The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
Humans of Harker: Multi-disciplined, multi-dimensional
Humans of Harker: Multi-disciplined, multi-dimensional
Humans of Harker: Continuous and differentiable
Humans of Harker: Continuous and differentiable
Humans of Harker: Power in profiles
Humans of Harker: Power in profiles
Humans of Harker: Widening the aperture
Humans of Harker: Widening the aperture
Humans of Harker: Sharing stories, striking serves
Humans of Harker: Sharing stories, striking serves
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
“As a sophomore, I was the little dog, now I am the big dog. I get to order people around, but I also remember how it was on the other end of things, so I tried to keep that in mind. I remember how supportive the seniors were when I was a sophomore, so I try to do the same,” Andrew Cheplyansky (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Journey with soccer

by Brian Chen, Reporter • May 21, 2020

His eyes focus on the top right corner of the goal as he takes a few strides backwards on the sunny turf of Davis field. As if calculating the perfect trajectory of the soccer ball, he pauses for a moment....

“Something that's really been kind of underappreciated nowadays is just the art of improvisation, not having to plan out anything and just kind of living in the moment and playing whatever's on your mind. Oftentimes, people don't realize that that type of phrasing and even rap emerged from improvisation and from just taking risks. I guess that’s the world of music. It encompasses a lot of different colors. There's a lot of crossover between things, and that's what interests me about it,” Joshua Valluru (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The art of improvisation

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief • May 21, 2020

Softly strumming his guitar, Joshua Valluru (12) improvises as the acoustics in the lobby of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center round out his sound. “Guitar has been a huge part of my life at high...

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a test kit in February, during the early stages of the outbreak, but it proved to be faulty. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in March that it would begin to issue Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) to clinical laboratories and commercial manufacturers that have produced tests that are screened by the FDA before their distribution and use.

COVID-19 testing and treatments explained: Cases ramp up as researchers race to find sustainable cures

by Mark Hu, Katie Wang, and Nicholas Wei • May 20, 2020

As COVID-19 infections continue to spread across the nation, hospitals across Santa Clara Valley are taking measures to increase the number of resources available for patients, including ventilators and...

An empty 49ers stadium on Feb. 1. At this time, the team was in Miami, finishing their last practice before the Super Bowl LIV game against the Kansas City Chiefs.

Status report: Sports leagues prepare to reopen

by Vishnu Kannan, Muthu Panchanatham, and Saurav Tewari • May 20, 2020

Many professional sports leagues across the United States have suspended their seasons indefinitely in light of COVID-19’s continued spread, and in this dormant time for the world of sports, fans are...

“Constantly make sure you are always happy with yourself. I think a lot of people are pursuing something but not really reflecting enough on why and getting lost in actions. I think just taking those times and reflecting on what you're doing and making sure of the truth … will make all the difference,” Rakesh Nori (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Take a step back

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief • May 20, 2020

With a large grin lighting up his face and eyes crinkling with warmth, he drops his car keys on the table and strolls over to the counter to order a vanilla bean frappe. Tucking his left hand into the...

Class of 2020: Humans of Harker compilation, part three

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief • May 17, 2020

Due to the unprecedented circumstances surrounding COVID-19, our seniors cannot experience their spring semester and graduation in its traditional format. Yet, we want to honor the Class of 2020 and celebrate...

Medical staff from Highland Hospital in Oakland hold up "thank you" signs after receiving a delivery from Meal with Love. The initiative to bring meals to medical workers who lack the time to cook amid the COVID-19 pandemic began on April 3 by three women including upper school parent Cindy Liu.

Meal with Love: Giving back to our medical workers

by Nicholas Wei, Reporter • May 12, 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, some medical workers are facing an unexpected problem: the lack of time to cook. To address this issue, a group of Bay Area women have started a fundraising effort to...

“Dance is a bit easier to deal with that anxiety because I just put all that energy into the movement that I'm doing, but for music, you have to really control it and that's still hit or miss for me. What helped me was when I moved over to horn and playing in the orchestra. There's a bit of added pressure because I knew that people depended on me, but at the same time, it was less. It felt comforting to know that my friends were there to support me also,” Kai-Ming Ang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The humble artist

by Irene Yuan, Asst. Photo Editor • May 11, 2020

A group of boys dressed in black vests covered with silver designs moves to the music on stage. In the center, the choreographer of the piece, Kai-Ming Ang (12), moves purposefully, solidly hitting each...

A guide to any questions one might have about upcoming school events and how they have been impacted due to COVID-19 and the school closure.

Harker Aquila’s guide on how upcoming events are impacted by coronavirus

by Lucy Ge, Winged Post Asst. News Editor • May 11, 2020

This story was updated on May 11 to include updates on the senior trip, baccalaureate, graduation, locker clean-outs and Harker summer programs. It has now been about two months since school shut down....

Class of 2020: Humans of Harker compilation, part two

Class of 2020: Humans of Harker compilation, part two

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief • May 10, 2020

Due to the unprecedented circumstances surrounding COVID-19, our seniors cannot experience their spring semester and graduation in its traditional format. Yet, we want to honor the Class of 2020 and celebrate...

A collection of the winning submissions for the Creativity during COVID-19 writing contest.

Creativity during COVID-19: Writers reflect on quarantine

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Aquila Co-Sports Editor • May 10, 2020

Hopeful reflections. Brooding thoughts. Nostalgic memories. The upper school writing contest, Creativity during COVID-19, gave students the chance to record these feelings about living during a worldwide...

Dr. Akanksha Kumar used slides as a part of her talk about her experiences working on a COVID-19 team. She is a family medicine physician at the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Jersey.

New Jersey doctor speaks to Harker community about working on front lines of COVID-19 pandemic

by Lucy Ge, Winged Post Asst. News Editor • May 10, 2020

Family medicine physician Dr. Akanksha Kumar spoke to 63 Harker students and faculty via Zoom during long lunch on Friday about her experience working on a COVID-19 team at the Robert Wood Johnson University...

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