The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“When I was fresh in my frosh year, I wanted to lead the team in goals. I wanted to leave behind that legacy, but now the goal is to leave behind a well-fit team, my playing strategies and also my leadership strategies," Claire Anderson ('25) said.
Humans of Harker: Marching forward
Humans of Harker: Designing a difference
Humans of Harker: Designing a difference
Humans of Harker: Reaching new heights
Humans of Harker: Reaching new heights
“What motivates me in life and also gives me joy in life is the things that I enjoy. Putting in the extra effort is always worth it. Nobody’s going to call you a failure if you do things to the bare minimum, but doing things half-heartedly is the most depressing thing ever to me. Putting in double the effort makes things so much better for others, and that makes me happy,” Kaitlyn Su (’25) said.
Humans of Harker: Passion in precision
“I learned to be persistent and not take no for an answer, and I realized that change applied to whatever I do in life. Having that mission-driven spirit and being able to help empower other people to make the world a better place is a goal and value that I want to carry with me in everything I do," Naiya Daswani said.
Humans of Harker: Shlurping up success
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
Research Revelations Episode 5: Shellfish safety and prediction systems with Victoria Ma

Research Revelations Episode 5: Shellfish safety and prediction systems with Victoria Ma

by Charlize Wang and Ashley Mo • October 8, 2024

This is the fifth installment of Research Revelations: Conversations with our student researchers, a podcast where Aquila staff members talk to student researchers about their projects and research goals....

Neuroscience Club President Danielle Steinbach (11) speaks about the anatomy of the brain during the lecture. The presentation is part of a series aimed to help club members prepare for the Bay Area Brain Bee competition.

STEM Spotlight: Neuroscience Club

by Jonathan Szeto and Nathan Yee • October 8, 2024

Neuroscience Club members learned about neuroanatomy as part of a lecture series on Sept. 26.   President Danielle Steinbach (11) explained topics from the first chapter of the “Brain Facts” book,...

3D Printing and Design Club president Evan Zhang (11) smiles as he explains the functionality of the 3D printer to members. To prepare the printer, users needed to preheat the print bed and load the model’s computer-aided design (CAD) file.

STEM Spotlight: 3D Printing and Design Club

by Ashley Mo and Jonathan Szeto • October 4, 2024

3D Printing and Design Club members learned about the basics of 3D printing and watched the Creality Ender-3 3D printer construct a sailboat model on Sept. 24. Vice President Eddie Zhang (11) began...

As part of a school-wide Wi-Fi upgrade, the IT team replaced old wireless access points with new Ruckus devices in every classroom. Members of the community should expect reliable internet connection anywhere on campus with improved speeds and security.

Wi-Fi overhaul hopes to bring widespread coverage across campus

by Jonathan Szeto, Mihir Kotbagi, and Charlie Wang • September 30, 2024

For schools located in Silicon Valley, the global center of development and innovation, state-of-the-art technology and facilities play an important role in day-to-day operations. At Harker, it’s no...

Harker Programming Club invited four panelists for this year's Girls Programming League Challenge. The speakers discussed their technical expertise and exposure to sexism in academia.

Girls Programming League Challenge spotlights astronomy and computer science experts

by Claire Tian and Claire Xu • September 29, 2024

Harker Programming Club (HPC) hosted the seventh annual Girls Programming League (GPL) Challenge over Zoom on Sept. 21. The event welcomed around 60 female and nonbinary students from around the world...

Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology teacher Anita Chetty uses a probe to guide a group in examining a specific part of the rat. Throughout the dissection, she checked in with each group to ensure they could clearly identify the structures.

Human Anatomy and Physiology classes conduct rat dissection

by Aryana Bharali and Isabella Lo • September 27, 2024

Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology (HAPy) students took part in a two-week rat dissection to reinforce their understanding of internal structures and organs. Students rotated between the roles of chief...

Green Team officer Kristiyan Kurtev (11) talks on the phone with an environmentalist. Throughout the whole event, he convinced five of them to start voting more consistently.

Green Team advocates for sustainable voting through phone banking

by Lily Peng, Reporter • September 25, 2024

Four students from Green Team called environmentalists in Colorado as part of the weekly Environmental Voter Project (EVP) to encourage them to update their voter registration on Sept. 16. EVP identifies...

Junior Jaden Fu hunches as he reads a textbook. “The desks are really small and the chairs don’t give enough back support," Jaden said.

Poor classroom layouts weaken students’ spinal health

by Eva Cheng and Caden Ruan • September 24, 2024

Navigating through rows of desks, you gingerly squeeze through narrow gaps between chairs and backpacks and settle into your seat in the back of the classroom. The teacher turns on the projector, about...

White fungus, tea leaves and Gentian roots provide benefits in boosting immunity. There are almost 12,800 traditional Chinese medicines, ranging from herbs to animal products.

Bridging ancient philosophy with science

by Ashley Mo and Claire Yu • September 20, 2024

Nearly 2200 years ago, Emperor Huang-ti compiled the “Huangdi Neijing,” a foundational text that explained the philosophy of Chinese medicine and introduced practices that still influence modern therapies...

Students gathered in the Nichols auditorium to learn about Synopsys guidelines and requirements. Only 15 RRI and 15 non-RRI projects are allowed to be submitted through the application process.

Synopsys interest meeting promotes student-led scientific research

by Ashley Mo and Jonathan Szeto • September 11, 2024

Around 100 students attended a meeting to discuss the Synopsys Science Fair application requirements in the Nichols Auditorium last Wednesday. The Synopsys Science Fair is an annual science and engineering...

Student researcher Nisha Padhi (10) examines a test tube of MTT solution. Over the summer, she focused on chemical synthesis of small molecules and looks forward to combining aspects of cell biology work into her future research.

Journey into hands-on research

by Ashley Mo, Co-STEM Editor • August 29, 2024

Imagine stepping into a chemistry lab, feeling the snap of blue nitrile gloves around your fingers and draping a pristine white lab coat over your everyday clothes. At school, science is mostly about facts...

To avoid the construction of a new swimming stadium, organizers decided to hold two Olympics swimming events in the Seine River, which has historically been unsafe for swimming due to high bacteria levels. Despite France’s €1.6 billion plan to clean the waters leading up to the Olympics, the Seine continued to fail bacteria tests.

Global Reset: “Green” policies create controversy at Olympics

by Lily Shi and Charlie Wang • August 25, 2024

In the sports world, sustainability is a buzzword. Practically every major sporting event now features a sustainability statement containing generic eco-friendly pledges. The 2024 Paris Olympics, touted...

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