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The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Humans of Harker: Balance and drive

Humans of Harker: Balance and drive

by Sam Li, Features Editor June 6, 2025

It’s 4 a.m., and students from all across the Bay Area breathe a collective sigh of relief after finishing their final assignment. Two hours later, the alarm goes off, and a new school day begins....

“I like having to face challenges and then being able to overcome the challenges. I like it when there's a technical difficulty or there is a task that seems impossible, such as getting the robots to do monkey bars, but then as you work with a group of people and you think about it, you find a solution that seems feasible," Akul Goyal ('25) said.

Humans of Harker: The light in the circuit

by Anwen Hao, Columnist June 5, 2025

In the pits of a robotics competition of October 2023, the team was facing a problem: the robot collapsed into itself. Akul Goyal ('25) wasn’t supposed to arrive until later in the day, but within...

“Being part of water polo has made me more disciplined. Part of it is for personal gain, but I also get more joy from helping others than helping myself. Water polo has a major team component that drives me to work harder to
both benefit myself and also the team members I’ve known for so long," Oskar Baumgarte ('25) said.

Humans of Harker: Making waves

by Elizabeth Zhang, Opinions Editor June 5, 2025

Oskar Baumgarte’s ('25) mind races with strategies as he glances at his teammate during the Junior Olympics. The water ripples around him, echoing the unspoken communication they’ve developed over...

Humans of Harker: From theorems to tools

Humans of Harker: From theorems to tools

by Suhani Gupta, Aquila Managing Editor June 5, 2025

Error. The word appears on the screen again and again after each run, seemingly never going away. Suddenly, an idea comes to mind. After some tinkering, the solution comes closer and closer. Finally,...

Humans of Harker: Singing with sincerity

Humans of Harker: Singing with sincerity

by Mendy Mao, Humans of Harker Managing Editor June 5, 2025

In a collective beat, students lunge to the side, voices rising in a chaotic, goofy chorus of winter break vacation ideas. Bursts of laughter echo through the halls of the RPAC as as Nelson Gou ('25)...

Humans of Harker: Kinetic connections

by Charlize Wang and Tiffany Zhu June 4, 2025

View the full transcript here:  Arthur Wu (12): I first started dancing in fourth grade at the lower school dance show, but I really only started getting into it in sixth grade. Before dance, I wasn't...

Humans of Harker: Building a groove

Humans of Harker: Building a groove

by Alison Yang, Aquila Editor-in-Chief June 4, 2025

Whether moving on stage or at study, Tiana Salvi ('25) is hard to miss. You’ve likely seen her around campus: under the RPAC lights with Kinetic Krew, at the center of the spirit dance formation...

“Something I always liked about business was the aspect of risk. Not just taking a traditional pathway, but more so having that inherent risk in taking risky investments, or in the realm of finance, doing moves that you know won’t always generate you the highest return. There’s something fun in having risk in your life. For economics, I like the
interplay of factors on a more macroeconomic scale and being able to enact change that you want to," Caleb Tang ('25) said.

Humans of Harker: Music and mentorship

by Minal Jalil, Reporter June 4, 2025

Notes and synths of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" by Mozart over a baby monitor dance through the ears of young Caleb Tang ('25). Inspired to further pursue music, Caleb transitioned from participating...

“A lot of the time it's not like an easy one-step process. I pleated the folds for an hour and then realized I made them too big, undid all the pleats and then did it all over again for another hour. Just struggling through this process, struggling through finding which words fit into the sentence the most smoothly here, finding the kind of stitch I need to use for this particular part, it's just the process that makes the reward," senior Jessica Wang said.

Humans of Harker: Woven from words

by Isabella Lo, Aquila Managing Editor June 4, 2025

The understanding of resilience from "Johnny Got His Gun." The moment of taming the fox from "The Little Prince." These moments in literature influence and shape who Jessica Wang ('25) is. From each...

“I take time to soak in the moment. There’s always details that you didn’t
notice before, and it’s those details that make my photos or my videos interesting if I decided to record it. That’swhat makes my life interesting as
well," Charlie Folk ('25) said.

Humans of Harker: Clicks and compassion

by Connie Xu, TALON Academics Editor and PDA Manager June 4, 2025

Click! Charlie Folk ('25) presses the on button of her mirrorless camera. The camera returns to life and the red light lights up again. In a few minutes, she will be recording her AP Biology summer...

Humans of Harker: Strikes and strength

Humans of Harker: Strikes and strength

by Liana Barooah, Reporter June 4, 2025

Jason Li ('25) gears up for his pad holding session, eager to alternate 30 minute hitting rotations with a partner for the first time. Midway through the session, his partner lands a particularly forceful...

Humans on Harker: Thinking on your feet

Humans on Harker: Thinking on your feet

by Aishani Singh, Aquila Managing Editor June 4, 2025

Lunge. Parry. Attack. These are just a few of the fencing strategies racing in Saahira Dayal’s ('25) mind as she faces off against her opponent in the 2023 Junior Olympics. Having lost her first...

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