The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“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
“I have the ability to convey my opinions and ideas through art, which in my opinion, is the most powerful tool I have because not everyone has it. It requires me to, first of all, have an opinion or thought, and second of all, be able to convey it with this medium. Together, that is the strongest calling for an artist," senior Eva Li said.
Humans of Harker: Artistry in abstraction
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
Avi Gulati (11) adjusts Junior Classical League's poster board at Club Fair.

Campus organizations invite students to join in annual Club Fair

by Eric Fang, Ryan Guan, and Arushi Saxena
September 16, 2018
Student director Ellie Lang-Ree (12) announces her play at school meeting on Sept. 14. The four 2018 SDS directors are seniors Neha Premkumar, Emmy Huchley, Dilara Ezer and Ellie.

School meeting recap 9/14/18

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor
September 14, 2018
Students gather on Davis Field for an emergency evacuation drill today. The drill was announced at school meeting Monday.

Fire drill held between first and second periods

by Nicole Chen and Kathy Fang
September 13, 2018
The Shah patio at the upper school. Upper school psychology teacher Dr. Jonathan Sammartino was arrested Sept. 11 on three charges of sexual misconduct at a previous teaching position in San Diego.

Upper school teacher arrested on charges of sexual misconduct at previous teaching position

by Nicole Chen, Kathy Fang, and Ryan Guan
September 12, 2018
Performing arts representative Emmy Huchley (12), Alex Kumar (10), Vance Hirota (11) and Ellie Lang-Ree (12) announced information about upcoming dance show auditions, which will be held in RPAC this Saturday afternoon.

School meeting recap 9/10

by Arushi Saxena, Global Editor
September 11, 2018
Diana Nichols speaks at the opening of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center in February.

Former board of trustees chair Diana Nichols dies

by Nicole Chen and Kathy Fang
September 8, 2018
Head of Upper School Butch Keller speaks about proper student-teacher interactions at school meeting yesterday.

School meeting recap 9/4

by Eric Fang, News Editor
September 5, 2018
Biology teacher Dr. Thomas Artiss tends to a beehive. "I could stand and watch the hive for half an hour," Artiss said.

Meet your teacher: Biology teacher experiences joy of beekeeping

by Jessie Wang, Reporter
September 2, 2018
Dialectic: Free Speech

Dialectic: Free Speech

by Kathy Fang and Jin Tuan
September 3, 2018
Designer Mimi Tran, center, poses after her fashion show on Aug. 25.

So you wanna be a fashion designer?

by Helen Yang, Columnist
September 3, 2018

We the Students: March for Our Lives San Jose’s student activists on why they organized the event

by Katherine Zhang, Kathy Fang, and Eric Fang
September 1, 2018

Students and faculty voice their support for MSD victims in activist activities, banner

by Anvi Banga, Kathy Fang, and Tiffany Wong
September 1, 2018
Student marchers representing the Office of LBTQ+ rights carry a festive banner in honor of Pride.

Pulse of the People: Bay Area Pride parades highlight love, support

by Sara Yen, Assistant Features Editor
September 1, 2018
Marchers representing a public library roll shelves of books down the road at the parade.

Against the Current: The refugee story

by Mahika Halepete, Special Story Writer
September 1, 2018
The upper school’s quad. Former Harker upper school teacher Florio was terminated in June and arrested on Aug. 16 on felony and misdemeanor charges.

Former upper school music teacher arrested on misconduct charges

by Nicole Chen, Kathy Fang, Ryan Guan, Prameela Kottapalli, and Katherine Zhang
September 1, 2018
High up in the treetops, a member of the class of 2021 grips a rope for support during the sophomores’ ropes course trip in the Santa Cruz Mountains on Aug. 23. The classes of 2020 and 2021 participated in off-campus trips on Aug. 23.

Sophomores and juniors enjoy ropes course, rafting to start the new year

by Kathy Fang and Ryan Guan
August 31, 2018
Freshman adviser Yumiko Aridomi and members of the class of 2022 recite the matriculation oath at the matriculation ceremony in the upper school’s quad on Aug. 24.

Matriculation welcomes class of 2022

by Eric Fang and Arushi Saxena
August 31, 2018
Performing arts director Laura Lang-ree welcomes students to the Conservatory Kickoff presentation, which was held in the Patil Theater on Wednesday. Students in the Conservatory, along with their parents, were invited to attend the presentation.

Performing arts department holds Conservatory Kickoff

by Kathy Fang, Humans of Harker Managing Editor
August 31, 2018
Jared Anderson (12) runs with the ball, trying to evade an opposing Big Valley Christian player. The team won their second game against James Lick 22-18.

Fall sports train over summer, begin seasons

by Anika Rajamani and Aditya Singhvi
August 31, 2018
Middle school teachers Mark Gelineau and Marjorie Hazeltine act out the final scene in their skit, which honored the history of The Harker School in celebration of its 125th anniversary. The skit was performed for upper school students and faculty this morning during school meeting.

School meeting recap 8/28

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor
August 28, 2018
Matriculation and class trips welcome students back to school

Matriculation and class trips welcome students back to school

by Nicole Chen, Ryan Guan, Kathy Fang, Irina Malyugina, Heidi Zhang, and Michael Eng
August 26, 2018
Cohen pleads guilty, Manafort found guilty: A night of legal reckoning for President Trump

Cohen pleads guilty, Manafort found guilty: A night of legal reckoning for President Trump

by Kathy Fang and Nicole Chen
August 22, 2018
The upper school’s quad. Former Harker upper school teacher Florio was terminated in June and arrested on Aug. 16 on felony and misdemeanor charges.

Former upper school teacher faces charges for misconduct involving a student

by Nicole Chen, Kathy Fang, Ryan Guan, Prameela Kottapalli, and Katherine Zhang
August 22, 2018
Veggie Grill, a popular vegetarian restaurant, serves a variety of meat-free dishes to customers in 29 locations across four states.

Vegetarianism: My 15 year journey

by Saloni Shah, Asst. Humans of Harker and Columnist
August 27, 2018
“Even when it's the 15th time you've done the scene, it's still a new experience and there're still new things to be discovered,” Maxwell Woehrmann (12) said. “You can always strive for better during rehearsal and finally when it comes to the show, just a seconds before I go on stage. That's why I do theater, it's for the seconds before I go on stage because I feel very alive. You're so aware. You're full of adrenaline. Your fight or flight response is kicking in, and you're about to go on stage and cannot forget your lines. It's very intense and I've learned to kind of crave the anxiety that comes with performing.”

Humans of Harker: Maxwell Woehrmann acts incisively

by Laura Wu and Kathy Fang
June 13, 2018
“I value my whole family. Cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, we all haven’t been financially stable,” James Pauli (12) said. “Thinking of my family keeps me going. They make me want to be a better person. They give me the motivation to be successful.”

Humans of Harker: James Pauli draws strength from faith and family

by Cameron Zell and Kathy Fang
June 10, 2018
"For the longest time, a really big fear that I had is that there would just be something in our general education curriculum that was wrong that we've always been taught that way and I will just never know it was wrong for as long as I live and for my entire life I would just never know that what we learned was wrong," Serena Lu (12) said. "And this has happened for a lot of the things I've learned. I guess I hope that if at least one of my long winded rants in some class has ever changed someone's mind, I guess that'd be enough."

Humans of Harker: Serena Lu strives to uncover truth

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor
June 2, 2018
Members of the Class of 2018 tossed their caps in the air to celebrate their graduation at the end of yesterday's ceremony.

Hats off to the Class of 2018: Seniors graduate at Mountain Winery

by Kathy Fang and Nicole Chen
May 25, 2018
"Why wouldn't you like climbing trees? Super dangerous? C'mon. Sure it's dangerous, but unless you’re going to break your arm or leg you’re not going to die. There's a possibility that it can happen, but that's just the fun of it. You're not going to be able to climb trees your entire life, so you might as well do it now," Shikhar Solanki (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Shikhar Solanki rises to the competition

May 22, 2018

Tech Talk

by Kathy Fang, Photo editor
May 14, 2018
STEM Scene

STEM Scene

by Kathy Fang, Photo editor
May 14, 2018
Aditi Khanna (10) waves a white scarf and shakes a rainstick to represent calling in the Spirit of the East, which represents air. Each student brought in visual representations of the element they were assigned to.

World Religions class recreates Native American ceremony

by Mahika Halepete, Winged Post Lifestyle Editor
May 14, 2018
Screen Shot 2018-05-08 at 10.15.43 PM

Meet your teacher: History teacher strives for inner balance

by Mahika Halepete and Helen Yang
May 14, 2018
Jadan McDermott (12) and Jalen Clark (12) pull Kaitlyn Nguyen (12) across the gym during the drag race competition. "It felt like I was flying. Even when I was being dragged across the entire length of the gym, I was having a blast, and I definitely don't regret doing it," Kaitlyn said.

Upper school community celebrates Spirit Week

by Eric Fang, Winged Post Global Editor
May 4, 2018
Protesters gather outside San Francisco's Powell Street station to protest President Trump's retaliatory missile strike against Syria for their usage of chemical weapons. In the middle of last April, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad allegedly attacked civilians with illegal chlorine gas and nerve agents.

Syrian chemical facilities hit by airstrike: President Trump launches missiles in response to civilian chemical attack

by Eric Fang, Winged Post Global Editor
May 7, 2018
The evolution of cigarettes: Vaping trend popularizes among youth

The evolution of cigarettes: Vaping trend popularizes among youth

by Kathy Fang, Saloni Shah, Krishna Bheda, and Irina Malyugina
May 7, 2018
The Class of 2017 listens on as Upper School Head Butch Keller delivers his remarks at the graduation ceremony. Graduation for the Class of 2018 will take place on May 24.

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