The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“You only live once, right? My family has always taught me to do as much as you can for the community, because what you're gonna leave behind is your community. Helping them in the best way you can will also be in your best interest. I don't really have an external motivator, but it just makes me happy," senior Sriteja Kataru said.
Humans of Harker: Building more than a brand
Humans of Harker: Kicking off conversations
Humans of Harker: Kicking off conversations
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
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
Senior Makayla Aguilar-Zuniga (wearing white skirt) and junior Mariana Ryder (wearing red skirt) face each other during the Latinx Affinity Group's performance of "Baile Folklorico" for the Cultural Performance Assembly on Feb. 27. Organized by the Student Diversity Coalition (SDC), the Cultural Performance Assembly featured dance, music and poetry from around the world.

Cultural performance assembly features dance, music and poetry by students and faculty

by Ella Yee, Co-News Editor • March 16, 2023

Students, faculty and special guests shared aspects of their cultures through dance, music and poetry during the Cultural Performance Assembly on Feb. 27. Planning for the event began months beforehand,...

Model UN Director General Sasha Masson (11) presents the details of the NHSMUN Conference in New York during a club meeting on March 3. Delegates left for the conference on March 8 and competed on March 10.

Model UN tackles National High School Model UN Conference in New York

by Shareen Chahal, Co-Asst. News Editor • March 14, 2023

The Harker Model United Nations (UN) team attended the National High School Model United Nations (NHSMUN) Conference hosted in New York from March 10 to 12 for the first time since the COVID-19 shutdown. Thousands...

Members of the upper school Speech and Debate team gather for a photo in Graduate's Grove. Harker won first out of 193 schools at the prestigious Berkeley tournament over February break.

Speech and debate team excels at February tournaments

by Claire Bauschlicher and Felix Chen • March 13, 2023

104 members of Harker’s Speech and Debate team finished strong at tournaments held at the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford University during February break. The Stanford and Berkeley...

Civilians stand in the wreckage of crumpled buildings in the village of Besnia near the town of Harim, in Syria's rebel-held northwestern Idlib province on the border with Türkiye. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit areas of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6, resulting in at least 50,000 deaths and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Kahramanmaras earthquake strikes Turkey, Syria

by Sally Zhu, Co-Editor in Chief • March 13, 2023

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit areas of southern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6, resulting in at least 50,000 deaths and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.  According to the March 2 U.S....

Over 100 students and faculty attended the second Challenge Day of the year, a community-building event that took place last Friday in the Zhang Gym. “Challenge Day represents values that I think are important, including the idea that the most important parts of our lives are things we don’t often share,” upper school English teacher Christopher Hurshman said.

Community connections strengthen during underclassmen Challenge Day

by Emma Gao, Co-News Editor • March 11, 2023

Over 100 students and faculty attended the second Challenge Day of the year, a community-building event that took place March 3 in the Zhang Gym. The upper school held this month’s Challenge Day,...

Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) representatives Ariana Gauba (10) and Fern Biswas (10) speak about Culture Week, which took place from Feb. 27 to March 3. Culture Week featured cultural performances from members of the Harker community, cultural visual arts and culture booths.

School meeting recap 2/23/23: United Voices, ReCreate Reading and Culture Week

by Felix Chen, Asst. News Editor • March 9, 2023

Associated Student Body (ASB) President Kris Estrada (12) opened the school meeting on Feb. 23 by remarking on the date's resemblance to the senior class’s year of graduation.  Dean of Students Kevin...

Snow lays on the mountains of Mission Peak in Fremont yesterday. A historic California winter storm brought snow and hail to the Santa Cruz Mountains starting Thursday, closing Highway 17 and preventing up to 104 students and faculty from attending school yesterday.

Historic snowfall strikes Bay Area mountains

by Emma Gao, Desiree Luo, Katerina Matta, and Sally Zhu • February 25, 2023

Additional reporting by Shareen Chahal, Kinnera Mulam and Isha Moorjani. A historic California winter storm brought snow and hail to the Santa Cruz Mountains starting Thursday, closing Highway 17 and...

Upper school nurse Jennifer Olson processes a COVID-19 test in her office on Friday. "We do recommend daily testing for two to three days as it can take some time for the test to convert to positive once symptoms have started," Olson said.

Upper school COVID-19 cases rise after Winter Ball

by Aryana Bharali and Ella Yee • February 14, 2023

34 upper school students tested positive for COVID-19 last week in a surge likely associated with Winter Ball, a dance that took place in the Athletic Center on Feb. 4. In an email sent to parents on...

Francis Parker School assistant head Priyanka Rupani and national Student Diversity Leadership Conference (SDLC) chair Dr. Rodney Glasgow give a presentation at the fifth annual Student Diversity Leadership Gathering (SDLG) on Feb. 4. The event garnered high school students and faculty from over 30 schools to discuss issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.

Upper school hosts over 30 schools in fifth Student Diversity Leadership Gathering event

by Edward Huang, Hima Thota, and Ella Yee • February 14, 2023

Around 200 Bay Area high school students and faculty members engaged in the fifth annual Student Diversity Leadership Gathering (SDLG) at the upper school campus on Feb. 4, exploring the theme of “What...

Storm water flows in the Cosumnes River in Michigan Bar, California. Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Jan. 16 to support the emergency response to the series of winter storms that have afflicted the state since the end of December and to provide aid to communities impacted by the storms.

Governor Newsom signs executive order for storm relief

by Anika Maji and Isha Moorjani • February 10, 2023

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Jan. 16 to support the emergency response to the series of winter storms that have afflicted the state since the end of December, providing...

An illustration depicting some of the new courses for the 2023-24 school year. Next year, the upper school will offer new courses in a variety of topics, including: Corporate Finance, Venture Capital, Latin American History, Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies and several course evolutions including new vocal classes Rhapsody and Dolce Voce; and changements to both French electives: Honors French Prose, and Honors French Literature & Film.

Additions and advancements: New courses announced for 2023-24 school year

by Claire Bauschlicher, Reporter • February 2, 2023

In the 2023-2024 school year, the upper school will offer new courses in a variety of topics, including: Corporate Finance, Venture Capital, Latin American History, Introduction to Women’s and Gender...

President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands at the North American Leaders’ Summit. Biden and Trudeau joined Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the summing from Jan. 9 to Jan. 10 in Mexico City.

Global Headlines (Issue 4)

by Andrew Liang and Isabella Lo • February 2, 2023

Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95 Former Pope Benedict XVI passed away in the Vatican at the age of 95 on Dec. 31 last year. Benedict, who assumed the papacy in 2005, resigned in 2013 due to poor health,...

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