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
Anika Mani

Anika Mani, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief

Anika Mani (12) is the co-editor-in-chief of the TALON Yearbook, and this is her third year on staff. She enjoys traveling the world, trying out new restaurants and going on walks with her dog. This year, she is looking forward to implementing a variety of bonding activities for the staff and exploring new directions for the book.

All content by Anika Mani
"My favorite thing is being able to immerse yourself in [dance]. It's one thing where you can really see improvement if you put in the practice, and if you don't put in the practice you won't improve. The ability to sync into repetition and go into the same counts over and over again to see some improvement is really captivating, and always draws me back to it," Zeel Thakkar ('22) said.

Humans of Harker: Connecting with culture

by Vivian Chen and Michelle Wei
July 15, 2022
“They said, ‘If you are going to go down a medical route, it's years of schooling; if you're in it for the money, you're in it for the wrong reasons.’ As I've gone through the years, I've only gotten more confident in my choice, because I can't imagine myself doing something else," Alivia Li (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A mindful journey

by Shiv Deokar, Reporter
April 9, 2022
“Tomorrow is always a new day. When it comes to school or dance, there are always going to be difficult days. Remembering that you can wake up tomorrow and try again is always important: just because you make one mistake doesn't mean that life is over," Nikki Kapadia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Leaping beyond the stage

by Ananya Das, Reporter
April 5, 2022
“Learning how to do makeup really helped me gain confidence because I saw a different side of myself — I saw my own beauty. Your face is like a very interesting canvas. It’s something that you know better than anyone else, so it’s very fun to experiment with how you can make yourself look different," Shinjan Ghosh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: From palette to canvas

by Anika Mani, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
March 25, 2022
Facilitator Danny Midborn runs through a crowd of student leaders on March 4 during Challenge Day. The upper school held Challenge Day for underclassmen, and upperclassmen who attended the Challenge Day in the fall volunteered to help out.

Harker underclassmen forge community bonds during second Challenge Day of the year

by Michelle Wei
March 21, 2022
“I enjoy the experimental part most, where you build an experiment to test the physics concepts and see the discrepancies between how [the system] should behave theoretically and how it actually behaves. That’s really useful for me, because if you keep studying formulas from a textbook, eventually it becomes monotonous, and you lose track of purpose," Sasvath Ramachandran (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Selflessness and sincerity

by Vishnu Kannan, Co-Managing Editor
February 10, 2022
“Something that inspired me is every time I lost in a debate tournament. While I do love when I do well, reflecting back on the past and seeing the hard work I've put in has pushed me to realize how important it is to reflect on your past," Aaditya Gulati (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Eagle in flight

by Ariana Goetting, Reporter
January 24, 2022
“I’ve always believed that hard work is the key to success. That sounds very cliche, but things don’t necessarily come naturally to me. I’ve had to put in a lot of work to become good at something, but I’m willing to put in that work because over the past 18 years of my life, I’ve started to figure out what I’m passionate about,” Ashley Barth (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A sports sensation

by Anika Mani, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
November 10, 2021
A freshly baked batch of lemon bars sits in a tray with parchment paper. Follow along with this lemon bar recipe that is perfect for the fall.

When life gives you lemons, make lemon bars for the fall

by Anika Mani, Talon Co-Editor-in-Chief
October 10, 2021
Jason Yi (9) jukes out a defender during football practice on August 13. The football team placed second in a 7 vs. 7 passing tournament in July.

Fall sports kickoff with preseason training

by Anika Mani and Lakshmi Mulgund
August 22, 2021
“One thing that I wish other people cared about was being more conscious and aware about other people and focusing more on learning from other people. Some of my most memorable learning experiences have been from working with other people and learning from them, whether that's communities or my friends, and a lot of people take that for granted and prioritize learning from books or school and not actually learning from experiences or other people,” Zoe Kister (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Exploring the unfamiliar

by Margaret Cartee and Katie Reed
May 17, 2021
“I don’t know if it’s part of a culture, but in our household, one of the main emphasis was always giving back and appreciating what you already have. I feel like giving back … everybody can just do that,” Cordelia Callaud-Guyart (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Redonner

by Ananya Sriram and Alena Suleiman
May 6, 2021
“There are some ways where impact is tangible, like through the Model UN program or through publishing the history journal. But really, I think what’s most meaningful is my legacy. The most meaningful part is something intangible: bringing joy into people’s lives and creating a community that values growth learning, or energy, or enthusiasm and humor. That’s something people can carry on further in life, not just for their time in high school,” Andrew Lu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Leading with vigor

by Tiffany Chang, TALON Academics Editor
April 27, 2021
This is a screenshot from my Voice Memos of the interview with my grandfather in May 2020. While the interview was only a few minutes long, the recording serves as a memory of my grandfather's stories.

How we overcame the unknown of 2020

by Harker Journalism Staff
April 17, 2021
“My goal is to bring a positive light to everyone. I've always been the kind of person that if you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll be that person for you, and even if it's people I’m not super close to, my door's always open,” Sofia Fernandez (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Beyond the spotlight

by Margaret Cartee and Olivia Xu
March 19, 2021
“Theater saved my life. I want to write for it, I want to tech it, I want to perform on its stage, I want to direct its actors; I want to do everything for it. It has done so much for me, and I cannot help but use all of my creative power to try and give back to the institution,” Alissa Gao (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Effort and expression

by Anika Mani, TALON Co-Student Life Editor
March 15, 2021
“I've definitely had problems with that, where you can psych yourself out so much before the race. You’re going to do bad if you have that mindset of I can't mess up, I can mess up. You’ve got to accept that things could go badly. You have to accept what comes with racing, which is unpredictable circumstances … You got to go into that race with a mindset of Plan A, but then there's also Plan B, since not everything's going to go your way,” Rhys Edwards (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Passion and perseverance

by Vishnu Kannan, Co-Sports Editor
March 15, 2021
“I want to be remembered for actually doing things I’m interested in. I don't think there’s an activity I’ve done in high school that I haven’t enjoyed, so everything I’ve done has been completely worth it, because I like doing it, and there’s nothing else I’d rather be doing,” Nathan Ohana (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Proving a point

by Anika Mani, TALON Co-Student Life Editor
March 5, 2021
Right across the Golden Gate Bridge lies the town of Sausalito and the Marin Headlands, tucked away from the busy city of San Francisco. Marin Headlands is filled with scenic drives and numerous beaches including Black Sand Beach. While Sausalito is slightly farther than the city of San Francisco, grabbing take-out food from restaurants in town and picnicking on the beach is the perfect way to spend a warm, sunny day.

Hidden gems in the Bay Area to explore on your next quarantine adventure

by Anika Mani and Lavanya Subramanian
February 26, 2021
“The longer I’ve been running, the more I love it. I feel like it’s taught me so many life lessons, and it’s always pushing me to be my best on and off the field. I do it everyday because I like it so much, but on top of that, you can be so much more. I’m still a student and everything, and [I have] a normal life,” Anna Weirich (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Step by step

by Anika Mani, TALON Co-Student Life Editor
November 18, 2020
This is one of my favorite Indian outfits. I would normally wear it to a family event or to celebrate an Indian holiday, however with the pandemic, our family can no longer get together in person. Instead, we have global Zoom calls, but I still miss dressing up in Indian clothes.

Stories from quarantine: “The outfit I never wore”

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Varsha Rammohan, and Aditya Singhvi
May 25, 2020
“We sort of tend almost intrinsically, to strive for whatever we can using whatever methods available. And this often results in a lot of shortcuts or assumptions. The thing that might help you find what might matter the most to you, ultimately, is how much you work on understanding yourself and what's around you. Because that knowledge, or that perspective, is something that you're going to carry with you for your whole life,” Jack Pearce (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Questions and curiosity

by Anika Mani, TALON Reporter
May 7, 2020
Hiking is a family tradition: whether we are away on vacation or right outside my house, my family and I frequently explore our surroundings. Wildlife takes the opportunity to come out, and I see more creatures than I ever have before.

Stories from quarantine: Hiking into the woods

by Anika Mani, TALON Reporter
April 21, 2020
My pandemic survival kit includes my laptop, phone, Apple Watch, headphones, lip balm, nail polish, hand sanitizer, candle and scrunchies. These daily essentials keep me occupied at home during this difficult time.

Stories from quarantine: Our pandemic essentials

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Varsha Rammohan, and Irina Malyugina
April 20, 2020
“You see everyone around you excelling so much, and then you don’t really want to put yourself out there. I didn’t share my research, I didn’t share my photography, I didn’t share anything. Recently, I’ve started being more open about [my work]. I realized that if I keep comparing myself to other people, I will never be able to take pride in my own work, and I think that is really important,” Naviya Kapadia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Curiosity cures

by Anika Mani, TALON Reporter
February 24, 2020
Load More Stories