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
“[Studying history] is less about the actual information in the actual story, and a lot more about the way you try to tell that story and the ways you try to explain things, or the way you try to form a narrative that focuses on certain things. Really, what history ends up being, rather than recitation of facts, is a lot of different ways of trying to tell a story, and that's a lot more stimulating,” Emmett Chung (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Buzzing in

by Sally Zhu, Co-Editor-in-Chief • February 24, 2023

“This president gave his only campaign speech to placate a rival faction at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. This president received a personal request by one man to be appointed to a ‘Paris consulship’ —” Buzz. “Mary...

“After I'm done writing a piece, I feel like I know myself a little bit better. As I write, I am unraveling my own identity, and sometimes I'll figure something out about my own psychology through my characters. Those little moments of revelation are cool,” Athena Wu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Writing a better future

by Claire Zhao, Asst. Copy Editor • February 24, 2023

You may have seen Athena Wu (12) hanging out around Shah often. Perhaps you’ve come across her drawings and sketches, or maybe you've experienced her supportive and empathetic nature. But beyond what...

“Programming always has an impact — you can do things that you never thought were possible. You don't have to spend your time programming just to look more appealing to some job or college. You can do it because it actually makes the world a better place,” Arjun Barrett (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Solutions through software

by Edward Huang, Co-STEM Editor • February 22, 2023

From Spanish conjugation tools to mobile scanner apps to data compression libraries, Arjun Barrett’s (12) coding abilities know no bounds. While the term “code” usually invokes images of hours-long...

“People think philosophy will get you nowhere, but we need to have people who think about the world philosophically. All the people who make change, like politicians and activists, are philosophers too. Whenever people espouse certain ideas about how the world should be, it's philosophy. We all intuitively understand it,” Vincent Zhang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Confronting conundrums

by Claire Zhao, Asst. Copy Editor • February 22, 2023

When asked about their hobbies, some people think of sports, art or anything in between. But for Vincent Zhang (12), the answer doesn’t stop at swimming and research; in his free time, he also thumbs...

“Staying in the moment, whether that be at practice or in game, and not worrying about what other people think — it helps. That's one facet of my life that’s going to stay,” Abhi Namala (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The power of presence

by Kairui Sun, Reporter • February 21, 2023

Three seconds. Abhi Namala (12) takes a couple of dribbles. Two seconds. He shoots. One second. The ball rattles off the rim as Abhi falls, but the referee’s whistle sounds for a foul. Without...

“My favorite conversations I've had with people involve us talking about something really vague that's bothering them or that's bothering me, or an argument that’s always vague. I find that the biggest utility I have in that conversation would be making this vague thing on their mind something tangible and understandable for them by articulating it well. I find myself writing about topics that I've talked about with other people, after listening to what they have to say and the problems that they have," Dyllan Han (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Progress over perfection

by Sidak Sanghari, HoH Profiler • February 21, 2023

The hedgehog’s dilemma. Kanye West. YouTube video essays. Karl Marx. To the normal eye, they have nothing in common, but to Dyllan Han (12), they are all connected. He takes each one, fascinating and...

“Singing alone can be isolating, but in a group like Cantilena, sharing experiences with one another is such a comforting feeling. With Cantilena, if you make a mistake, it's not a big deal because everyone knows what it's like. Having a bunch of like-minded people in one place is such a great experience because you meet a lot of people who are just as passionate about singing as you are,” Anika Pandey (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Pitches and particles

by Gemma Chan, TALON Reporter • February 20, 2023

Anika Pandey (12) recalls an end-of-year performance from third grade, standing on stage, as hundreds of parents gazed up at her, eager for her performance to begin. With sweaty hands, clenched fists and...

“Sometimes you just have to sit down with a challenge and face it head on. There are some things that you want to try to avoid, but it will always come back at some point. Sometimes it does feel like you're at your mental limit: you're so tired, it's so confusing and you don't understand it. But if you spend the time and sit with it, your mindset will change. Then, something that was completely muddy to you will become clear, and you'll figure it out,” Brian Chen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Adventure and authenticity

by Kevin Zhang, Asst. Sports Editor • February 20, 2023

Knees slightly bent and head turned back, Brian Chen (12) waits in anticipation with his fellow runners. He focuses his attention on the growing silhouette of teammate Armaan Thakker (12), which emerges...

“When you strike someone out with the pitch you've been working on for so long, it’s so satisfying. All of your practice pays off, and it’s the best feeling ever,” Katelyn Abellera (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Pitching in to the community

by Grant Yang, TALON Reporter • February 20, 2023

It’s Katelyn Abellera’s (12) junior year, and she eagerly prepares to take on her role as team captain of the varsity girls softball team — only to find out their season has been canceled. With just...

“I want to somehow get people to truly care about real world topics outside of the limited hour, two hours that they spend watching something. It’s a lot of work. It takes a lot to just improve. But it’s also wonderful if I can somehow give that out to the world through my art. That would be everything I would ever hope to accomplish,” Alisa Grebin (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creating for a cause

by Mirabelle Feng, TALON Reporter • February 19, 2023

Once upon a time, there was a girl who loved the world of fiction, where creativity and imagination ran amok like wild beasts and birds. One day, the girl discovered a fantasy world built from creativity...

“The fun part of orchestra is being part of a community. Everyone’s really supportive, and everyone gets to know each other. We all get to make music together combining our individual talents,” Rylan Yang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Personalizing the performance

by Katerina Matta, Asst. Features Editor • February 18, 2023

Rylan Yang (12) recalls facing a sea of nearly 2000 faces as he stood confidently on stage, his shiny golden French horn raised to his lips, poised and ready to play. A mix of nervous adrenaline and excitement...

“Scuba diving is a lot of excitement, like being in a giant aquarium, and your senses are also different. Here on Earth, on land, we have a lot of different ways to perceive space and sound, but it’s all very different underwater because the sound gets mixed up. Above water, it's a lot easier to distinguish between noises. You can’t tell that apart easily underwater,” Nika Lebedev (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Diving into the depths

by Victor Gong, Asst. STEM Editor • February 17, 2023

Corals of pink, green and brown shades dot the sandy seabed, swinging back and forth as fish of all shapes and colors dash in and out of hidden crevices. Hundreds of miniscule air bubbles emerge from the...

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