The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“In every activity I do, there's always an element of making sure that my work can impact people. In what I've done, there are times when people question what I do or if what I'm doing is correct. For me, what is most important is that what I'm doing can have a tangible impact on someone else. As long as I believe that an impact can occur, then I want to do that regardless of what other people think," senior Valerie Li said.
Humans of Harker: Calling for change
“My favorite part is not even the content, just how all my family presented. I made a jeopardy one time about myself to see who knew me the best, and that was funny because I realized that they do pay attention more than I give them credit for. I appreciate my family more for that," senior Rithika Yamasani said.
Humans of Harker: Finding strength in connection
Humans of Harker: Data and dynamics
Humans of Harker: Data and dynamics
“Once people start lifting, they'll never be happy with how they look or how big their muscles are. It definitely makes them more self-conscious about how they look because a lot of people train for muscle size. Since I'm not trying to pursue lifting in college and it’s just for fun, I train for both. It's not exclusively one or the other," senior Jason Yi said.
Humans of Harker: Power through
“Food brings people together. Cooking is one of the very few things in our world that can do that. No matter where you go, you will always see families sitting around a table eating food. It's very powerful and I'm glad that my cooking club could be a part of that," senior Ian Gerstner said.
Humans of Harker: Crafting cuisine and catching critters
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
Upper school students perform in the spring musical "Bye Bye Birdie," showing on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night.

Spring musical cast honored in state competition

by Katherine Zhang, Reporter • May 23, 2016

The cast of the Harker Conservatory’s production of “Bye Bye Birdie” was nominated for the Best Production award at the Rita Moreno California High School Musical Honors competition, which will take...

The class of 2016 throws their graduation caps into the air. The graduation ceremony for the class of 2016 was held at the Saratoga Mountain Winery today from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Class of 2016 graduates at Saratoga Mountain Winery

by Tara Parimi and Nicole Chen • May 19, 2016

The class of 2016 graduated today during a ceremony from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Saratoga’s Mountain Winery with performances from the 2016 graduation chorus, an address from class valedictorian Anika Mohindra...

The junior class sits in the front of the crowd across from the seniors during the ceremony. The upper school’s annual Baccalaureate ceremony took place on May 18 at 6:30 p.m. in the Quad.

Seniors and juniors attend 2016 Baccalaureate ceremony on Wednesday

by Tara Parimi and Maya Valluru • May 19, 2016

The Upper School’s annual Baccalaureate ceremony took place today at 6:30 p.m. in the Quad to bid a final farewell to the Class of 2016 before they graduate on Thursday and welcome juniors into their...

Members of the Class of 2015 throw their caps into the air as they celebrate their graduation from high school. The seniors will graduate this year at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga on May 19.

Graduation falls on weeknight, Priscilla Chan to be 2016 speaker

by Tiffany Wong, Reporter • May 8, 2016

The Class of 2016 will graduate at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga on Thursday, May 19. “Each class has their own personality; I have now seen 35 classes graduate and no two have been alike,” Butch...

Students donate old AP books in the nHS book drive box from a few years ago. NHS began hosting a book drive this week.

National Honor Society Hosts Book Drive During AP Weeks

by Ruhi Sayana, Reporter • May 7, 2016

National Honor Society will be hosting a book drive for used AP test preparation books from Tuesday to May 13. After students complete an AP exam or are finished using their books, they have the option...

The oak tree behind the library was cut down because of root fungus. The newly cleared land near the Quad where the 40-year-old oak tree used to stand will be transformed into a seating area.

Fungal infection spells death for campus oak

by Maya Valluru, Asst. News Editor • May 7, 2016

On Monday, April 4, students and faculty returned from spring break to see that the oak tree in the Quad next to the kiosk had been cut down. The approximately 40 year old tree was deemed in distress almost...

Annie Zhou (12) looks at artwork during the event. The Artstravaganza was held in Nichols during long lunch on Wednesday.

Upper school students display art and writing in annual Artstravaganza

May 6, 2016

Students and faculty members attended the annual Artstravaganza during long lunch on April 27 in Nichols Atrium, which highlighted artistic achievements from the school year. The exhibition featured...

Donors use golden shovels to throw soil off a plot of land on Rosenthall Field during the Groundbreaking Ceremony. The ceremony took place on Tuesday May 3 at 1 p.m.

Ground broken for campus development

by Rose Guan, Reporter • May 6, 2016

The groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the new gymnasium and performing arts building took place on Rosenthal Field yesterday during extra help, having been moved from its original date of...

David Horsey, Los Angeles Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist and columnist, describes one of his political cartoons. Fifteen journalism students traveled to Los Angeles for the 2016 National High School Journalism Conference.

Journalism students attend national convention

by Katherine Zhang, Reporter • May 5, 2016

Members of Harker Journalism attended the National High School Journalism Conference (NHSJC) to participate in workshops, attend learning sessions and keynote speeches and receive awards from the National...

Sophia Luo (12) and Esther Wang (12) dance together. Prom took place at the GlassHouse in downtown San Jose from 8:30 to midnight on Saturday.

Upperclassmen end Prom over the city

by Michael Sikand, Reporter • May 5, 2016

The prom committee held this year’s prom at the GlassHouse in downtown San Jose on April 23 from 8:30 p.m. to midnight. Upwards of 300 students attended the annual event in downtown San Jose. This...

Senior Anika Mohindra was named Class of 2016 valedictorian on April 26. She had the highest cumulative GPA over four years of high school.

Senior Anika Mohindra declared valedictorian

May 5, 2016

Senior class dean Dr. Matthew Harley formally announced Anika Mohindra as the Class of 2016 valedictorian during the senior class meeting on April 26. “I was surprised because I didn’t really expect...

Enya Lu (9) steps forward to receive her medal after being called forward as an overall finalist in Principles of Finance. Later that evening, Enya earned first place, making Harker DECA history.

DECA member wins big at ICDC

by Shania Wang, Reporter • May 5, 2016

Twenty students and two advisors from the upper school’s DECA chapter traveled to the 2016 International Career Development Conference (ICDC) in Nashville, Tennessee, from April 22 to 27. For the...

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