his interests, his community. He had built himself a home of supportive people, a safety net that he could lean on in...

"Frankly, I'm not a tennis star," Gary Tsai (12) said. "I not nationally ranked or anything, so sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to be a coach. I often feel embarrassed when I miss a shot as I hit with students, but surprisingly, they still come back the next time and cheerfully talk to me about school, tennis, or whatever. I recently remembered that my first coach was never a pro player or anything, but he was still extremely helpful to a beginner like I was, so in a way, that's the type of coach I want to be. I sometimes wish I, myself, could actually follow through on the advice I give others, so I can improve my own gameplay on the court. But then again, as long as my students continuously get better, then I'm satisfied at the end of the day."

Humans of Harker: Gary Tsai improves his game through coaching

by Alex Wang, Opinion Editor • April 20, 2018

When most people go searching for a job, they go through a process involving looking for job openings, attending interviews, and a variety of other steps. However, for Gary Tsai (12), the job search was...

“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

Slouching in the passenger seat a full day of his summer AP Chemistry course, senior Randy Zhao’s entire summer quickly went into extreme shock. As his mom broke the news to him that his brother was...

"Ironically enough, my entire family is descended from English professors," Anooshree Sengupta (12) said. "My dad was kind of the rebel when he went into science, so I've never seen science as something I was forced into or that I was ever out of place in. It was just something I was interested in, and my mom has so much confidence in whatever she does — like I was so shy, but my mom said, 'You just have to get over it.'"

Humans of Harker: Anooshree Sengupta embraces spontaneity inside and outside the classroom

by Kat Zhang, STEM Editor • April 17, 2018

Anooshree Sengupta (12) talks about research exactly the way you'd expect someone who truly loves science to speak. She's a self-proclaimed "huge math nerd." She reminisces about attempting to explain...

“I started off in Washington State, where I was born,” Peter Connors (12) said. “Then I moved to Oregon, where Jack was born. Then I moved to Southern California, then Minnesota, then New Jersey, and then here. I feel like each time I’ve tried a different type of person. In New Jersey, I was kind of like a screw up, a screw off. I played into the dumb jock persona. I would do stupid things and say stupid things. When my parents told us we were going to move, I was kind of relieved because I could kind of tell that this was not who I was and not who I wanted to be, especially moving forward. I feel like California is the place where the trial and error has come to its highest point.”

Humans of Harker: Peter Connors stays loyal to his friends, his family and himself

by Vijay Bharadwaj, Winged Post News Editor • April 16, 2018

With every cross-country move and state border crossed, Peter Connors (12) took the opportunity to redefine his identity. “I started off in Washington State, where I was born,” Peter said. “Then...

“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

Michael Kwan (12) rolls up in his black Mercedes 7-seater, sunglasses on, driver’s window rolled down, ready for wherever the day takes him. Impromptu afternoon ice cream run with friends? They can ride...

"Music is the most beautiful, true and genuine connection to someone’s soul," Sohenee said. "Music is something that transcends all boundaries, all cultures. No matter what language a song is in, you can still feel it even if you don’t know what the words means. Music is one thing that’s been there for me. That’s so cheesy, but I’m a really cheesy person. Music is my compass, it guides me to where I want to be, and it’s so beautiful."

Humans of Harker: Sohenee Banerjee practices everyday acts of kindness

by Devanshi Mehta, TALON Seniors Editor • April 14, 2018

Ever listened to the melodious covers of songs posted on Instagram? Or maybe scrolled through captions punctuated with various heart emojis? That’s Sohenee Banerjee (12).   “Sohenee is one of those...

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