The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“I've always been really creative and continuing to have that outlet, whether it be dance or art, it keeps that core value strong. All the art forms I do have shaped the way I see the world. I see it through a very artistic lens and I'll find beauty in the tiny things that some people miss," senior Sonia Yu said.
Humans of Harker: Dancing through the details
“I want to do everything I can to make people's lives easier. Whether it's helping people with homework or just doing other little things, that's something that I really value highly within myself. I’ve tried to do my best to carry that out with beekeeping: checking out what in my hive needs tending to and then responding to that," senior Andrew Liang said.
Humans of Harker: Bee my guest
Humans of Harker: Engineering beats
Humans of Harker: Engineering beats
“What matters about reading is not your ability to read, but taking in the words and understanding the plot: it’s how you dialogue with what you have read and how you work alongside the text to gain more understanding. That’s what the point of reading is. No book will ever make me feel exactly the same as any other book. And that uniqueness is what matters to me the most," senior Felix Chen said.
Humans of Harker: Chapters of curiosity
“I've gotten a lot more composed when I conduct. I know much more what and why I'm doing it, and it helps the process go smoothly. I enjoyed conducting last year at the spring concert with orchestra. That was a fun experience because I was in the moment and everyone was with me. I liked being able to feel the music play with everyone," senior Rohan Ramkumar said.
Humans of Harker: Conducting change
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
The Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation, a synagogue in Pittsburgh, where a man shot and killed 11 people on Oct. 27. The suspect was charged with 29 federal crimes.

Mass shooting kills 11 at Pittsburgh synagogue

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • November 5, 2018

A man shot and killed 11 congregants and wounded seven people at the Tree of Life Congregation, a Pittsburgh synagogue, on Oct. 27. Law enforcement identified the man as 46-year-old Robert Bowers. Bowers,...

Spirit club officers Arjun Kilaru (12) and Zachary Hoffman (12) announce the results of the costume contests from Wednesday. Each winner received prizes as well as spirit points for their class.

School meeting recap 11/2/18

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • November 2, 2018

Eagle Update presenters announced that the girls volleyball team made the CCS finals, and girls water polo won their league finals and will play their first CCS game tomorrow. Boys water polo and boys...

Lauren Beede (11) reaches up to tap the ball over the net in today's CCS semifinals game against Santa Cruz High School. The game was held at Menlo High School and was carried by the Harker varsity girls team, who will proceed to play Notre Dame High School in the finals game on Saturday.

Varsity girls volleyball advances to CCS finals, winning semifinals in three sets

by Kathy Fang, Managing Editor • November 1, 2018

The varsity girls volleyball team moves forward to CCS finals after winning their semifinals match against Santa Cruz High School in three sets at Menlo-Atherton High School this afternoon. The game...

Zoey Rosa (11) puts a headband on Ronit Gagneja (11). Students wore Halloween costumes today to celebrate the holiday.

Upper school celebrates Halloween with colorful costumes, spirit contests

by Nicole Chen, Editor-in-chief • October 31, 2018

The Harker community celebrated Halloween today, dressing in a vibrant array of costumes. Students as well as faculty checked in with spirit club during lunch to compete in various "best costume" contests,...

Trevor Thompson (12) returns a serve during today's round of pingpong games. Winners from this round will advance to the semifinals, which will be held tomorrow during lunch in the quad.

Student competitors advance in spirit club pingpong tournament

by Nicole Chen, Editor-in-chief • October 31, 2018

UPDATE: The second round of the pingpong tournament was held during lunch today, with eight competitors remaining. Spirit club hosts the semifinals tomorrow during lunch, and the final match will take...

History teacher Julie Wheeler, along with art teacher Japp Bongers and english teacher John Docherty, listen to history teacher Carol Green talk about ballot and voting resources. Wheeler and Green co-hosted the "Election 2018" session.

Shah Salon kicks off second year of discussions

by Nicole Chen, Editor-in-chief • October 31, 2018

The first set of Shah Salon discussions this school year took place today in various Shah classrooms from 3:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. The event was broken down into four sessions: “#Me2.0” with history...

Michelle Ning (10) jumps up to hit the ball. The team won 3-0 against Mercy-Burlingame in a game today.

Varsity girls volleyball wins CCS quarterfinals, advances to semifinals

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • October 31, 2018

The varsity girls volleyball team won its CCS quarterfinal match against Mercy-Burlingame 25-15, 25-18, 25-14 tonight. The girls will play Santa Cruz, who upset first seeded Carmel in the quarterfinals,...

Ellie Lang-Ree (12), in the role of Mrs. Gibbs, mimes stringing beans with Marina Logue (12), who plays Mrs. Webb. "Our Town", this year's fall play, portrays a pre-industrial small town at the cusp of the 20th century, with machinery and cars appearing as the play's timeline progresses.

Cast performs annual fall play, first in RPAC

by Michael Eng, Global Columnist • October 31, 2018

The faint smell and sizzle of bacon circulates throughout the audience while Mrs. Webb, played by Marina Logue (12), prepares breakfast on stage. Her daughter, Emily, played by Dilara Ezer (12), travels...

Upper school students and faculty evacuate to Davis Field at the sound of the alarm during lunch today.

Fog machine sets off fire alarm, students and faculty evacuate

by Nicole Chen, Editor-in-chief • October 26, 2018

A fire alarm went off around 12:45 p.m. today. The fog machine in physics teacher Scott Pflaumer’s haunted physics lab caused the alarm.

Dr. Ali Mattu speaks to the Harker community about collaboration. He spoke to all four grades during lunch today.

Psychologist presents on importance of collaboration

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • October 24, 2018

Dr. Ali Mattu, a licensed clinical psychologist and associate professor at Columbia University, spoke to students in an assembly in the athletic center today during lunch about his journey through psychology...

Alexander Young (12) shakes his ballot into a ballot box during the mock midterms last Thursday. AP U.S. Government teacher Carol Green and students hosted a mock midterm election Thursday to encourage students to vote.

Mock midterm election lets students experience voting

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • October 24, 2018

Students voted in a mock midterm election held in history teacher Carol Green's room and staffed by AP U.S. Government students all day last Thursday. All upper school students could participate regardless...

Alycia Cary (12) gives a talk about how to view the fear of ambiguity and categorical thinking at TEDx on Saturday. Senior speakers are chosen after a process of filling out an application about their interests and being interviewed by the TEDx team.

Annual TEDx event features speakers who “dare to differentiate”

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Reporter • October 24, 2018

Students, teachers and other members of the Harker community heard talks from several speakers and interacted with local companies and industry mentors at the annual TEDxHarkerSchool event in Nichols Auditorium...

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