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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

While wearing safety gear, seniors Mindy Truong and Nandini Chandrashekhar measure the temperature of the water. The students performed a lab on different acids and aspirin.

STEM Spotlight: Organic Chemistry class synthesizes aspirin

by Connie Xu and Maithili Gupta October 24, 2025

Organic Chemistry students synthesized aspirin to practice organic synthesis with compounds containing benzene from Friday, Oct. 10th to Monday Oct. 20th. Students began the four-class-long lab by combining...

Sophomores Saria Lum and Liana Barooah participate in the WiSTEM bingo game. WiSTEM hosted a meeting to commemorate the International Day of the Girl, a global day recognizing girls’ rights and the challenges they have and continue to face.

WiSTEM observes the International Day of the Girl

by Vivek Moorjani and Risa Chokhawala October 19, 2025

The Women in STEM club (WiSTEM) invited members to celebrate the International Day of the Girl, on Tuesday, a global day recognizing girls’ rights and the challenges they have and continue to face.  The...

Med Club Co-Directory of Advocacy Hanz Baek (11) introduces Stephenie Pistacchi. Pistacchi played an instrumental role in the development of the qPCR diagnostic test kit for COVID-19 and helped the CDC respond to the pandemic.

Biotechnology expert shares Thermo Fisher career with Medical Club

by Claire Tian, STEM Editor October 19, 2025

Medical Club invited biotechnology expert Stephenie Pistacchi to speak about her genomic medicine career during lunch on Oct. 14. Pistacchi is the Director of Program & Portfolio Management at biotechnology...

Doomscrolling traps social media users in constant stress

Doomscrolling traps social media users in constant stress

by Aileen Jang and Elizabeth Zhang October 10, 2025

Doomscrolling, the compulsive consumption of negative online content, has become a hallmark of digital age anxiety. With news of crisis and conflict dominating screens, this habit exposes people to a constant...

The West Coast Health Alliance As a reaction to sweeping changes to the CDC under U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They intend to provide regional health guidance, especially with continuing COVID-19 vaccine recommendations against the CDC's advice.

West Coast Health Alliance counters CDC vaccine guidance, promotes vaccine access for locals

by Mendy Mao and Claire Tian October 10, 2025

The West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA), providing regional health guidance as an alternative to the CDC, released seasonal vaccine guidance supporting broader COVID-19 vaccine coverage on Sept. 17. The...

Design Co-Director Chetana Pramanik (11) assesses the condition of the team's robot between matches. Regular maintenance helps prevent hardware failures.

Harker Robotics dominates CalGames competition en route to historic victory

by Mihir Kotbagi, Aquila Managing Editor October 10, 2025

Harker Robotics stormed to a decisive victory alongside alliance partners BioMechs and Dark Matter in the Western Region Robotics Forum’s annual CalGames offseason tournament from Oct. 3-5.  This...

Stanford University Earth Systems lecturer and filmmaker E’jaaz A. Mason explains the different types of shots in an environmental film. In his informative workshop, Mason emphasized the importance of the planning process, which includes storyboarding and creating a shot list.

Green Team speaker presents tips and tricks for environmental filmmaking

by Victoria Li and Samuel Tong September 25, 2025

Stanford University Earth Systems lecturer and filmmaker E’jaaz A. Mason advised students participating in San Jose's Climate Smart Youth Video Contest in a workshop hosted by Green Team on Sept. 18.  Mason’s...

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminates federal funding for new solar and wind projects, marking a major setback for renewable energy in the U.S. The move leaves nuclear, geothermal and hydropower as the primary federally backed alternatives. (Illustration by Sarah Wang)

Reshaping Renewables

by Kairui Sun, Aquila Managing Editor September 14, 2025

For the environmentally conscious, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) appears anything but beautiful. Passing on July 4, it terminated federal funding for nascent wind and solar projects. The environmental...

Figma technical lead Matthew Huang (’15) smiles on the steps of San Francisco’s Alamo Square near Figma’s headquarters. He embraces the team-focused, dedicated nature of his work.

Turning clutter into clarity

by Claire Tian and Caden Ruan August 29, 2025

Every time you scroll through Instagram or order food from DoorDash, you’re using a digital interface shaped by Figma Design. Over the past five and a half years, Matthew Huang (‘15) has helped push...

OpenAI’s latest flagship model was expected to offer a major break-
through, though the model’s rollout was messy and performance improvements   are largely incremental. (Photoillustration by Ashley Mo and Charlie Wang)

ChatGPT-5 delivers practical progress but falls short of expectations

by Claire Tian and Caden Ruan August 29, 2025

AI frontrunner OpenAI released its new flagship large language model GPT-5 on Aug. 7 and generated a mixed reception from users. ChatGPT-5 improves upon previous OpenAI models in benchmarks, including...

Sophie Yeh (11) instructs students on how to use the Tormach CNC mill. Over the course of the week, the mechanical/machining group learned how to use all the machines, tools and standard components.

Building bots and bonds

by Hannah Jeon and Alvira Agarwal August 18, 2025

Harker Robotics hosted its annual week-long introductory summer camp from Aug. 11 to 15, welcoming incoming frosh in Eric Nelson’s room and the lab. Club leadership taught the basics of designing and...

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