The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
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
“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
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
“Everyone has goodness in them and happiness inside them but sometimes people don’t really see it, or the current stress and load of things that are bothering them is kind of blocking them from accessing that happiness. I think it’s important for people to realize in the midst of all this craziness there is a way for people to be happy, and once you are happy, you’re going to be more productive and more motivated," Nastya Sushkova (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Positivity from within

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Organizations and Co-Sports Editor • January 26, 2019

Sounds of uncontrollable laughter fill the air as Anastasiya “Nastya” Sushkova (12) chats with her friends while walking to her next class, using hand gestures to further give meaning to her stories....

“A really big part of the Armenian community is there's no such thing as I owe you one, you owe me one. It’s more like, 'We should be supporting each other. I’m doing this for you because I know that if I ever need help, you would do the same for me. Even though I may never need that help, I know that should I ever need it, you will be there. So I will be there for you now,'" Andrea Simonian (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Giving back

by Heidi Zhang, TALON Editor-in-chief • January 24, 2019

Dangling by a silver chain, a forget-me-not pendant—five violet petals decorated with yellow accents—adorns Andrea Simonian’s (12) neck. At first glance, the necklace may seem like just another accessory,...

“You can’t solve everything with STEM. I’m not going to save the world with STEM...You are not supposed to fight global warming by making an engineered device that will get rid of all the pollution or get rid of any chemical waste. You are supposed to pass policy, change the philosophy of the big companies that are causing all the pollution...That’s not something that science is going to fix. That’s humanities; it is humans,” Timothy Chang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creativity meets structure

by Saloni Shah, Asst. Humans of Harker Editor • January 23, 2019

Wearing formal business attire, Timothy “Timmy” Chang (12) stands confidently behind the podium. His eyes narrow with determination as he looks intently at a note passed by one of his teammates. One...

“Whenever we visited Iran, I had to wear a hejab to cover my hair, [and] as a kid, I never understood why. I realized, through reading and asking my parents questions, that it was a symbol of repression of women. I wanted to represent that [repression] in art, because it was so prevalent in my family. I did collages to shed light on the negative impacts [of the culture]," Aryana Far (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Watercoloring the past

by Anoushka Buch, TALON Co-People and Seniors Editor • January 18, 2019

A brush makes an organic, watery magenta stroke on thick paper, the first line on an otherwise pristine sheet. As time goes on and the color dries, the brush retraces its strokes on the paper and creates...

“In the middle of everything is the ability to touch people with whatever you do. You broaden your horizons by seeing what other people do differently and how you can improve. Everyone has something to teach you, and you shouldn’t underestimate someone just because they’re new to something because you can learn something from everyone," Cindy Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The “yolo mindset”

by Erica Cai, Reporter • January 17, 2019

With her light brown hair half tied up in a brilliant white bow, Cindy Wang (12) strides across the basketball court in a green, black and white cheer uniform, exuding confidence and positivity with her...

“I want to end up reaching a wide range of people rather than have some sort of abstract concept define who I am. I want to mean different things to different people whether that is just love for my family or community service for the people I help. Even if it’s not necessarily something I’m good at or something I have one foot in, I want to be able to reach people," Esha Deokar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Step up, reach out

by Olivia Guo, TALON Reporter • January 16, 2019

Moving across the stage, Esha Deokar (12) projects her voice through the auditorium, her face glowing under the stage lights. Every expression and line flows freely as she embodies Si Crowell, her character...

“I look to music to kind of explain things about myself that I can’t explain with thoughts or words, just these kind of questions that I have about life. When I listen to music, those things become clear to me, not in a logical sense -- but you can kind of feel why life is worth living," Alex Rule (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Feeling the vibe

by Arya Maheshwari, STEM Editor • January 15, 2019

“I’ll make it easy — my passion is music.” As he gets comfortable sitting in a creaky wooden chair in the dimly lit Manzanita Hall, Alex Rule (12) smiles gently and warmly, with a faint sigh...

“Every single athlete who comes in with a problem is helping me in a way because it allows me to see all this stuff and get experience, even just every single time I tape an ankle. In return, [I want to be] someone who helped out or made their days better, even if it’s just in a little way," Katrina Ipser (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Beyond the training room

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Reporter • January 15, 2019

If you’ve ever been to the athletic training room in the gymnasium, you’ve probably seen Katrina Ipser (12) sitting on the tall black treatment tables, swinging her legs back and forth and leaning...

“My brother’s thing happened to him and it affected my life, but when my alopecia happened, there was just something different about having it happen to me. There’s so much that needs to be done in the medical field. We’ve barely scratched the surface of what medicine can do. It can help so many people. Everyone in my family could be helped by something in this field,” Ally Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Translating struggle into hope

by Anoushka Buch, TALON Co-People and Seniors Editor • January 11, 2019

What happens when you feel like someone you’re not? Though it isn’t always intentional, there are often people who feel as if they are constantly hiding, simply because they never got the chance to...

“Frankly, if I’m not doing anything and I’m bored, it just doesn’t work for me. I always have to be doing something with a purpose, whether it’s exercising, eating or doing math problems. I always want to lead an active life. Honestly, doing board games or spending time with my family is a good way to stay busy while simultaneously relaxing,” Sukrit Ganesh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Ingenuity and engineering

by Devanshi Mehta, TALON Editor-in-Chief • January 10, 2019

Sukrit Ganesh (12) is known around campus as Harker’s resident car, politics and astrophysics enthusiast. With his characteristic accent and a purposeful gait, Sukrit’s presence never goes unnoticed. Like...

“In the end, it's really gratifying to see what comes out of the work I try to put into everything, from track to football. I really try to bond with my teammates and be the person they can go to for information or anything they need. I’ve had to keep a good mindset especially this year because I’m senior. I remember when I was a freshman, I'd look up to seniors because they always listened to coach and did everything right on the field. I look at myself in that position now. Seeing people improve and succeed is what makes it worth it," Mitchell Granados (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Mind over matter

by Heidi Zhang, TALON Editor-in-chief • January 9, 2019

The whistle blows, a shrill sound ringing through the air, as the football snaps to the quarterback and the play begins. To most, the following five seconds may seem like mad scramble of tackles and confusion....

"It’s not necessarily stage fright, but I don’t like being put on the spot… [or] showing myself in general. Honestly, I hated [the beauty pageant] at first. But, I kind of gradually liked it more… Going through it, I didn’t realize, but then after it, I realized that it’s given me a lot more confidence. I’m still the same level of self-conscious as I was before, I think, but when it comes time that I can be more open, I’m a lot more confident," Angela Li (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Living with conviction

by Gloria Zhu, Reporter • January 8, 2019

Golden star-shaped earrings swaying and glinting, Angela Li’s (12) highlighted hair projects a muted ochre in the hazy autumn sun, a pleasant complement to her cream-colored sweater. Sitting on a dented...

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