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
Rajiv Movva (12) speaks in the first of several lectures held by the upper school Research Club. The lecture series is an ongoing effort by the club.

Research club begins new lecture series

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Reporter • October 19, 2017

The Research Club’s new lecture series officially began with Rajiv Movva’s (12) presentation on the biology and ethics of gene editing last Friday in Nichols Auditorium. In his lecture, Movva first...

“I would describe myself to be pretty laid back, but also pretty introverted in a way,” Kevin Tzeng (12) said. “I don’t really like going out of my comfort zones at times, and making new friends is something that I really struggled with. If I get to know you better, then I get a lot more comfortable with you, but at the same time, in the initial stages I really don’t want to get to know other people. My first friend [at Harker] was Vinke [Kevin Xu (12)], because I met him in 6th grade. Having that first friend there enabled me to get to know other people because I was more relaxed around Vinke, so others would get to know me better.”

Humans of Harker: Kevin Tzeng finds escape in other worlds

by Alex Wang, Opinion Editor • October 19, 2017

Kevin Tzeng (12) has one blue earbud in as he listens to music, the other one dangling loose as he tunes into the world around him. What’s on his playlist? Most likely Day6, his current favorite K-Pop...

SNHS advisor Abel Olivas holds up a bingo card and bingo clues while explaining the rules of the game. Event attendees also participated in another activity where they attempted to identify the genres of a series of Spanish songs.

Spanish National Honor Society holds annual Spanish Olympiad

by Srinath Somasundaram, Reporter • October 19, 2017

Members of the Spanish National Honor Society (SNHS) participated in the annual Spanish Olympiad in Nichols Atrium during lunch today. The event included a few cultural activities, including a cultural...

Andy Lee (9) and Maddie Huynh (10) pose with their Sophomore Hoedown awards from the Heart of Texas Invitational. Maddie was awarded third speaker and Andy was awarded fifth speaker out of all the competitors in the Hoedown.

Upper school debaters compete at Heart of Texas Invitational

by Anmol Velagapudi, Reporter • October 19, 2017

Eight members of the upper school speech and debate team competed in the Heart of Texas Invitational at St. Mark’s School from Oct. 14 to 16. Alan Hughes (12), Jacob Ohana (12), Megan Huynh (12)...

“I used to be the one who was bold, outgoing, brave, always wanted to be the first person in line,” Ashley Jiang (12) said. “I always spoke in class, but eventually I became that person who sat in the back row. Photography was a means of escape for me. Other than a way of practicing my creativity, I found comfort in it. It was a way of becoming more aware of the world and what’s happening around me.”

Humans of Harker: Ashley Jiang sees the world through her camera lens

by Gloria Guo, TALON Editor-in-Chief • October 18, 2017

Gripping onto the edges of the device, Ashley Jiang (12) carefully raises the camera body to her eye. Pressing her cheek onto the surface of her Canon EOS Rebel T3i, she squints and peeks through the viewfinder...

Guest speaker Maureen R. Johnston introduces herself to the sophomore and freshman classes during the assembly today. She spoke to upper school students about gender roles, gender identity, depression and anxiety today.

Therapist discusses gender at school assembly

by Karina Chen and Tiffany Wong • October 18, 2017

Students across all four grades attended an assembly hosted by guest speaker Maureen R. Johnston about gender roles and stereotypes today in Nichols Atrium. Johnston, a licensed marriage and family...

Research partners Swapnil Garg (12) and Katherine Tian (11) received notice on Nov. 6 that the Siemens Foundation named them regional finalists. They developed an automatic cancer-severity classifier at the Heng Lab in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of the Harvard Medical School.

Siemens regional finalists announced today

by Helen Yang, Aquila Asst. STEM Editor • October 18, 2017

Two upper school students were named regional finalists for the 2017 Siemens Competition today. 101 regional finalists from across the country were selected from the 491 semifinalists announced yesterday....

Assistant to the Head of the Upper School Lori Villarreal sent out an email to all students and parents this morning notifying them of the gradebook reports release. Teachers were able to input grades until Oct. 16.

First gradebook reports of school year released on student and parent portals

by Arya Tandon, Reporter • October 18, 2017

Gradebook reports for students were released on the student and parent portals today at 5 p.m. This past week, the students have had many different reactions and emotions to receiving their first gradebook...

Rio Adobe Southwest Cafe offers salsa varying from mild to very hot. Customers can select their own salsas dependent on their tastes.

Southwest Cafe Rio Adobe: Family-style Mexican dining

by Kaidi Dai, Reporter • October 17, 2017

There’s nothing quite like the flavor of Mexican food, where vegetables and meat complement each other, where sour and savory blend in perfect satisfaction. Southwest cafe Rio Adobe is renowned for a...

Smoke from the ongoing fires in the North Bay color the Friday morning skies above the upper school burnt orange. Students, parents and faculty are invited to bring all donations Friday afternoon to either the lower, middle, or upper school campuses for Harker's "Stuff the Bus" drive.

Northern California wildfires: How to help

by Karina Chen, Rose Guan, Kaitlin Hsu, Ashley Jiang, and Tiffany Wong • October 17, 2017

Various organizations nationwide have begun recovery efforts for the fires that started in Northern California last Monday. Harker will be hosting a “Stuff the Bus” drive for canned goods, nonperishable...

Students gather in the auxiliary gym to eat lunch to avoid the unhealthy amount of participate matter in the air last week. “You didn’t want to be outside. When I drove north [around] San Mateo, it almost looked like the car was going underwater; the air was like a thick, dirty water,” chemistry teacher Dr. David Casso, who lives in San Francisco, said.

Northern California wildfires: Smoke travels south, fires continue to burn

by Kathy Fang, Rose Guan, Kaitlin Hsu, and Prameela Kottapalli • October 17, 2017

The upper school operated on a rainy day schedule this past week with indoors lunches and cancelled outdoor events, including the annual Family and Alumni Picnic, following directives that Bay Area residents...

“In general, I’m really bad at planning really far into the future, because I always think about how much could change and how much will change,” Megan Cardosi (12) said. “I can’t really picture where I’m going to be in the future, so I just focus on what I can control for the next small part of my life. If you keep doing that, eventually you'll look back and realize how far you've come.”

Humans of Harker: Megan Cardosi thinks small to achieve big

by Eleanor Xiao, TALON Editor-in-Chief • October 17, 2017

Megan Cardosi’s (12) presence at school is far from unnoticed. On the volleyball court, she anchors the team as an outside hitter. Behind those reflective journalism doors, Megan attends to three publications,...

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