The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“Human connection is very important to staying grounded and stable. The people around me are one of the reasons that I'm not fully burnt out, so I really prioritize keeping a good schedule for myself. Being able to prioritize the things in life that give me internal satisfaction is important to me because that's what allows me to have the drive to do good with the rest of my time. Talking to people is a way for me to replenish," senior Kashish Priyam said.
Humans of Harker: Pep in every step
“It's very important to make sure the people in your life know they're important to you. Whether that's doing small acts of kindness or just being there whenever they need you, having a really strong support system is what gets you through life, and it's a really valuable life skill to have," Sofie Marino (12) said.
Humans of Harker: Pillar of support
“My karate teachers emphasize that as black belts, we should be living up to the standard of our rank and acting as an example for the students who are lower-ranked.' When I’m helping out and someone messes up, I don't necessarily say, ‘You did this wrong, try to do this.’ I take a more relaxed approach and act out what they did a little comically. It's finding the balance between being strict and being more playful with the students," senior Claire Perng said.
Humans of Harker: Playing with purpose
“I have the ability to convey my opinions and ideas through art, which in my opinion, is the most powerful tool I have because not everyone has it. It requires me to, first of all, have an opinion or thought, and second of all, be able to convey it with this medium. Together, that is the strongest calling for an artist," senior Eva Li said.
Humans of Harker: Artistry in abstraction
"I like challenging myself to really, really high expectations and then surprisingly, somehow it works, and I think I have the most fun doing that. Rather than making a beginner thing, I wanna be the best .I wanna do the craziest thing first," senior Gabe Li said.
Humans of Harker: B-roll to your beat
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
Aishani Singh

Aishani Singh, Aquila Managing Editor

Aishani Singh (12) is a Managing editor for Harker Aquila, and this is her fourth year on staff. This year, she looks forward to interacting more with the school community and covering more school spirit events. In her free time, she enjoys listening to any genre of music she can get her hands on and watching 2000’s TV shows.

All content by Aishani Singh
Trick-or-treating offers high schoolers a chance to interact in their neighborhoods. Those small conversations about the type of candy we liked or the costumes we wore, I felt a stronger sense of connection with the surrounding community, 

Too old for Halloween? Think again.

by Aishani Singh, Aquila Managing Editor
October 31, 2024
Green Team members hold up signs during an on-campus demonstration to bring awareness to the growing climate crisis. Over half of Generation Z has participated in protests at some point in time.

Pulse of the People: Generation Z trailblazes in civic engagement

by Aishani Singh and Hima Thota
October 10, 2024
Live coverage: Harker challenges Anzar High School for Homecoming football game

Live coverage: Harker challenges Anzar High School for Homecoming football game

by Emma Milner, Alison Yang, Eva Cheng, Tiffany Zhu, Sidak Sanghari, Gabe Sachse, Hima Thota, Aishani Singh, Kairui Sun, Ashley Mo, Jonathan Szeto, Charlie Wang, Suhani Gupta, Claire Yu, Janam Chahal, Mihir Kotbagi, Mendy Mao, Ella Guo, Samuel Tong, Caden Ruan, Sam Li, Lily Peng, Claire Xu, Chelsea Xie, and Katerina Matta
October 5, 2024

End of Year Slideshow 23-24

by Kairui Sun, Aishani Singh, Alison Yang, Ananya Sriram, Ariana Goetting, Brandon Zau, Chayce Milheim, Ella Guo, Ella Yee, Emma Milner, Emma Li, Eva Cheng, Isabella Lo, Jonathan Xue, Kevin Zhang, Lindsey Tuckey, Margaret Cartee, Mirabelle Feng, Selina Xu, Tiffany Zhu, Yifan Li, and Vivian Chen
June 3, 2024

Humans of Harker: Flying with determination

by Brandon Zau and Aishani Singh
May 24, 2024
“I've always been on SAB because I see all the other kids for who we are. We are so academically competitive and focused. I want to be able to create events where people can take a step back and create spaces where people can chill with their friends and not have to worry about things. It means a lot to me to be able to see that," Harshini Chaturvedula (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Compassion in concerto

by Aishani Singh, Aquila Co-Managing Editor
May 23, 2024
Andrew Smith (12) cheers from the sidelines as teammate Veyd Patil (12) races down the track in the varsity boys 1600-meter. Veyd placed second in his event with a time of 4:21.72.

Track and field runners race at WBAL Championship on senior night

by Aishani Singh, Felix Chen, and Aryana Bharali
May 11, 2024
Daphne Avkarogullari (12) presents her research at the Near Mitra reception. Daphne explored W. E. B. Du Bois’ idea of double consciousness in Black Americans.

Near Mitra Scholars honor past and present of program

by Margaret Cartee and Aishani Singh
May 4, 2024
Robert Fields (11) completes a quiz in AP U.S. History. Some colleges are reinstating requirements for standardized test scores that they removed during the pandemic.

Top colleges across U.S. reinstate ACT/SAT requirement

by Jonathan Xue and Charlie Wang
April 16, 2024

Our immigrant stories

by Ella Yee, Sally Zhu, Ananya Sriram, Selina Xu, Medha Yarlagadda, Felix Chen, Vika Gautham, Anwen Hao, Katerina Matta, Gabe Sachse, Aishani Singh, Hima Thota, Jessica Wang, and Claire Zhao
December 14, 2023
As paparazzi photographed them together repeatedly on private outings and Swift began attending Chiefs games, the quasi-couple captured the focus of football fans and Swifties alike. 

Kelce-Swift romance tackles media

by Katerina Matta and Aishani Singh
December 3, 2023
Cheerleaders perform a dance routine during a football home game against Branson. The team attends all the football games to encourage support for the football players.

Photo Slideshow Oct. 15

by Aishani Singh, Alvira Agarwal, Anika Maji, Ariana Goetting, Audrey Cheng, Chayce Milheim, Claire Yu, Edward Huang, Ella Guo, Ella Yee, Grant Yang, Hannah Jeon, Isabella Lo, Jonathan Xue, Katelyn Zhao, Kevin Zhang, Kinnera Mulam, Mirabelle Feng, Olivia Xu, Ram Batchu, Selina Xu, Shareen Chahal, and Vivian Chen
October 15, 2023
Mountain View High School's The Oracle Editor-in-Chief Hanna Olson responds to a question during a live interview at the JEA NorCal Media Day. "The [administration] I believe fundamentally was in violation of our rights to publish what we want, what we can legally as a publication,” Hanna said.

‘To publish what we want to publish’: Mountain View High School journalism censorship

by Vika Gautham, Katerina Matta, and Aishani Singh
October 14, 2023
Kathleen Neumeyer, former adviser of the Harvard-Westlake Chronicle, introduces her book "Advising the Chronicle: How I taught high school journalism students to run billion-dollar companies (and you can too)." She presented the session, "J-ism Is Training for Anything,” which emphasized how journalistic skills are applicable to a wide range of fields.

‘Training for Anything’: From Gaza to sports photography to video journalism

by Felix Chen, Katerina Matta, Aishani Singh, and Claire Yu
October 14, 2023
Perspectives: iPad vs. paper notes

Perspectives: iPad vs. paper notes

by Claire Zhao and Aishani Singh
October 13, 2023
The Harker football team runs through the banner onto Davis Field for the 2023 Homecoming Football Game. The game took place on Saturday at the end of Harker Day.

Live coverage: Harker faces Crystal Springs Uplands for Homecoming game

by Alena Suleiman, Katerina Matta, Desiree Luo, Brandon Zau, Selina Xu, Medha Yarlagadda, Kevin Zhang, Katelyn Zhao, Ariana Goetting, Felix Chen, Vika Gautham, Anwen Hao, Sidak Sanghari, Aishani Singh, Hima Thota, Jessica Wang, Alison Yang, Jeremy Peng, Mihir Kotbagi, Claire Yu, and Tiffany Zhu
October 7, 2023

Photo Slideshow Aug. 22

by Margaret Cartee, Gemma Chan, Mirabelle Feng, Charlie Folk, Vika Gautham, Ariana Goetting, Victor Gong, Katerina Matta, Kinnera Mulam, Chayce Milheim, Aishani Singh, Ananya Sriram, Claire Su, Lindsey Tuckey, Olivia Xu, Jonathan Xue, Grant Yang, Ella Yee, Brandon Zau, Claire Zhao, and Kevin Zhang
August 27, 2023
In honor of joining the Harker community, frosh sign the Harker Matriculation Book during the 2023-24 matriculation ceremony on Friday. “I feel that through matriculation and orientation, I was able to meet new people,” Varun Kaushik (9) said.

Matriculation welcomes community to new school year

by Ella Yee, Brandon Zau, and Aishani Singh
August 22, 2023
The Class of 2023 laughs while listening to Jack Hsieh's ('23) valedictorian speech. This year’s graduation marked a school milestone, with the Class of 2023 joining alumni as the 20th graduating class.

Class of 2023 graduates at Mountain Winery

by Aishani Singh, Video/Podcast Editor
August 11, 2023
"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

by Tiffany Zhu, Reporter
August 17, 2023
Tourists and locals walk along the sidewalks of the Tenderloin, taking in the warm afternoon weather and crowded streets. Harker journalism staff members attended the Spring JEA/NSPA Convention in the Tenderloin district from Thursday to Saturday.

“The best the city has to offer”

by Desiree Luo and Ananya Sriram
April 22, 2023
Anna Yang is a twelfth grader at Notre Dame High School in San Jose and is the 2022-2023 Santa Clara Youth Poet Laureate. Anna’s writing has been published in The New York Times and KQED. Anna spoke with Harker Aquila about her experiences in poetry, and how it relates to her identity and past.

The Poet’s Project: ‘Depths of my mind’

by Felix Chen and Aishani Singh
March 16, 2023
“With collaboration, you can expand your insight, you can expand your own knowledge. Sometimes the coolest ideas come from pooling ideas from different people together. Your peers are your biggest tool. They have their own experiences that they can draw from, and they're just a good tool to collaborate with and to learn from," Nupur Gupta (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Fusion of styles

by Aishani Singh, Asst. Multimedia Editor
February 4, 2023
Senior lip sync participants Kris Estrada and Gordon Chen pose together in a heart shape. The seniors' routine described some of the "horrors of Harker," in line with their theme of the horror movie "It."

Homecoming Week Day 4: Homecoming Rally closes Spirit Week with a bang

by Vika Gautham and Aishani Singh
October 6, 2022
Emily Mitnick (10) tips a ball over the net in the varsity girls volleyball team's game on Thursday. The team defeated Eastside in three sets.

Varsity girls volleyball team triumphs over Eastside in three sets

by Felix Chen, Vika Gautham, Andrew Liang, and Aishani Singh
September 27, 2022
Music Monday is a new installation featuring a different category of songs on a weekly basis.

Music Monday: Falling into fall with Aquila

by Aishani Singh, Reporter
September 26, 2022
TALON yearbook reporter Angelina Burrows (10) takes notes during one of the JEA NorCal Media Day sessions. 31 Harker journalists attended the event today at Palo Alto High School.

Upper school journalism staff attend JEA NorCal media day

by Tiffany Chang, Felix Chen, Aishani Singh, and Sally Zhu
September 24, 2022
Harker defenders tackle a San Jose High School player at the football game on Friday. The Eagles defeated the San Jose Bulldogs in their home opener, 27-16.

Football team wins in home opener against San Jose High

by Aishani Singh, Sidak Sanghari, Sally Zhu, and Kinnera Mulam
September 12, 2022
Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage month, which takes place in May, originated as a way to celebrate the different ethnicities that make up the American nation. Asian culture is commonly seen appearing at the upper school, especially with the large Asian population of the Bay Area.

Welcoming cultural differences with Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month

by Isabella Lo, Sidak Sanghari, Aishani Singh, and Edward Huang
June 6, 2022
“It's really easy to give up, and it's harder to keep going and keep your head up. Yet, even though it's the harder option, sometimes it's the better option. Sometimes in the middle of a game, I snap out of it; sometimes I get really tired or I want to go home. But I have to remember that there's a bigger picture than just that moment," Emma Crook (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Just keep going

by Aishani Singh, Reporter
April 4, 2022
Load More Stories