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
“Listening to music, it just always really, really helps get me through things. Curating playlists, playing music, and playing my instruments has always has been an outlet for emotions that are too strong to recognize. It has really always just brought me a peace of mind no matter what I'm doing," Connie Xu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Where music meets maturity

by Andrew Chang, TALON Sports Editor • January 7, 2019

No matter where you find her, whether it be in the library, in RPAC practicing for her next performance, or Phil’s coffee, Connie Xu (12) will always be listening to music. In fact, she creates a playlist...

“I always tell myself to remember to balance everything. I feel like since I’m not specifically doing just CS or just research, I have to tell myself to make time for everything that’s important. I have that tendency to go really deep into it, which is great, but I also need to tell myself to take breaks and go outside and play with my brother or something," Ayush Alag (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Work and play

by Kathy Fang, Managing Editor • December 14, 2018

His eyes land on a point in the space before him, one that vaguely correlates to the right-most door along the lobby of the RPAC, but he does not seem to see either the glass or the white columns before...

“I think letting go of the people that I thought meant the most to me but were really bad for me and toxic — just letting them go was a really big decision… I talked to my friends and I took a step back and realized what was happening. [Now] I feel better, I feel free. I feel like I can make mature decisions even though adults may not think so. I feel like I can do anything. I’m confident in myself to make the right decision,” Rithi Jayam (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Connections

by Emily Tan, Reporter • December 13, 2018

On the stage at matriculation in front of the entire student body, Rithi Jayam (12) stands with the rest of Cantilena as the group prepares to sing Stephen Hatfield’s “Ain’t That News.” After a...

“Whether it’s small or big, the things you do can really affect people. We have a lot of people who come into our meetings just to make cards. And those cards make a huge impact on the kids receiving them. I just want people to feel that they’re helping in some way and making a difference, and that you don’t have to donate millions of dollars to make that difference," Abhinav Joshi (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Smiles all around

by Vishnu Kannan, Reporter • December 12, 2018

It doesn’t matter whether you have met him or not; Abhinav Joshi (12) will always greet you with a charismatic smile and charm you with his cheerful, upbeat personality. Dressed in muted tones of blue,...

“A lot of people come into the high school with huge friend groups that're very set and think that's not going to change. But friends are going to switch out; not everyone grows the same way throughout high school. Be open to everything and try new things. Don't be set on how your high school life specifically will go. I feel like coming in from eighth grade, I very much had a set plan of how I was going to progress throughout high school, and that plan changed, and it's okay for those ideas to change,” Claire Newman (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Big heart, bright smile

by Helen Zhu, TALON Reporter • December 11, 2018

Thoughtful. Wild. Creative. Funny. Driven. The list goes on. Her effusive energy seen during class meeting and spirit rallies, her creativity and relentless dedication on and off the field and her exuding...

“I tried to leverage dance as a way to engage my community. I hope by explaining the benefits of dance in a scientific way I can make people more engaged, maybe try it out…by really showing its benefits," Riya Singh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Reaching out on relevé

by Nicole Tian, Reporter • December 10, 2018

Strolling into Manzanita on a Friday afternoon, Riya Singh’s (12) understanding smile envelops her figure in a quiet dignity. Slinging down her backpack and an extra pair of tennis shoes, she nods thoughtfully...

“As I've continued to do things, it's kind of gotten to this point where no one really cares. And I mean that in a very positive way. No one cares if you mess this up and no one cares if you fall down and no one cares if you shave your head and no one cares if you can't swim butterfly. So you might as well just do it even if it's embarrassing for you, and even if it pushes you to be uncomfortable. Just because something doesn’t feel right, and just because something isn't your gut instinct, doesn't mean you shouldn't do it," Lily Wancewicz (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Story unfinished

by Saloni Shah, Asst. Humans of Harker editor • December 7, 2018

Eagerly pulling out her phone, Lily Wancewicz (12) giggles as she beams at a picture of her senior portrait with her petite fluffy Calico kitten, Poppy. Walking through the library, her shoulders relaxing,...

"I stopped thinking so short term—I realized that life is more about the bigger picture. Sure, I have three tests tomorrow, that’s a worry, but in the big picture, it’s a very insignificant aspect of my life, so it just helps me put in perspective a lot of things,” Gene Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Embodying the “bigger picture”

by Nicole Chen, Editor-in-chief • December 6, 2018

At a soaring 6 feet 3 inches, Gene Wang’s (12) presence dominates the gym floor of the athletics center. Sporting his signature Harker basketball gear and his black Nike PG2 sneakers, he leaps into the...

“About 100 years ago, we didn’t know what general relativity was. Then, in 1915, Einstein proposed it in a conference. And since then, our understanding of physics has changed drastically. Even in that relatively short period of time, looking at how much our knowledge has changed, it inspires me to be part of that next move, that next wave of understanding,” Cameron Jones (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A Saganist worldview

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • December 5, 2018

Cameron Jones (12), wearing a black sweatshirt adorned with the Harker CTF logo, stares intently at his screen with glasses-framed eyes, constructing the applications that many students now take for granted....

“Even though there are a lot of stereotypes, we are in a little bubble. We live inside a bubble, but at the same time, with all the resources we’re given, we’re able to explore and expand our horizons, like we dip into other lives or other communities,” Mahi Gurram (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Dipping into different lives

by Arely Sun, Reporter • December 4, 2018

As she jokes around with her friends outside of the Athletic Center, Mahi Gurram’s (12) gentle smile and twinkling eyes exude kindness and compassion towards those around her. No matter where she is,...

“When you’re playing, you just focus on the game itself. You can kind of hear the other people on the court yelling for the ball or even the coach yelling about something, but everything else you can just tune out. Even practice — it helps me tune out anything else that’s happening in my life. I forget all the stressful stuff I have to do later. It just kind of takes your mind off of everything else," Donna Boucher (12) said.

Humans of Harker: On the court and behind the keyboard

by Nilisha Baid, TALON Asst. Business and Social Media Editor • December 3, 2018

The sound of Donna Boucher (12) bouncing a volleyball three times echoes through the gym before her serve. Focusing on the ball, she tunes out everything else: the crowd, her other responsibilities. When...

“People don't really notice that I have a hearing disability until I tell them, and the first thing they will usually say is ‘I’m sorry'... Pity gets old very quickly, and I couldn't imagine what it would have been like for people who have more severe disabilities than I do. And I’d say it’s just an empowering reminder of what people go through every day — what deaf people go through everyday, and how, because I have this perspective, I have a duty to help other people,” Brian Park (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Persevering with pride

by Jessie Wang, Reporter • December 1, 2018

As Brian Park (12) enters the door of the classroom, he’s swarmed by a mass of children, clamoring with delight at his arrival. The group soon disperses to return to either studying or enjoying some...

Load More Stories