The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“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
“I have the ability to convey my opinions and ideas through art, which in my opinion, is the most powerful tool I have because not everyone has it. It requires me to, first of all, have an opinion or thought, and second of all, be able to convey it with this medium. Together, that is the strongest calling for an artist," senior Eva Li said.
Humans of Harker: Artistry in abstraction
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
“The idea of wanting to build a sense of community for everything that I was a part of is something that I strive for in everything that I do. It's not just about becoming a better player or getting towards goals. It's about making something out of each experience and learning something new, even if it's something really small. It's about taking something from each experience and applying it elsewhere,” Hannah Sobczyn (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creating connections

by Helen Zhu, TALON Managing Editor • February 17, 2021

With a light sprinkle marking the beginning of winter break, Hannah Sobczyn (12) and her brother Leo Sobcyzn (8) walk along the Los Gatos Creek Trail while sharing their reflections of the past few months....

“If I have a brightening effect on someone’s day, that's good enough for me … [The] little things add up. I don't think life [should be about the] big events, I think it's the [smaller experiences] that add up over time. So it's the same thing that applies when I want to help someone out. It's piece by piece,” Shaunak Narain (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Learning to love the little things

by Smrithi Sambamurthy, TALON Social Media Editor and Asst. Business Manager • February 17, 2021

Eyes shining with mirth, Shaunak Narain (12) reflects back to a time when he drank too much carrot juice and turned orange. As a smile emerges on his face, he laughs in the reminiscence of his younger...

“I’m really proud to be a part of a generation that cares and that wants to fight for a better future for all of us. Whenever you’re feeling down, you just be part of that community, you just listen, and you’re re-motivated and reinspired to continue the work of activism. There’s going to be resistance, there's going to be a fight, but it's a fight that we need to fight and [something] that I want to be a part of,” Natasha Yen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The fight is ours

by Erica Cai, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor • February 16, 2021

“Fight, fight, fight, fight, a healthy planet is alright!”  This empowered chant, soaring from the throats of youth climate activists, filled the air of San Jose City Hall on September 20, 2019....

“That feeling of letting go—whether it’s hearing and feeling my voice to the tips of my fingers or feeling it project out into the world, or whether it’s that feeling of finding something new—it’s ... addictive and keeps me going,” Ruya Ozveren (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Voice and vocation

by Arya Maheshwari, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief • February 16, 2021

When the curtains part and the spotlights blink on, there is first silence on stage. Then, as harmonies fill the air with an operatic boom, the power and passion of the music makes one thing clear: Ruya...

“[In videography,] you can be as creative as you want. I'm not a very outward person, and filmmaking is one way to express what crazy thoughts [I have]. I thought it was really cool to just [use what] I took from watching TV shows and put that into reality,” Amar Karoshi (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creativity through cinematography

by Sara Yen, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief • February 5, 2021

If you watched this year’s matriculation, the upperclassman fall play or the most recent school meeting, you’ve probably heard this name credited again and again: Amar Karoshi (12). For the past couple...

“[Dance is] a better way to present yourself because you're not really using your voice. You're using yourself and your movement in connection with the music, and you're moving to that and vibing … Dance is showing a different side of yourself, a more artistic side, so it's a more satisfying way to express myself,” Kristin Tong (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Leaps and laughs

by Sally Zhu, Humans of Harker Profiler • February 4, 2021

Her left wrist grips onto her right leg, which extends far above her head, almost completely perpendicular to the floor. She leans slightly backwards to steady her balance and pops into relevée on her...

“I like making stories and converting them into events that could actually happen. A lot of aspects of filming that I enjoyed were things that my friends developed and ... going forward, I would [like to] make my own films. I would drive the plot more from my own thinking. It’s something I like to think about often,” Marcos Acero (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Determination towards stardom

by Muthu Panchanatham, Co-Sports Editor • February 3, 2021

With a pitch black blazer and one leg crossed over the other, he silently observes the scene unfolding before him, like a spy from a James Bond film. While villains plot and loyalties are questioned, he...

“I want to be known for more than being a good singer; [I want to be known for] being a good mentor to other people in the Conservatory. You can have a whole bunch of talent, but are you going to keep it to yourself, or are you going to use that to help other people? I want to be remembered for helping people get better with their own musicianship,” Meilin Yen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Never too many jokes

by Lucy Ge, Winged Post News Editor • February 3, 2021

Laughter punctuates the room after Meilin Yen (12) shares her latest musical pun, a play on words about accidentals. Smiles instantly appear in the room on the faces of everyone in Cantilena. As someone...

“There's a very limited number of subjects, and there's a lot of people on earth. It's very hard to be the best at anything. My goal would be to help other people be the best that they can because it's very pleasing to see whoever you teach finally understand [the topic].” Michael Eng (12) said.

Humans of Harker: He’s got his “ion” teaching

by Alysa Suleiman, A&E Editor • January 27, 2021

“During the Jahiliyyah period, this structure may have housed 360 idols of the god Hubal. Each year, this structure is draped with a new embroidered—” Buzz. Memorial Day weekend, the end of...

“We all have feelings and we all think what we think and have the perspectives that we have because of where we came from, because of our upbringing, our experiences. If we live more in the gray of the world, people would realize that there's more to a person than just what [people] disagree on,” Aditi Bharti (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Looking past the black and white

by Smrithi Sambamurthy, TALON Asst. Business Manager • January 27, 2021

Looking at the big picture, Aditi Bharti (12) prefers to take life day by day. As she talks through her experiences and offers words of wisdom, a growing look of passion emerges upon her face. “We...

“I'm most proud of being able to help young girls find their voice in STEM and [computer science] and helping them grow as not only coders but also as people. I got started because not many girls have the opportunity to grow up in STEM, so it's more giving other girls a chance to learn,” Hilari Fan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A heart of fire and passion

by Rachel Ning, TALON Co-People Editor • January 26, 2021

From a distance, Hilari Fan (12) waves, her dog’s leash in hand. Throwing her hair behind her shoulder, her small earrings reflect the rays of sunlight peeking through the clouds as she bends down to...

“[Music] really helps unite people. There's just something really wonderful about how you can preserve that sense of humanity and connection. Even if the person who wrote or performed the music that you're listening to … is disjointed with you on your world views, you can still form this extremely personal connection with them,” Abbie Blenko (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Music, the universal language

by Anika Mantripragada and Julie Shi • January 26, 2021

Sitting on the piano bench in the trailer next to Dobbins Hall, Abbie Blenko (12) rests her fingers on the faded, white piano keys, unsure of which song to play. She asks a friend who walks in to name...

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