The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“Working on Roobi has taught me how to bounce back from failures, and that problems need to be addressed one bit at a time because you can't just tackle huge goals. I learned to not be afraid of failure because every failure is a step towards success. I try not to look back and wish I could change something because I can't. It's the past. Instead, I look forward," senior Daniel Dorfman said.
Humans of Harker: Steeped for success
“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
Charlize Wang

Charlize Wang, Aquila Managing Editor

Charlize Wang (12) is a Managing editor for Harker Aquila, and this is her third year on staff. This year, she is excited to grow closer with the journalism staff and take on engaging pieces. In her free time, she enjoys studying at cafes, listening to good music and trying out new restaurants.

All content by Charlize Wang
Forward Vouk Praun-Petrovic (11) attempts to steal the ball from an opponent. The varsity boys soccer team ultimately succumbed to Monta Vista 2-5 on Dec. 11.

Varsity boys soccer suffers defeat to Monta Vista 2-5

by Charlize Wang and Young Min
December 19, 2024
Programs often distribute merch without considering whether students actually want the items they are offering, instead ordering bulk and distributing until they run out. Departments like performing arts, athletics, and speech and debate provide swag to members every year, especially with every new production and season, resulting in members receiving duplicates if they continue for multiple years.

Unsustainable swag negatively impacts environment

by Heather Wang and Charlize Wang
November 22, 2024
Astronomy club president Eric Dong (11) demonstrates the use of a equatorial mount for astrophotography. Equatorial mounts compensate for the Earth's rotational axis when taking long exposure photos of stars, preventing motion blur.

STEM Spotlight: Astronomy Club

by Charlie Wang, Multimedia Editor
October 24, 2024
Friday Five: Bingsu

Friday Five: Bingsu

by Charlize Wang, Aquila Managing Editor
October 18, 2024
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine rallies global leaders for support in his country’s grueling war against Russia at the 2024 U.N. General Assembly on Sep. 25. Besides his official address, Zelensky wanted to sell what he calls his “victory plan”, a strategy to secure Ukraine’s victory on their terms, to Western leaders and especially President Biden.

Zelensky urges western support in ongoing war with Russia

by Charlize Wang and Lily Shi
October 10, 2024
“You just need to trust the process,” Zoe said. “After the first game, I fell in love. I thought, ‘This is where I can express myself. I just want to work hard to score goals and be happy.’”

APEX: Power in polo, pride in protecting

by Charlize Wang and Sam Li
October 9, 2024
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
Michael Jin (9) uses TRX during his workout in the weight room. For high school students, fitness generally comes in the form of weight lifting, cardio exercises and the classic squats, crunches and pushups.

Building bodies, building minds: Students find sanctuary in the gym

by Young Min and Charlize Wang
August 31, 2024
As the debate over transgender participation in sports persists, athletes like Khelif and Lin Yuting navigate significant challenges posed by ongoing controversies. The evolving discussions about transgender athletes highlight the ongoing search for balance between fair competition and inclusivity.

Boxing away biases

by Charlize Wang, Aquila Co-Managing Editor
August 20, 2024

Talk Around Campus: Mother’s Day

by Charlize Wang and Claire Yu
May 12, 2024
Meet your staff: Spreading smiles through song

Meet your staff: Spreading smiles through song

by Charlize Wang, Aquila Co-Managing Editor
May 9, 2024
Humans of Harker: Learning through literature

Humans of Harker: Learning through literature

by Charlize Wang, Co-Aquila Managing Editor
May 7, 2024
Jasmine Hansra (10) prepares to throw the ball to her teammates across the pool. The varsity girls water polo team defeated Lynbrook 19-4 on Sept. 14th, 2023.

2023-2024 recap: Fall sports highlights

by Brandon Zau and Kevin Zhang
April 16, 2024
Café Gratitude, a restaurant in Kansas City, Missouri, offers a homey dining experience and encourages customers to appreciate themselves and their community. The staff consider each other family to further foster inclusivity.

Café Gratitude graces vegan food with positivity

by Young Min and Charlize Wang
April 6, 2024
Capturing the attention of viewers across the world, dating shows have risen in popularity due to the endless petty drama, emotional conversations and of course, countless swoon-worthy moments. The seemingly perfect relationships appear too good to be true and in most cases, they are.

True love? Couples should dump dating shows

by Charlize Wang
March 28, 2024
Temu and Tiktok Shop undercut sustainability

Temu and Tiktok Shop undercut sustainability

by Charlize Wang, Asst. Opinions Editor
March 28, 2024
Perspectives: Studying locations

Perspectives: Studying locations

by Charlize Wang and Jessica Wang
March 20, 2024
Single's Inferno 3 contestants Kim Minkyu, Choi Hyeseon and Lee Gwanhee pose for the show's poster. A whirlwind of romance and drama, the series took viewers on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. (Illustration by Young Min and Suhani Gupta)

Single’s Inferno 3 stirs up love and drama

by Young Min and Charlize Wang
February 18, 2024
From Chatbots that answer questions and write papers, to programs that mimic the voices of popular celebrities, original works face the risk of replacement as AI begins to fill every facet of our everyday lives.

Deep dive into AI

by Charlize Wang, Jonathan Xue, Ella Yee, and Claire Yu
February 7, 2024
Social media and online trends’ growing popularity isolates Generation Alpha from the childhoods of generations before and instills a desire to appear older than one’s true age.

10-year-olds at Sephora reveal dangers of social media

by Charlize Wang, Assistant Opinions Editor
February 3, 2024
Unlike older makeup trends often geared towards Western features, many recent makeup trends originate from Asian beauty trends and specifically compliment Asian features. Asian beauty’s rise in popularity also reflects the growing popularity of Asian culture as a whole in Western media.

East Asian makeup trends gain TikTok spotlight

by Charlize Wang, Co-Assistant Opinions Editor
December 10, 2023
In honor of Miyazaki’s final film, “The Boy and the Heron,” which released Friday, here’s a list of my favorite Ghibli films to introduce viewers to the magical adventures that await in the Ghibli world.

Friday Five: Studio Ghibli films

by Charlize Wang, Assistant Opinions Editor
December 8, 2023
“I want to be remembered as the person who was really easy for everyone to talk to. That's something I pride myself on. I like to make a lot of friends, and I want to be seen as someone who is super approachable, no matter what class or activities you're in. I want to be a potential friend for everyone," Sriram Bhimaraju (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Aiming for amiability

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
November 23, 2023
Assistant technical director Aren Olson speaks about their educational journey in high school and college during the college panel on Nov. 8. Olson attended online high school, state university and community college before discovering their interest in technical theatre.

Upper school staff share unique college experiences in DEI panel

by Charlize Wang and Tiffany Zhu
November 27, 2023
The fountain outside of Dobbins in Graduates Grove. The fountain was part of an outside classroom donated by the class of 2007.

Seniors leave mark with graduating gifts

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
November 27, 2023
The eagle fountain next to Shah, donated by the Class of 2021.

A bench outside of Main. The bench was gifted by the class of 2012.

If you want quality Chinese food, avoid five-star Chinese restaurants. Having tasted both authentic and Americanized Chinese food, I can confidently say that you will almost always find the latter in highly rated Chinese restaurants.

This I Believe: Chinese food

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
November 13, 2023
Claire Cheng (11) poses at the upper school campus. Claire dances both competitively and in Harker Dance Company.

Dancing with determination

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
November 10, 2023
Navya Samuel (11) leaps into the air to serve. The Eagles lost to Crystal Springs in a three set match on Sept. 21.

Varsity girls volleyball team loses to Crystal Springs in three-set match

by Charlize Wang and Lily Shi
October 12, 2023
Sophomores Syna Sharma, Disha Gupta, Ruhi Banerjee and Judi Abdelrazik cheer for their class in tug-of-war on Davis Field today. Upper school students compete in tug-of-war preliminaries during Homecoming week and finals on Homecoming night each year.

Homecoming Week Day 2: Classes gather for spirit day parade and tug-of-war

by Vivek Moorjani, Charlize Wang, and Brandon Zau
October 3, 2023
Introduction to Journalism studemts listen as Kuhlmeier shares her perspective on fighting for her First Amendment rights as a high school journalist. Prior to Kuhlmeier's visit, Introduction to Journalism students studied court cases like Tinker v. Des Moines and Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier to learn about freedom of speech and the press. (Provided by Kevin Oliver)

Be the change: Cathy Kuhlmeier discusses Supreme Court case, teaches Journalism students about press freedom

by Mendy Mao, Charlize Wang, and Ella Yee
September 28, 2023
Co-captain Keren Eisenberg (11) attempts to block a Lynbrook player. The team currently holds a 3-0 overall record and is ranked #1 in the league standings.

Varsity girls water polo team overwhelms Lynbrook 19-4

by Charlize Wang and Emma Milner
September 21, 2023
Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) announces the annual Spirit Kickoff during school meeting on Aug. 28 in the Zhang Gymnasium. The Spirit Kickoff took place on Friday in the Quad from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

School meeting recap 8/28/23: Artist in Residence, Spirit Kickoff and safety protocols

by Charlize Wang
September 5, 2023
Music Monday is a new installation featuring a different category of songs on a weekly basis.

Music Monday: Wake up and wave to earth with Aquila

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
September 4, 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
“Doing what I love made [high school] so worth the experience. I never felt like I was pushing myself to do it; I always felt I genuinely wanted to do it. That's something I want to keep doing as I get older. I don't want to be stuck doing things that I don't like, and I want to keep going in the areas I'm passionate about,” Annmaria Antony (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A crown for a cause

by Charlize Wang, Reporter
March 3, 2023
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