The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
Humans of Harker: Kindred spirit
Humans of Harker: Kindred spirit
“With volleyball and Medical Club, I love working with people. I get to work with people who aren't necessarily in my classes or aren't my friends specifically, but we get to work hard and work together towards a common goal. That collaboration aspect is really important to me," senior Navya Samuel said.
Humans of Harker: Cooperation through competition
“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
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
Brandon Zau

Brandon Zau, Photo Editor

Brandon Zau (12) is the photo editor for Harker Aquila, and this is his fourth year on staff. This year, Brandon hopes to celebrate his senior Class of 2024 peers and to tell the stories of the Harker community through meaningful photos and coverage. In his free time, Brandon enjoys taking candid pictures of his friends, listening to music and playing baseball.

All content by Brandon Zau
Running back Jackson Powell (10) powers through a Turlock Christian defender in the first quarter. Jackson ran for 62 yards against Turlock Christian, scoring 2 touchdowns.

Back with a bang: Varsity football dominates Turlock Christian 62-14 in home opener

by Brandon Zau, Kinnera Mulam, and Mendy Mao
September 10, 2023
Safety Daniel Lin (12) hits a wheel during a tackling drill. Daniel has played for the Harker football program since his freshman year, and he is a co-captain of the team this year.

Athletes ramp up skills during off-season

by Emma Milner, Co-Sports Editor
September 12, 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
Harker Journalism staff members and advisers pose for a photo in front of the Quad mural during Editors' Week. TALON, Humans of Harker, Harker Aquila and Winged Post staff met to bond as a team and prepare their publications for the upcoming school year.

Behind the bylines: Harker journalism staff gears up for year ahead with Editors’ Week

by Kinnera Mulam, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief
August 26, 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
“[When] you're driving by and you find something interesting, you have to find the perspective. Even if you don't have much time, you still have to figure [it] out. There is this mixture of not having enough time, but still wanting to find something that's going to be memorable that I find really interesting,” Keesha Gondipalli ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Road of empathy

by Brandon Zau, Photo Editor
August 17, 2023
"Cybersecurity is going to be one of the most important things. I have one opportunity to make the world a better place. If I jump on that, I would have succeeded," Andrew Fox ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Chaotic coding

by Brandon Zau, Photo Editor
August 17, 2023
Heads on shoulders, members of the Class of 2023 lean on each other as Mr. Yager gives his final remarks near the end of the event. Baccalaureate closed out the Class of 2023's last day of high school on May 12th.

Class of 2023 culminates with Senior Brick Ceremony and Baccalaureate

by Jonathan Xue and Brandon Zau
June 13, 2023
Triumphant, head coach Zachary Mattson holds the trophy of the varsity boys volleyball team's Central Coast Section Division Two victory against Carmel High School on May 13.

Varsity boys volleyball wins CCS Championship, sweeps every game in three sets

by Margaret Cartee and Brandon Zau
May 21, 2023
Co-Captain Tyler Beede (12) holds the CCS plaque and poses with the varsity boys volleyball team. This year marks the third time the varsity boys volleyball team has won CCS.

Varsity boys volleyball defeats Carmel 25-17, 25-21, 25-21 to win CCS Division Two title

by Margaret Cartee and Brandon Zau
May 21, 2023
“Journalism really helped me with people skills. I [also] got to take photos and meet a lot of my closest friends in journalism that I don't think we would have otherwise. Photographing and capturing a lot of people's memories and being able to provide people with those pictures feels super special,” Smrithi Sambamurthy (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A designer’s eye

by Brandon Zau, Photo Editor
May 18, 2023
"Sometimes, I'd challenge the coach and say, 'I don't think this makes sense.' The coach, instead of saying, 'No, listen to me,' would actually reconsider, and then give us a better answer, or reaffirm the answers proving we're wrong with actual biology to teach us. The coaches have been extremely nice and actually taught me so much beyond just being a track runner," Zain Vakath ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Targeting track

by Vivek Yella, Reporter
August 10, 2023
“Teamwork and the ability to adapt to how other people play is important because everyone has a different skill level and isn’t going to be perfect at first. You’re not going to be perfect when you start. Being able to be patient with yourself and others and then trusting your team is something I’ve learned," Chris Tonev (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Captain of connection

by Ashley Mo, Reporter
May 10, 2023
"Being around dancers and martial artists has been a unique experience. There are aspects of perseverance, especially in martial arts, that have always been with me even from when I started it. That’s shaped how I view the world," Aspen Shen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Moving with meaning

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
April 28, 2023
“Something I really value about people is their character, not their accomplishments or what they do. I try my best to be kind to others, especially teachers and those that are younger than me, because I don’t want to be remembered as someone who isn’t kind,” Emily Novikov (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Serving up success

by Heidi Lu, TALON People and Seniors Editor
March 16, 2023

Photo Slideshow Jan. 18

by Charlie Folk, Victor Gong, Jasleen Hansra, Angelina Hu, Edward Huang, Yifan Li, Isha Moorjani, Olivia Xu, Selina Xu, Alison Yang, Brandon Zau, Claire Zhao, Sabrina Zhu, Sally Zhu, and Jessica Tang
February 9, 2023

Sports Photo Slideshow Jan. 11

by Aryana Bharali, Margaret Cartee, Emma Gao, Isabella Lo, Jessica Tang, Alison Yang, and Brandon Zau
February 9, 2023
Michael Chang (11) drives the play across the floor flanked by his teammates. Varsity boys basketball kicked off their season with a strong home win over Yerba Buena High School, scoring 83-28 in their first unofficial league game on Tuesday.

Varsity boys basketball team dominates Yerba Buena High School 83-28

by Jessica Tang and Brandon Zau
November 27, 2022
Camera in hand, photographer Ben Green prepares to shoot a National Football League (NFL) game. Green works as the team photographer for the Buffalo Bills.

So you wanna be a sports photographer?

by Brandon Zau and Alena Suleiman
November 11, 2022
Zubin Khera (12), Kris Estrada (12) and Shiv Deokar (10) dance to a slow song at the Homecoming Dance. Harker alum David Belogolovsky (‘09) was invited as a professional DJ for the night.

Shimmering and shimmying: Homecoming dance lights up the night

by Kevin Zhang and Isha Moorjani
October 27, 2022
Rohan Gorti (12) rushes past a defender at the varsity football team's Homecoming Game on Saturday. Rohan ran the ball from the left sideline to score the Eagles' first touchdown of the night.

Live coverage: Harker football faces Delta Charter for Homecoming game

by Katelyn Zhao, Desiree Luo, Isha Moorjani, Selina Xu, Brandon Zau, Kevin Zhang, Jessica Tang, Sabrina Zhu, Sidak Sanghari, Felix Chen, Medha Yarlagadda, Ariana Goetting, and Alena Suleiman
October 8, 2022
Pressured by a Castilleja gator, senior Kyra Hawk passes the ball to a fellow teammate to allow Harker to be in a scoring position. The varsity girls water polo team fell to Castilleja in a close match on Tuesday.

Varsity girls water polo team falls just short to Castilleja in 13-14 loss

by Brandon Zau and Kevin Zhang
September 25, 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
Senior Indigo Lee hypes up his teammates before the start of the fourth quarter. The varsity boys water polo team secured a 21-9 home game win over Skyline on Sept. 2.

Varsity boys water polo team opens season with 21-9 victory over Skyline

by Brandon Zau and Kevin Zhang
September 10, 2022
“When I’m most successful, I feel great, but when it's bad, I try to look back and see what I did wrong and not ground myself because of everything that I learned. Every single dollar that I put towards investing, I have no emotional attachment to it. Only when I take it back out is it my money again, so I've gotten good at mastering that emotional maturity," Evan Zau (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Making cents together

by Kaleb Goldin and Olivia Xu
May 9, 2022
“I've been birding ever since I could walk. My first word was chidiya, which means bird [in] Hindi. Some of my future goals are to design more sustainable energy systems so that I don't see the issues that I do when I'm birding, like trucks going to deforest something or habitat being destroyed by deforestation," Vayun Tiwari (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Born for birding

by Brandon Zau, Reporter
May 4, 2022
Assistant professor Anand Natarajan ('09) teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department. He first discovered his love for science as a child and explored his passion at the high school level with clubs and advanced classes.

Blooming from the STEM: Anand Natarajan (‘09) dives into quantum computing

by Olivia Xu and Brandon Zau
March 28, 2022
Alex Guo (10) nudges past his defender.

Jack Yang (10) chases after the ball.

Live coverage: Soccer teams host Kicks Against Cancer fundraiser

February 11, 2022
Joshua Tseitlin (12) defends.

Jack Yang (10) chases after the ball.

Live coverage: Soccer teams host Kicks Against Cancer fundraiser

by Vishnu Kannan, Desiree Luo, Nicole Tian, Alysa Suleiman, Katelyn Zhao, Irene Yuan, and Brandon Zau
February 11, 2022
Art Club town hall attendees listen to the presentation of potential ideas and designs for the Quad mural. The Art Club plans to open voting of the final design for students and faculty on Feb. 28 through March 4.

Art Club hosts second town hall for community discussion of Quad mural designs

by Isha Moorjani, News Editor
February 8, 2022
“A lot of progress that you make with piano isn't very linear. You'll have spurts where you're practicing for a week or something and you feel you're making no progress. And then, a couple of weeks later, you have one day where all of a sudden, this stuff clicks. And then, you make a whole bunch of progress," Michael Tran (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Cadence and coaching

by Brandon Zau, Reporter
January 28, 2022
Upper school biology teacher Jeff Sutton's advisory watch the school meeting via Zoom this Tuesday. After the meeting, students underwent the first iteration of weekly COVID-19 testing.

School meeting recap 1/25/22: Culture Week, Valentine’s Grams and Chinese New Year festivities

by Julie Shi, Reporter
January 28, 2022
Third-grader Sofia Mohammed received her first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine on Nov. 12. The FDA officially authorized the emergency use of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for children from 5-11 years old with a 91% efficacy rate on Oct. 29.

COVID-19 vaccination mandates enforced in New Zealand, Italy and United States

by Ananya Sriram and Brandon Zau
November 30, 2021
Seniors Andrea Thia, Esther Wu and Tina Xu hold gifts, posters and flowers during the Senior Night ceremony. The varsity girls golf team's Senior Night was held on Nov. 12 at the Los Lagos Golf Course in San Jose.

Varsity girls golf team celebrates Senior Night at Los Lagos Golf Course

by Brandon Zau, Reporter
November 24, 2021
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