The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“I try to really put myself into the shoes of whatever I’m photographing. I imagine sometimes, if I were that bird, what would it feel like to be in this moment and flying, or if I were the person that I’m taking a portrait of, what would it feel like to see through their eyes? Then, I try to express that through how I frame the photo," senior Claire Zhao said.
Humans of Harker: Capturing compassion
Humans of Harker: Singing with spirit
Humans of Harker: Singing with spirit
Humans of Harker: Leading with enthusiasm
Humans of Harker: Leading with enthusiasm
“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: 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
Avi Gulati (11) adjusts Junior Classical League's poster board at Club Fair.

Campus organizations invite students to join in annual Club Fair

by Eric Fang, Ryan Guan, and Arushi Saxena • September 16, 2018
This year's Club Fair invited students to join a plethora of on-campus organizations or attract new members to existing clubs in the quad during lunch on Wednesday. Unlike the past two years, the event did not take place in the Nichols atrium. Instead, Club Coordinator and Assistant Activities Director Eric Kallbrier opted for Club Fair to be held in the quad, where tables were arranged around the edges and at the center.
A white, unpainted eagle is one of four standing outside Manzanita Hall this week. Before painting their eagles to correspond with their spirit themes for the homecoming rally, each class needed to remove the paint from previous years.

Weekend recap 9/15/18

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • September 14, 2018

In a senior tradition, the class of 2019 gathered on Davis Field on Aug. 27, the first day of classes, to watch the sunrise. The Upper School observed Labor Day with no classes on Sept. 2. Green...

Student director Ellie Lang-Ree (12) announces her play at school meeting on Sept. 14. The four 2018 SDS directors are seniors Neha Premkumar, Emmy Huchley, Dilara Ezer and Ellie.

School meeting recap 9/14/18

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • September 14, 2018

Jennifer Walrod, director of global education, introduced a visiting teacher from the Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy in China. Mr. David will be observing classes at the Upper School. Johnny...

College counselors visit the class of 2019 during a class meeting.

Seniors named National Merit Scholarship semifinalists

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor • September 13, 2018

Forty-three members of the class of 2019 were named National Merit Scholarship Semifinalists last week. Semifinalists were notified at college counseling class Sept. 4. They can submit SAT scores and...

Students gather on Davis Field for an emergency evacuation drill today. The drill was announced at school meeting Monday.

Fire drill held between first and second periods

by Nicole Chen and Kathy Fang • September 13, 2018

The upper school's fire alarm rang at around 9:15 a.m. today, alerting students and faculty to report to Davis Field for an emergency drill. Students remained on the field until after 9:35 a.m. and...

The Shah patio at the upper school. Upper school psychology teacher Dr. Jonathan Sammartino was arrested Sept. 11 on three charges of sexual misconduct at a previous teaching position in San Diego.

Upper school teacher arrested on charges of sexual misconduct at previous teaching position

by Nicole Chen, Kathy Fang, and Ryan Guan • September 12, 2018

Warning: The following story contains information about sexual assault charges and may be upsetting to some readers. Updated: 10:04 p.m. Sept. 19, 2018. An upper school psychology teacher was arrested...

Performing arts representative Emmy Huchley (12), Alex Kumar (10), Vance Hirota (11) and Ellie Lang-Ree (12) announced information about upcoming dance show auditions, which will be held in RPAC this Saturday afternoon.

School meeting recap 9/10

by Arushi Saxena, Global Editor • September 11, 2018

As students settled in their seats for the second school meeting of the year, Harker Aquila’s photo slideshow displayed the highlights of the past two weeks. ASB President Neil Ramaswamy spoke briefly...

Festooned with newspapers, a student at Spirit Kickoff strikes a pose.

Spirit kickoff starts off year with after-school activities

by Irina Malyugina, Vivian Jin, and Ryan Guan • September 9, 2018

This year's spirit kickoff was held in the auxiliary gym on Friday at 3:30 p.m. The event included dodgeball and other opportunities to earn spirit points.

Diana Nichols speaks at the opening of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center in February.

Former board of trustees chair Diana Nichols dies

by Nicole Chen and Kathy Fang • September 8, 2018

Diana Nichols, former chair of the board of trustees and school leader, died last Sunday in her home in Carmel. Faculty and staff learned of Nichols's death through an email on Monday, and upper school...

Head of Upper School Butch Keller speaks about proper student-teacher interactions at school meeting yesterday.

School meeting recap 9/4

by Eric Fang, News Editor • September 5, 2018

Harker Aquila’s first photo slide show of the year greeted students as they took their seats for the school meeting yesterday. ASB President Neil Ramaswamy gave a brief welcome to the students before...

Class of 2022 attends upper school orientation

Class of 2022 attends upper school orientation

by Nicole Chen and Eric Fang • September 2, 2018

The freshman class of 2022 visited the upper school for the first time and participated in various team-building activities with their advisories as part of freshmen orientation on August 23.  The freshmen...

Upper School welcomes eight new teachers to campus

Upper School welcomes eight new teachers to campus

by Eric Fang, News Editor • September 2, 2018

David Hart - Orchestra, AP Music Theory, Study of Music and Performance Practice   Goal for next year: “This is my ninth year at Harker and it is cool that a lot of students have worked with...

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