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
“Part of the reason I was interested in archery and why I initially started it was because I like fantasy stories," Gwyneth Chen (12) said. "I read and watch movies with my family, and it pops up a lot. It's interesting because the way my instructor teaches it is not competitive, so I get to treat it more like meditation. There's the idea of perfecting yourself and your own focus, which makes it a little bit different from traditional sports, and that's the part of it that I really enjoy."

Humans of Harker: Gwyneth Chen’s crafts embody her quiet elegance

by Emily Chen, Reporter • May 4, 2018

The delicately twisted piece of gold wire forms a perfectly spiraled ring on Gwyneth Chen’s (12) pinky, the ends connected by a crystal and the sides detailed with coiled wire. “I do wire jewelry...

Jadan McDermott (12) and Jalen Clark (12) pull Kaitlyn Nguyen (12) across the gym during the drag race competition. "It felt like I was flying. Even when I was being dragged across the entire length of the gym, I was having a blast, and I definitely don't regret doing it," Kaitlyn said.

Upper school community celebrates Spirit Week

by Eric Fang, Winged Post Global Editor • May 4, 2018

Upper school students showed their Eagle pride this week by wearing creative outfits, putting on performances and participating in class competitions. In the end, the junior class barely ousted the seniors...

“I want to be remembered for being wise and kind, and I chose the word wise specifically because I don't want to be remembered as smart," Lauren Russell (12) said. "I want to be remembered as being able to look at a situation and react maturely, appropriately but also kindly based on what I know.”

Humans of Harker: Lauren Russell participates with intention

by Anmol Velagapudi and Melissa Kwan, Reporter • May 3, 2018

According to Lauren Russell (12), puzzles and books are great ways to “not-think.” “I really like puzzles, and not just like spread out puzzles on the board and make the picture, but a lot of...

The current Harker Pay interface. A group of juniors developed the program and inaugurated its use this school year.

Harker Pay facilitates student purchases in upper school campus

by Farah Hosseini • May 3, 2018

A group of students established Harker Pay at the upper school community, enabling students to purchase items online using their phones. With a quick log-in process and confirmation, students are able...

ASB president Jimmy Lin (12) delivers his State of the School address, in which he reviewed student council's projects and work over the course of the school year. Jimmy delivered his customary line, "Class starts at 10:50 you're all dismissed," for the final time at today's school meeting.

School meeting recap 5/2

by Tiffany Wong, Aquila News Editor • May 2, 2018

Harker Athletics gave a short update about games this past week and encouraged students and faculty to support the teams at upcoming games this week. The varsity softball and track and field teams played...

"[In high school,] my new group of friends was very different from anything previously. In middle school, all we did was do math competitions and play cards," Swapnil Garg (12) said. "But in ninth grade, nobody did that—during lunch, you had to sit at a table and have discussions. I had to learn to be able to be more intellectual, and to provide more substance in my thinking abilities relating to things that were not just math. I was very scared of, for example, English class."

Humans of Harker: Swapnil Garg branches beyond math

by Derek Yen, Winged Post Opinion Editor • May 2, 2018

Senior Swapnil Garg is perhaps best known for his mathematical abilities. An avid participant in math olympiads and other competitions, Swapnil has been competing since sixth grade. "At the beginning...

Sen Dai Sushi: Sushi with a modern flair

Sen Dai Sushi: Sushi with a modern flair

by Derek Yen, Winged Post Opinion Editor • May 1, 2018

Even on an unremarkable Thursday night, Sen Dai Sushi is packed tight like a makizushi. "Twenty-five minutes," says a server for a party of three. Derek Yen The crowd in the restaurant is a representative...

"I have a degenerative disc in my back," Taylor Kohlmann (12) said. "When I got injured, I realized that the thing that I’ve thrown myself into, maybe it’s not the only thing I might enjoy. There was one summer where my coach and my doctor talked and they were like ‘don’t swim. See if it will go away.’ That was the summer that I was able to go on that Japan trip and do new things, and I started working as a lifeguard, which I wouldn’t have done because I wouldn’t have had time because I would have been at the pool for like six hours."

Humans of Harker: Taylor Kohlmann reflects on family, friends and unexpected new paths born from setback

by Sahana Srinivasan, Winged Post Editor-in-Chief • May 1, 2018

Taylor Kohlmann’s lifelong race in the swimming pool began for a small, innocuous reason: in first grade, several of her friends hosted pool parties for their birthdays; she didn’t know how to swim,...

The Harker Robotics Team poses next to their robot after winning the Roebling subdivision. The FIRST Robotics Competition took place from Apr. 18 to 21 in Houston, Texas.

Robotics win in world championship subdivision marks historic season

by Anika Rajamani, Reporter • May 1, 2018

The Upper School Robotics team won the Roebling subdivision alongside three alliance partners at the 2018 International FIRST Robotics Competition from Apr. 18 to 21 in Houston, Texas. Seniors Aria...

“When I watch a kind of strange TV show, it's kind of like I don't want to know what's actually behind everything, but then at the same time there’s this strange, ‘You must figure out what it is, or you will be forever trapped!’" Justin Au (12) said. "Even after the finale, there's still questions and there’s this pondering of how the story could've been different or things that you still don't know.”

Humans of Harker: Justin Au uncovers truth through observation

by Arya Maheshwari, Reporter • April 30, 2018

From academic pursuits to watching TV, Justin Au (12) strives to observe. Rather than trying to be in the spotlight, he sits back, smiles and watches, just paying attention to the small details and letting...

“Everyone who knows me can attest that I can easily be a stick in the mud, that I'm way too uptight, but that's something I really want to learn how to work on, because when you relax and when you stop caring about how you try to comport yourself and when you stop taking yourself too seriously and just let go around a bunch of people who are pretty supportive, you start to learn a lot more about what you like and what you want to do in the future and who you want to be around," Linus Li (12) said. "And I learned it's a lot less about keeping up a certain image and more about knowing what a kind of a person you are and who you want to be around.”

Humans of Harker: Linus Li takes pride in the process

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor • April 29, 2018

The beats of electronic dance music blare from the speakers in the corner of the dance room as Linus Li (12), with a dozen other dancers, runs an intense hip-hop routine for the hundredth time. Towards...

Kinetic Krew member Jerry Chen (12) and Varsity dance troupe member Miranda Larsen (12) pose at the end of the finale routine of this year's Just Dance showcase. Earlier this school year, the Patil Theater was also the venue for a piano master class, An Evening of Jazz and annual spring musical "42nd Street."

Just Dance: Annual dance showcase features six Harker dance troupes

by Nicole Chen, Aquila Features Editor • April 29, 2018

Upper, middle and lower school student dancers performed in this year’s final dance showcase, Just Dance, this evening at 6 p.m. in the Patil Theater. Upper school Varsity and Junior Varsity dance troupes...

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