The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“In every activity I do, there's always an element of making sure that my work can impact people. In what I've done, there are times when people question what I do or if what I'm doing is correct. For me, what is most important is that what I'm doing can have a tangible impact on someone else. As long as I believe that an impact can occur, then I want to do that regardless of what other people think," senior Valerie Li said.
Humans of Harker: Calling for change
“My favorite part is not even the content, just how all my family presented. I made a jeopardy one time about myself to see who knew me the best, and that was funny because I realized that they do pay attention more than I give them credit for. I appreciate my family more for that," senior Rithika Yamasani said.
Humans of Harker: Finding strength in connection
Humans of Harker: Data and dynamics
Humans of Harker: Data and dynamics
“Once people start lifting, they'll never be happy with how they look or how big their muscles are. It definitely makes them more self-conscious about how they look because a lot of people train for muscle size. Since I'm not trying to pursue lifting in college and it’s just for fun, I train for both. It's not exclusively one or the other," senior Jason Yi said.
Humans of Harker: Power through
“Food brings people together. Cooking is one of the very few things in our world that can do that. No matter where you go, you will always see families sitting around a table eating food. It's very powerful and I'm glad that my cooking club could be a part of that," senior Ian Gerstner said.
Humans of Harker: Crafting cuisine and catching critters
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
All content by Emily Chen
“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

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
June 30, 2020
“Something that's really been kind of underappreciated nowadays is just the art of improvisation, not having to plan out anything and just kind of living in the moment and playing whatever's on your mind. Oftentimes, people don't realize that that type of phrasing and even rap emerged from improvisation and from just taking risks. I guess that’s the world of music. It encompasses a lot of different colors. There's a lot of crossover between things, and that's what interests me about it,” Joshua Valluru (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The art of improvisation

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
May 21, 2020
“There’s two main messages I want to spread through dance. One is about love, and there’s a song called 'Where’s The Love,' and it talks about the violence and hate in our world and how we have to come together. If we come together, we’ll always win. The other one is changing the world and redefining our own worlds to shape those of others and be the change that we want to see in the world. I think that’s a really powerful message, and I want to show that unity in my dances,” Anna Miner (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Spreading love

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 28, 2020
“I’ve always been fascinated by how people think. That plays into debate. That plays into everything I do,” Jason Pan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Behind the decision

by Brian Chen, Reporter
March 24, 2020
“When you think about it, we’re only sixteen years old,” Prameela Kottapalli (12) said. “How much can we do? We can’t even vote. I’m aware of this. The people my age are aware of this. But the world doesn’t give us straightforward opportunities to make a difference. So writing was the way I could be able to promote awareness. So this was the breakthrough that I had for journalism, but it was also the breakthrough that I had in life.”

Humans of Harker: Power in words

by Emily Chen and Irene Yuan
May 22, 2019
“Performing is one of the most terrifying things, like having to audition for teacher or perform in front of people not knowing if they’re going to like it,” Abigail Wisdom (12) said. “But just having fun with your friends in the rehearsal process, feeling confident during the performance and doing your best regardless of what other people think makes this experience worth it and makes myself proud of my work.”

Humans of Harker: Swimming, singing and smiling

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Academics Editor
March 20, 2019
Sonal Muthal (12) extends her arms and demonstrates to her dancers the next movement. During rehearsals, Sonal typically taught a few sections of new choreography and then reviewed the other parts of the dance they have learned.

Student choreographer conveys strength and empowerment through her dance

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Academics Editor
February 22, 2019
“I want to end up reaching a wide range of people rather than have some sort of abstract concept define who I am. I want to mean different things to different people whether that is just love for my family or community service for the people I help. Even if it’s not necessarily something I’m good at or something I have one foot in, I want to be able to reach people," Esha Deokar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Step up, reach out

by Olivia Guo, TALON Reporter
January 16, 2019
Looking back, Kaidi Dai (11) sports a navy blue long sleeve shirt with “it’s what’s inside that counts” embroidered on the back. During her free time, Kaidi enjoys thrifting, and several of her favorite pieces are thrifted.

Sense or Style?

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Academics Editor
December 1, 2018

Upper school teachers on why they voted today

by Kathy Fang and Emily Chen
November 6, 2018
"Since I was little, I would follow in my sister’s footsteps — it was just something that I was used to," Stephanie Xiao (12) said. "It was more obvious at the beginning of high school, but now my parents can see that we're two different people and we're taking two different paths. I feel like recently, even though I followed the original steps that she took, I've been able to find my own voice, take the leaderships skills I learned from cheer and apply it to honor council to become a more extroverted person."

Humans of Harker: The frontier of kindness

by Emily Chen, TALON Co-Academics Editor
October 9, 2018
“Part of the reason I was interested in archery and why I initially started it was because I like fantasy stories," Gwyneth Chen (12) said. "I read and watch movies with my family, and it pops up a lot. It's interesting because the way my instructor teaches it is not competitive, so I get to treat it more like meditation. There's the idea of perfecting yourself and your own focus, which makes it a little bit different from traditional sports, and that's the part of it that I really enjoy."

Humans of Harker: Gwyneth Chen’s crafts embody her quiet elegance

by Emily Chen, Reporter
May 4, 2018
Junior class council treasurer candidate Allie Yen (10) addresses the sophomore class. Voting for this year's class council elections took place in the journalism room and Shah 404 during long lunch today.

Students vote in annual class council elections

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor
April 18, 2018
Yayoi: Unique twist on traditional Japanese cuisine

Yayoi: Unique twist on traditional Japanese cuisine

by Emily Chen, Reporter
April 13, 2018
Markus Wong (12) and Ellie Lang-Ree (11) rehearse their lines for the spring musical. The musical will be held in late April in the RPAC.

Spring musical cast undergoes rehearsals for first musical in RPAC

by Emily Chen, Reporter
March 16, 2018
“My first year, I was the only sophomore in [Downbeat]," Akhil Arun (12) said. "So it was kind of scary, I’m not going to lie. It took a little bit to grow comfort, but I think when you’re performing or in an ensemble group, it takes a good amount of trust to get out of your skin and not be afraid of getting judged when you’re trying out for solos and things like that. I never did any of that sophomore year because I was so in my head about getting judged. But after a certain point, you realize that these are all your friends and no one’s going to care.”

Humans of Harker: Akhil Arun breaks out of his comfort zone

by Emily Chen, Reporter
March 4, 2018
Sheldon gives a brief introduction to the application of economics to various industries. Sheldon spoke at Harker in the Nichols Auditorium on Feb. 6 during long lunch.

Michael Sheldon speaks on relationship between Uber driver responsiveness and income shocks

by Emily Chen, Reporter
February 10, 2018
Amanda Cheung (10) reads a book about cats to her buddy. The sophomores met with their Eagle Buddies at the Bucknall campus, where they donated children's books to the lower school's ongoing pajamas and books drive and decorated corner bookmarks.

Sophomores, juniors and seniors participate in second Eagle Buddies session of school year

by Neil Bai, Andrew Chang, and Emily Chen
February 2, 2018
"I've always been kind of outspoken, but I used to be really afraid of trying new things before ninth grade,” Anika Banga (12) said. “I was always afraid that people would judge me, and I didn’t want to be a beginner, since being the least experienced person in the room terrified me. But then I had a conversation with a runner who was super fast, and I really admired her. I realized that she had started running a lot later than I thought she had, yet she was able to overcome the obstacle of losing that time. So, I decided that I was going to put myself out there more and be a beginner. And, prepping for 42nd Street auditions, I took a tap one class, and I was the oldest person in the class. I was sixteen years old, and all my other classmates were between the ages of seven and ten. They were all better than me because they'd all tapped before, and I was completely new and started the class late. Except, at that point in time, I didn't care at all. And I think one of the ways I grew most in high school is that I'm willing to look stupid if that's what’s going to help me learn. I've learned that putting yourself into situations where you're not completely comfortable and when you're the worst person in the room is when you learn the most.”

Humans of Harker: Anika Banga embraces the beginner’s mind

by Emily Chen, Reporter
January 8, 2018
Co-captain Hannah Sobczyn (9) serves the ball to Sacred Heart Prep. During the match, the team only missed one serve.

Freshman and sophomore and JV girls volleyball teams play Sacred Heart Preparatory

by Emily Chen and Anthony Xu
October 11, 2017
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