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
Kathy Fang

Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief

Kathy Fang (12) is the editor-in-chief of Harker Aquila. This is her fourth year on staff. From covering local marches and protests to initiating Harker Aquila’s 2020 Elections coverage project in January 2019, Kathy hopes to continue bridging the worlds of national news and student journalism, one story at a time. Beyond journalism, she is a performer, student director, humanities scholar and, above all, an aspiring storyteller.

All content by Kathy Fang
Assistant Head of Student Affairs Greg Lawson takes roll for his advisory at the all-school meeting today. Administrators called this meeting, which was at 2:45 p.m., in response to reports of a threatening graffiti message in the downstairs Dobbins boys bathroom.

Upper school administration calls sudden, mandatory all-school meeting after students reported threatening graffiti message

by Harker News Staff
November 5, 2019
Composer David Amram, who will be visiting the upper school as this year's artist in residence. His visit begins tomorrow and will last throughout the week, and he will host a number of workshops, lectures and talks for students to learn more about music and art.

Composer David Amram to visit upper school next week as artist in residence

by Kathy Fang and Jin Tuan
November 3, 2019
A forecasted map of approximate regions, highlighted in orange, that may be affected by tomorrow's public safety power shutoff. The shutoff was prompted by warnings of a high-speed wind event that increases risk of damage to power lines and fire hazards.

Lights out, flames rise: As Sonoma County continues to burn, “historic” high-speed, dry wind event prompts PG&E to expand power shutoffs to reduce additional fire risk

by Kathy Fang, Arya Maheshwari, and Nicole Tian
October 28, 2019
Spare the Air forecast for tomorrow's air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area

Fire season in full force as Sonoma fire rages on, wind event pushes smoke into Bay Area and worsens air quality

by Kathy Fang and Nicole Tian
October 27, 2019
A map of regions that will potentially be affected by the public safety power shutoff.

PG&E to shut off power in 17 Northern California counties in second public safety power shutoff of the month

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
October 23, 2019
Katelyn Vo (12) plays the board game Operation with two lower school students after lunch yesterday. Seniors were given the chance to bond more with their buddies, kicking off their final year before college.

LIFE, Eagle Buddy events build healthy lifestyle, community for students

by Kathy Fang and Irene Yuan
October 22, 2019
Rosh Roy (11) cheers for the Class of 2021 at the annual homecoming spirit rally on Oct. 11. The rally featured a series of events that invited the four classes to compete for spirit points, such as a lip sync competition and a relay race.

From countrysides to cityscapes: Homecoming 2019

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
October 17, 2019
“Most of my interests don’t have any noble reason or specific objective. I just like doing them… For example, I just started doing origami, and there’s not that much purpose to it. I’ll probably get bored of it and stop doing it next week, and that’s completely fine," Kyle Li (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Facts and figures

by Kathy Fang, Aquila Editor-in-Chief
October 15, 2019
Marcus Anderson (11) catches a touchdown pass in the endzone.

Live updates: Harker hosts St. Vincent De Paul for annual homecoming game

by Aditya Singhvi, Anna Vazhaeparambil, Kathy Fang, Eric Fang, Vishnu Kannan, and Muthu Panchanatham
October 12, 2019
The Eagles celebrate their first touchdown of the night.

Marcus Anderson catches a touchdown pass in the endzone.

Devin Keller (12) is tackled near the endzone by a Mustangs linebacker.

Devin Keller (12) rushes with the football towards the end of the fourth quarter.

Adheet Ganesh (10) attempts to catch a pass.

The Mustangs attempt to recover a Harker fumble.

Joshua Tseitlin (10) celebrates after a Mustangs fumble.

Laszlo Bollyky punts the ball on a Harker fourth down.

Devin Keller rushes with the ball.

A map of the Bay Area during the public safety power shutoff, which first hit the Santa Clara, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties Wednesday night, according to data released on Thursday by Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

Update: Bay Area electricity scheduled to return after second phase of PG&E outage shuts off power to some upper school students, faculty

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
October 11, 2019
Members of the varsity girls team attempt to dig a hit from the Crusaders.

Live updates: Girls volleyball teams host Dig Pink fundraiser

by Aditya Singhvi, Vishnu Kannan, Anna Vazhaeparambil, and Kathy Fang
October 10, 2019
Harper Brada (9) and other Bel Canto singers perform “Sweet Caroline” during the picnic show. The performance featured song and dance numbers by student performance groups, ranging from the lower to upper school.

Annual family and alumni picnic brings Harker community together

by Erica Cai, Humans of Harker Profiler
October 8, 2019
PG&E public safety power shutoff to affect up to 800,000 across northern, central, coastal California, starting Wednesday morning

PG&E public safety power shutoff to affect up to 800,000 across northern, central, coastal California, starting Wednesday morning

by Kathy Fang, Varsha Rammohan, and Anna Vazhaeparambil
October 8, 2019
Natalie Vo (11) watches the ball after hitting it during the match against Castilleja on Sept. 18. The Eagles beat them 191-243, with Katelyn Vo (12) and Olivia Guo (11) in the lead, both shooting one over par 37.

Monthly recap: Fall sports go the distance

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Aquila Co-Sports Editor
October 8, 2019
Joel Morel (12), Esha Deokar (‘19), Richard Wang (‘19), Anjali Sheth (12), and Katrina Ipser (‘19) participate in a theater workshop led by cast members of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival on last year’s trip. This year, 23 students and three teachers from the upper school traveled to Ashland to visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and see plays like “Macbeth,” “As You Like It,” “All’s Well That Ends Well” and “La Comedia of Errors.”

Students travel to Ashland to watch performances of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

by Nicole Tian, Winged Post Co-Lifestyle Editor
September 29, 2019
Climate strikers march down Santa Clara Street in downtown San Jose, chanting and shouting for environmental protection policies and governmental action. Last Friday, millions of protestors around the world took to the streets to demand climate action from national governments, most of these strikes led by youth activists.

Global Reset: “No Planet B”

by Sriya Batchu, Kathy Fang, and Arushi Saxena
September 22, 2019
Juno Award winning jazz vocalist and pianist Laila Biali claps after performing one of her original works at the first Concert Series show last Friday night. In addition to her performance, Biali led workshops with jazz band, Downbeat and the upper school orchestra on Thursday and Friday.

“Got to Love” the music: Laila Biali jazzes up traditional styles in first performance of annual Concert Series

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
September 21, 2019
Upper school dance teacher Karl Kuehn looks on as students audition for the annual dance production. Auditions took place on Sept. 14.

Dance show auditions launch preparation for annual production

by Catherine Feng, Asst. Copy Editor
September 16, 2019
Sophomores Jackie Hu and Alexa Lowe read the 9/11 reflections that were written by students and faculty during advisory. On Sept. 11, the upper school observed a series of memorial services to honor the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks, which killed nearly three thousand people.

Upper school students, faculty remember 9/11

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
September 12, 2019
The Saratoga campus Eagle Store. The store opened yesterday and contains a selection of Harker merchandise for purchase.

Eagle Store brings Harker merchandise to upper school

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
September 11, 2019
Cynthia Chen (12) readjusts the board for Research Club at Club Fair today during lunch. Club Fair featured a variety of student organizations, ranging from STEM to business to student activism groups, and invited students to sign up for clubs that aligned with their interests.

Student organizations invite new members to join at Club Fair with interactive activities

by Sriya Batchu, Reporter
September 11, 2019
The Urinetown cast performs together at Edinburgh, Scotland's Fringe Festival, the largest performing arts festival in the world.

Students travel the world for hands-on learning

by Lucy Ge, Asst. News Editor
September 1, 2019
Diversity Committee faculty members Dr. Lola Muldrew, Pilar Aguero-Esparza and Tyeshia Brown speak to the upper school community about an upcoming assembly featuring Jay Smooth, a cultural commentator. To introduce Smooth, Diversity Committee played his YouTube video about race at school meeting yesterday.

School meeting recap 9/3/19: Self-study APs, Spirit Kickoff and upcoming auditions

by Kathy Fang, Editor-in-Chief
September 4, 2019
A freshman advisory tries to make its way across Davis Field while jumping with a tarp. Freshman field day encourages teamwork and friendship.

Freshmen, sophomores and juniors begin the new school year with class trips

by Esha Gohil, Humans of Harker Profiler
August 24, 2019
2020 Democratic primary candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) addresses a crowd of over four hundred at his happy hour fundraiser yesterday. The fundraiser, hosted prior to the Democratic National Committee summer meetings this weekend, was held at the Folsom Street Foundry in San Francisco to popularize Booker's campaign.

“Saving democracy”: Cory Booker taps into the “moral imagination” of supporters, voters

by Kathy Fang and Nicole Tian
August 23, 2019
"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

by Kathy Fang, Managing Editor
June 21, 2019
"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

by Ryan Guan and Kathy Fang
June 2, 2019

Sanders, Castro and Delaney join Democratic presidential candidates at CDP

by Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, and Anna Vazhaeparambil
June 2, 2019
Attendees of the afternoon general session at the CDP convention this weekend clap for Sen. Cory Booker, who was the last of 11 presidential hopefuls to address the crowd today.

Blue Wave Rolling: Democratic presidential hopefuls reach out to voters in California Democratic State Convention

by Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, Arushi Saxena, and Anna Vazhaeparambil
June 1, 2019
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