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
“My first year, I was the only sophomore in [Downbeat]," Akhil Arun (12) said. "So it was kind of scary, I’m not going to lie. It took a little bit to grow comfort, but I think when you’re performing or in an ensemble group, it takes a good amount of trust to get out of your skin and not be afraid of getting judged when you’re trying out for solos and things like that. I never did any of that sophomore year because I was so in my head about getting judged. But after a certain point, you realize that these are all your friends and no one’s going to care.”

Humans of Harker: Akhil Arun breaks out of his comfort zone

by Emily Chen, Reporter • March 4, 2018

A single spotlight hits center stage, as the lights reflect off of the blue cast wrapped around his arm. Dressed in teal blue, Akhil Arun (12) confidently lip syncs to Frank Sinatra’s lyrics, mouthing...

MSD student David Hogg sits in front of posters advocating for gun control after the Feb. 14 shooting. David is a leader and founder of the Never Again MSD movement.

Marjory Stoneman Douglas students push for reform

by Aditya Singhvi and Sahana Srinivasan • March 4, 2018

Student survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (MSD) in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14 have since been advocating for gun control measures through their burgeoning organization...

“One of the biggest events in my life was when my parents got divorced,” Markus Wong (12) said. “I've always wanted to improve myself — it's kind of a common theme in my life. I was never satisfied with just being mediocre. When my parents got divorced, I thought it was the worst thing in the world. It was at that point that I was thinking to myself, 'Why do bad things happen to me, even though I'm trying so hard?' That kind of started a long journey of realizing that stuff like that will happen, but you have to learn how to be the bigger person. You can't let things consume you.”

Humans of Harker: Markus Wong reflects on his dual nature

by Irina Malyugina, Reporter • March 3, 2018

“It's like a cheap drug, in a way,” Markus Wong (12) said of performing arts. “You do it once, it makes you feel good. The difference is that it's the people you're with. It's who you're interacting...

"In Spain, I took this picture of this street musician. It was in the night, and it was super grainy and really dark," Neeraj Aggarwal (12) said. "But when I increased the exposure and everything was still grainy, you could see a really big smile on his face and [he was] holding his guitar. There were two children next to him. This picture, to me, is not something I could blow up and print, but that's one of my favorite pictures just because of the moment that I captured... two kids enjoying the musician's music and the musician enjoying the fact that the kids were there."

Humans of Harker: Neeraj Aggarwal lies at the “intersection of design and technology”

by Michael Eng & Melissa Kwan • March 3, 2018

Neeraj Aggarwal (12) has travelled to Dubai, Guatemala, Switzerland and Spain, but he admits that he spent much of his time looking through a viewfinder. “My dad tells me to put the camera away a...

Charlotte Blanc (10) and Cas Ruedy (10) skate around the Solar4America Ice rink together. Trip attendees had the option of taking the bus from the upper school at 7 p.m. and returning to campus at 9:30 p.m. or driving to the venue separately.

Harker Spirit holds annual ice skating trip at Solar4America Ice

by Sydney Takemoto and Gloria Zhang • March 2, 2018

Students attended Harker Spirit’s annual ice skating trip at Solar4America Ice today. Various skaters of different skill levels came out to skate; some students preferred to stay at the bucket-pushing...

Satchi Thockchom (12) speaks at the EPA hearing about the CPP repeal at San Francisco on Wednesday. The CPP targets the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning at electricity power plants.

Students speak against CPP repeal at EPA hearing

by Helen Yang, Aquila STEM Editor • March 2, 2018

Seven Harker upper school students spoke at the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listening session on the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan (CPP) this Wednesday at San Francisco. Freshman...

Future Problem Solvers club officers Anvi Banga (10) and Anika Tiwari (10) organize mini bundt cake sales outside Manzanita. Future club events include the state competition from April 20 to 22 at Design 39 in San Diego.

Future Problem Solvers holds club week

by Julia Huang and Devanshi Mehta • March 2, 2018

Future Problem Solvers sold mini bundt cakes for the charity organization The Forgotten International everyday after school for their club week this week. To support the cause, students could either...

"The realistic ones would be a lot of the noncontroversial basics (ie. universal background checks to solve for the gunshow holes and whatnot and as well as more comprehensive background checks), so they would check more different categories. For example, maybe expanding a category to account for people who have been reported to the police as people who seem to be at risk to commit a mass shooting as was done with the Florida shooter because that policy has 97 percent support among the American public, and Donald Trump has expressed support for it, so I think that is realistically possible. There’s a lot of policies that are like this that are noncontroversial and would make a difference, but they don’t really solve the root of the problem, which is the guns themselves. No matter what we do, there are still people who will fall through the cracks that will pass background checks and still commit mass shootings. I’m thinking of the Las Vegas shooter who would pass every single background check. I also think we need to ban assault weapons entirely because we have done that in the past, and statistics show that there was a pretty significant decrease in the amount of deaths that were caused by shootings that immediately shot back up once the ban expired." -Serena Lu (12)

Talk Around Campus: Given the recent Florida shooting, what do you think needs to be done about gun control?

by Julia Huang, TALON Academics Editor • March 2, 2018

“I’m going against Oscar Wilde right now," Aislinn Coveney (12) said. "He said that ‘art is not an imitation of life.’ I disagree with that wholeheartedly. With art, because you’re using pictures to depict what you see around you, it should be more powerful than words. I’m not good with words, but someone who is, like a writer or an author, can write these things out, but those are perceived messages. You can take those words and twist them, and they can mean whatever you want. But with art, I feel like it’s more symbolic. You see what’s in front of you, and it’s received information. You look at the art, and straight up, you know this is what I want you to see."

Humans of Harker: Aislinn Coveney creates art to make a statement

by Arushi Saxena, Reporter • March 2, 2018

Few students would dare contradict Oscar Wilde, but Aislinn Coveney (12) is one of them. “He said that ‘art is not an imitation of life.’ I disagree with that wholeheartedly,” she said. “With...

The bell schedule created by the Harker Dev. The team also manages websites like Harker lunch menu, course planner and a GPA calculator.

Harker Dev: The second generation

by Katherine Zhang, Winged Post STEM Editor • March 1, 2018

For most students, the online bell schedule is a staple: with its neat, boxy design, it serves as an online version of the schedule card that all students receive every matriculation. The difference is...

Coney Island, the newest addition to the lineup of lunch windows, serves hot dogs and fries in the auxiliary gym. “We decided to call it Coney Island because we wanted to base it off of Coney Island in New York. They have a lot of french fries, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, hot dogs: quick, easy, usually fresh food," Rachel Joslyn, assistant to head chef Chef Steve, said.

New food venue Coney Island serves hot dogs, shortens lunch lines

by Anoushka Buch, Reporter • March 1, 2018

Students and faculty began eating from a newly-opened lunch window in the auxiliary gym on Feb. 19. The window, named "Coney Island," serves different food daily and has received a largely positive response. “We...

History Club members Andrew Skrobak (11) and Aryana Far (11) announce the next Shah Salon. This Salon will be the third installment of the series of this school year.

School meeting recap 2/28

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor • February 28, 2018

This year’s ReCreate Reading program features 63 books and five visiting authors. Book lists and the names of the teacher sponsors are available at library.harker.org/read as well as signup dates. Spanish...

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