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
“Nothing I do is really about external approval anymore. When I do something, I do it because it makes me happy and because I genuinely enjoy doing it. When I put more effort into something, I’m more inclined to want to try harder at it in the future and then that will keep perpetuating itself and making me happy,” Sachin Shah (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Dedicated to happiness

by Aditya Singhvi, Co-Sports Editor • April 20, 2020

“Dedication.” That’s how upper school debate coach Greg Achten would describe senior Sachin Shah, echoing the sentiments of his friends and teammates.  “He’s the first kid to sign up for...

Boston University is one of several colleges offering extensive online resources for prospective and admitted students. These involve interactive video chats through Zoom or other platforms that involve Q&A sessions.

Senior spring online: making the most out of virtual college visits

by Gloria Zhang, Winged Post Editor-in-Chief • April 19, 2020

Congratulations! *Cue the confetti* After months of waiting for “an update to your application status”, seniors, we finally reached the moment to embark on our college adventure. Yet, instead...

In quarantine, we just have ourselves. So I used my time in isolation to see if I could do it all: be both model and photographer.

Stories from quarantine: Euphoria

by Anoushka Buch, TALON Student Life and Conservatory Editor • April 19, 2020

Dappled in yellow lighting and adorned with chunky sparkles, a face looks up to a point beyond the camera. The expression is hard-to-read: it’s not emotionless, yet it lacks the extremity of the banal...

The tennis courts at Westmont High in Los Gatos remain locked up. “It’s sort of hard to transition from playing tennis every single day to just not doing anything and sitting around,” varsity tennis co-captain Ramanand Vegesna (12) said. “Sometimes when you’re doing your own workouts it’s hard to stick to something and you kind of get lost in what you want to work on, so I think [Volt is] a really good tool, and people who don’t have a lot of experience working out can use it and figure out what exercise they want to do.”

Upper school athletic department helps athletes stay in shape with spring sports season cancelled

by Saurav Tewari, Reporter • April 18, 2020

Eight upper school sports have had their seasons canceled after the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the statewide regulatory body for high school sports, released a statement on April 3 announcing...

Upper school students elect ASB for 2020-2021 school year

by Irene Yuan, Asst. Photo Editor • April 17, 2020

Upper school students elected five juniors to the 2020-2021 Associated Student Body (ASB) council on Tuesday.  Current junior class president Jason Lin (11) won the position of ASB President against...

A collection of origami designs to create. Trying out the tutorials to make these are the perfect way to keep busy during shelter-in-place.

Learning origami: A beginner’s guide to the art of paper folding

by Irina Malyugina, Photo Editor • April 17, 2020

Following orders to shelter-in-place, you might have found yourself with an abundance of free time. Are you interested in using this time to learn something new? Try origami! All you’ll need is one square...

Students have found creative outlets to spend their extra time stuck inside during quarantine, ranging from playing an instrument to BMX biking.

Finding a new fun: discovering hobbies during quarantine

by Sabrina Zhu, Reporter • April 17, 2020

As she gently presses on the strings with one hand, Arissa Huda (9) strums her acoustic Hohner guitar with the other, playing a version of Selena Gomez and Kygo’s “It Ain’t Me.” She smiles and...

“My mom always says, ‘don’t shortchange yourself’, [since] I feel like within Harker, there’s always the idea of not being good enough ... I think my mom does a really good job of encouraging me, because ... sometimes I get swamped in with the Harker culture. She tells me to focus and do what I can do, and that it’s going to be okay,” Amanda Cheung (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Contending with a purpose

by Lavanya Subramanian, TALON Reporter • April 17, 2020

Amanda Cheung (12), surrounded by her sixth and seventh-grade mentees in the Introduction to Speech and Debate class, eagerly guides them through outlining a successful debate. They vigorously type their...

“It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up. Whether it's football, you know, no matter what happens, stuff is going to go wrong, but you just got to keep persisting through and reach your goal, or at the restaurant, when things go wrong, you just got to figure a way around it,” Devin Keller (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Fostering lasting bonds

by Isha Moorjani, Reporter • April 16, 2020

He stands on the field, his green jersey blurring as he speeds forward to deftly catch the football, his eyes narrowing onto his goal. Upon catching it, he streaks across the field, dodging and evading...

A torch representing the Latin language. The regenerative power of flames symbolizes truth, life–the part of Latin that lives on forever. The smoke radiates outwards and dissipates, symbolizing the "dead" aspect of Latin, one that isn't spoken anymore or included directly in vernacular literature.

A minore ad maius: the importance of Latin in the 21st century

by Lauren Liu, Reporter • April 15, 2020

Towards the end of fifth grade, my mother handed me a manila clasp envelope. Inside were two sheets of paper. One for electives. The other, for language. As much as my dad emphasized taking a “useful...

“I want to broaden my horizons and get in touch more with the humanistic aspects of STEM because you can be the best programmer, best scientist, but at the end of the day, if you want to create change in the world, you're going to have to communicate your ideas and figure out how they fit into the mosaic of society,” Eileen Li (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Taking the leap

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-in-Chief • April 15, 2020

Right leg in front of left. Left leg in front of right. As the chilling breeze whistles through and blows her hair past her face, she pumps her arms and breathes heavily. In. Out. In. Out. Stopping to...

“Realistically, [I just want] people to remember that I helped them and made them feel happier and just better in their everyday lives,” Jack Hansen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Jack of hearts

by Athreya Daniel, Reporter • April 15, 2020

Jack Hansen (12) stands on the tennis court, racket twirling in hand, as he waits for the serve. As the ball whizzes over the net, Jack springs into action, setting his feet and hitting a blistering cross...

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