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The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Kelsey Wu (12) waves the senior class flag while Karen Krause (12), Sahana Narayan (12) and Shania Wang (12) cheer to her left. The seniors earned the most spirit points this year.

Students dance and compete in spirit rally to conclude Spirit Week

by Eric Fang and Nicole Chen April 14, 2019

A spirit rally that included class dances and inter-class competitions closed out Spirit Week after sixth period today. At the rally, the spirit team announced that the seniors had earned the most spirit...

WiSTEM volunteers Emma Dionne (10) and Vidya Jeyendran (10) lead one of the tables for WiSTEM's food-based modeling activity. The symposium's scheduled events included exhibit tables, keynote speakers, student and alumni panels, poster presentations and a variety of other activities and workshops.

14th annual research symposium encourages climate action

by Arya Maheshwari, STEM Editor April 14, 2019

The upper school's Women in STEM (WiSTEM) club hosted the 14th annual Harker Research Symposium on Saturday at the upper school, with events and activities that revolved around this year's climate theme...

Kelsey Wu (12) waves the senior class flag while Karen Krause (12), Sahana Narayan (12) and Shania Wang (12) cheer to her left. The seniors earned the most spirit points this year.

Harker heats up for spirit week

by Emily Tan, Reporter April 14, 2019

For members of the upper school community, the five days after spring break ended weren’t just any few days: it was spirit week, which meant over-the-top costumes, class competitions nearly every day,...

Ihita, Alex and Angela hold bouquets ahead of the meet. “This is their last event with our school, and it’s kind of sad to think about, so we’d like to end it with a joyous festival to honor all of them,” Cassandra Ruedy (11) said.

Swimmers celebrate senior night with win over Kings

by Nicole Tian, Reporter April 12, 2019

The swim team celebrated their senior night today at a swim meet against Kings Academy, honoring senior athletes Angela Li, Ihita Mandal, Alex Yu and Logan Bhamidipaty, who was unable to attend. Before...

“[Reverse engineering] really started with robotics, there was one team that brought this really interesting mechanism to the world,” said Eric. “I could just, for the life of me, not figure out how it works. So I took a couple of videos, asked them for a couple of pictures, and I spent years on that. Occasionally I would spend an hour or so looking at it, trying to figure out how it works and a year or two later I finally figured out how it works. It made me realize that I love figuring things out," Eric Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Toy and Tinker

April 12, 2019

With the look of interest and wonder in his eyes, Eric Wang (12) ponders the complexities of common items such as door knobs and toilets to understand how they work and function as a quaint pastime. Reverse...

Head of School Brian Yager addressed a group of parents in his first annual Parent Connect meeting. In this meeting, Yager touched upon the recent accreditation process, as well as his hopes for the future.

Head of school Brian Yager hosts first Parent Connect meeting

by Arushi Saxena, Global Editor April 11, 2019

In a “town-hall” style meeting today, Brian Yager addressed three topics: Harker’s recent accreditation process, the new middle school campus, and future goals for the Harker community. Speaking...

"I started following Kpop idols more these days because there’s more of a human aspect. If you get something just straight from the imagination, like in anime or something, sometimes they just start repeating. I like seeing actors because there’s no way for then to copy. Due to a lot of circumstances like plot and the actual capabilities of the actors themselves, each scene they act is going to look different. So I really appreciate that. And the camera work, if you mash all those together, usually it’ll come out with something different," Catherine Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Getting real about realism

by Laura Wu, Co-People and Seniors Editor April 11, 2019

Turning side-to-side on her stool in the art room, Catherine Wang (12) smiles as she starts to talk about one of her passions: J-dramas. While society often labels all TV shows as mindless and the same,...

Different methods of learning provide alternatives to traditional education

Different methods of learning provide alternatives to traditional education

by Varsha Rammohan, Copy Editor April 11, 2019

Sounds of jazz music filled the athletic center on March 18, as students walking in for a school meeting found an immense photo of a smiling Langston Hughes displayed on the white screen. USC Thornton...

Michael Eng (10) stands with Irene Yuan (9) and Anna Vazhaeparambil (10) to his right and Arya Maheshwari (10) and Sara Yen (10) to his left.

Spirit Week Continues: Students dress in “meme” themed clothing, rehearse spirit rally

by Nicole Chen and Eric Fang April 11, 2019

In the second to last day of spirit week, students dressed in "meme" themed clothing today. Some popular costumes included foam mannequin heads under their hoodies, an allusion to the Mannequin Head Meme,...

Kai Burich (9) opens the freshman class Roar, marching into the gym while playing a large wind instrument. The freshman class placed fourth in the Roar event, behind the juniors, who placed third, the sophomores, who placed second, and the seniors, who placed first.

Students make some noise during 1st annual ROAR

by Emily Tan, Reporter April 11, 2019

The entire school, dressed in different themes by advisory, gathered in the Athletic Center at 9:35 this morning to watch the roar competition, as well as the volleyball championship game between the juniors...

Bobby Strong, played by Mathew Mammen (12), leads a team of rebels in the first act's finale number in the musical "Urinetown." The cast performed four shows from March 28 to March 30 in the Patil Theater.

“This is Urinetown”: Spring musical “Urinetown” delves into a drenched world

by Erica Cai, Esha Gohil, Sara Yen, and Gloria Zhang April 11, 2019

With the house lights in the Patil Theater dimmed, Performing Arts Director Laura Lang-Ree exclaims from the back row of the orchestra seats, “Alright, take it to the top of the show!” Hearing these...

“In robotics I’ve learned the mechanical and software engineering that comes with building a robot, programming it to move and perform tasks. At the same time, a big part of robotics is networking and socialization. An ability I’ve gained is to combine both the engineering aspects and also the more social aspects [of robotics]. Skills such as talking to judges, being able to present your ideas in a clear fashion and making friends with other people to work together and do well in competitions have been really important and useful,” Rithvik Panchapakesan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Building new horizons

by Muthu Panchanatham, Reporter April 11, 2019

Safety goggles adorning his face, Rithvik Panchapakesan (12) stares intently at the complicated piece of machinery in front of him. His team watches behind him as he operates the manual mill to precisely...

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