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
“[Basketball] has given me confidence in my abilities and taught me to not hesitate, like shooting your shot in a game when you're open. That also translates to academics. [The sport] is a large part of who I am because a lot of my own traits, like being a little more confident or being more calm during stressful situations, I’ve learned from basketball,” Srivishnu Pyda (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A gym for the mind

by Saurav Tewari, Sports Reporter • June 28, 2021

As Srivishnu Pyda (12) recalls his basketball career at Harker, he emphasizes how impactful basketball has been. As a new freshman, Srivishnu joined the basketball team and found a group of teammates and...

“Having diversity in perspective is so important. The person who I’ve become from blending STEM and the humanities is someone with a broad perspective on life. When you combine the two, you can approach STEM problems with a creativity that you get from writing or from talking to people from various backgrounds. These challenges have been here for centuries, but maybe a new perspective is all you need,” Saloni Shah (12) said.

Humans of Harker: One story at a time

by Erica Cai, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor • June 2, 2021

190 people. 190 stories. 190 unique life experiences. 190 rollercoasters through the exuberant, tumultuous, irreplaceable journey of high school enshrined in a plethora of smiling faces and passionate...

“For each 30 seconds of a documentary, I need to put in an hour of work … if I'm trying to get a message out, I could just say it. But I think putting so much effort into such a short piece of work, it's a reflection. People are more likely to look at it because they know you've put thought into it. And you're also able to be more thoughtful because it forces you to think about every single visual effect in every single word,” Jason Lin (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A picture is worth a thousand words

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief • May 31, 2021

You may know him through his resounding proclamations in Latin. Possibly through his videography—ranging from Zuca backpack explosions to interviewing presidential candidate Andrew Yang. Or maybe his...

“One thing I really have in front of me is being a better athlete, being a better person, being a better student. Whether it's inside school, outside of school, whatever extracurricular I'm doing, I strive to become better. And if I want to put my effort into it, I will,” Rosh Roy (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Breaking a sweat

by Ethan Liu and Catherine Wong • May 31, 2021

Rosh Roy (12) recalls one track and field meet on a spring afternoon. The sun beat down on the dirt track, casting shadows on the runners’ faces. Teams from different schools, each brimming with energy,...

“Emotions bring power to your words … In order to convince someone else of what you were saying, you have to fully believe in it and fully feel the emotions in your words to affect other people [and] convince them that what you're saying is true and has value,” Helen Li (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The power of conversation

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief • May 27, 2021

Its head swivels from the scrumptious brown nut resting in its palms, black and beady eyes focusing upon her. With the words “absolutely not,” barreling out of her gaping mouth, she takes one step...

“I’ve learned that I have to be able to stay positive, because that’s what got me through the cancer treatments … I said, ‘This is what I have to do. I’m going to do it. That’s how it’s going to be.’ When new challenges arise, it gets hard sometimes, but you have to stay positive and keep pushing through it … You can’t worry about the future always, because then you will miss out on the present,” Keshav Bhanot (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Tackling challenges with grit

by Muthu Panchanatham, Co-Sports Editor • May 27, 2021

Arm outstretched to halt an imaginary defender in his tracks and eyes hidden by the shadows cast by his face mask, Keshav Bhanot (12) gazes into the camera intensely and reflects on one of his first games...

“I’ve always thought of myself as a leader. But [my experiences in high school] and the sense of responsibility have transformed me from someone who just had big ideas to someone who could actually see those ideas be implemented,” Lisa Barooah (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A vibrant presence

by Sarah Mohammed, Winged Post Asst. Features Editor • May 27, 2021

Describing her favorite quirk of close friend Lisa Barooah (12), senior Hannah Sobczyn instantly cites her spontaneity and individuality, as she recalls Lisa’s ability to spice up any conversation. “She...

“There's a lot of poverty in Mexico, especially the part where we went, and it really made me see that there is so much handed to me. I felt bad about having this much when [other people] couldn't, and I felt a really strong moral conflict within me when I was comprehending all this. I was still trying to figure out who I was, and … that experience really shaped my perspective on the world in a lot of ways,” Chance Hewitt (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Kicks and skates

by Claire Bauschlicher and Erica Cai • May 26, 2021

Chance Hewitt (12) recalls the first birthday present he ever received as a child: a soccer ball. Although he was too young to play at the time, one of his earliest memories with soccer was standing on...

“I want to be remembered as someone that people can talk to. I want people to know who I am and know that they could talk to me. I'm not a random person. If they know me, I know them. I want to be remembered for someone who had a welcoming attitude,” Meona Khetrapal (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Bollywood, benevolence, and bon voyage

by Sally Zhu, Humans of Harker Profiler • May 26, 2021

At the Harker school, most students can be found occupied in some extracurricular or academic activity on the weekends from February to May. For Meona Khetrapal (12), it’s competing and training for...

“Most dancers say that the stage is when and where they know that everything they've been doing is worth it. If you think about it in minutes then it doesn't seem worth it, but I feel like the stage experience in general—rehearsing there, creating a story, and everything about that—that's a very unquantifiable thing. That's why I continue. That's why all those artists continue. I think it's because the feeling of art is, in an economic sense, greater than everything else—it's almost infinite,” Michelle Si (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The art of aplomb

by Arya Maheshwari, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief • May 26, 2021

Michelle Si (12) used to belong to the world of ballet — and there was a time where that world seemed limitless. After joining a ballet studio at the age of 5, she soon found herself taking center...

“That exchange of information is to me the purest form of human connection, and that communication makes humans, humans. When I'm on stage giving a performance to an auditorium of people, or when I'm in a classroom in front of a group of kids teaching them something, that exchange of information is multiplied. Every single person in that audience and I are exchanging energy, feeding off of each other,” Alex Kumar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Breaking the fourth wall

by Esha Gohil, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor • May 26, 2021

Clad in a crisp officer’s suit, Alex Kumar (12) reaches out into the audience as he confidently belts out a note that resounds throughout the Patil Theater during the 2019 spring musical “Urinetown.”...

“I'm a person who’s comfortable being by myself. But when I think of Jo, she was this headstrong, brilliant, determined, opinionated woman, and when I was younger, Jo was who I wanted to be when I grew up,” Varsha Rammohan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Making her own way

by Alysa Suleiman, A&E Editor • May 25, 2021

“I intend to make my own way in this world.” The independent and unapologetically defiant words uttered by tomboy Josephine “Jo” March, protagonist of Louisa May Alcott’s heartfelt, coming-of-age...

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