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
Student council members Alycia Cary (11), David Wen (12), Avi Gulati (10), Akshay Manglik (9) and Kat Zhang (11) announce details about the upper school's upcoming support and advocacy initiatives in response to the recent Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) shooting. Among these efforts include an optional vigil in the athletics center this Wednesday and a gun debate and town hall at 3:15 p.m. in Nichols Auditorium on March 23.

School meeting recap 3/12

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
March 12, 2018
Junior Taylor Lam follows through after a swing against Notre Dame. Softball played all their home games at the Blackford campus.

Varsity softball loses 11-12 to Notre Dame in home opener game

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor
March 7, 2018
Winged Post Co-Editors-in-Chief Kaitlin Hsu (12) and Sahana Srinivasan (12) and Harker Aquila Editor-in-Chief Meena Gudapati (12) announce the release of Issue 5 of the Winged Post and a Harker Aquila package about the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. Harker Journalism conducted interviews with MSD students Emma Gonzalez and David Hogg as well as MSD journalism teacher Melissa Falkowski for coverage of the shooting.

School meeting recap 3/6

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
March 6, 2018
A gardener weeds plants outside the RPAC. The upper school’s full-time gardeners, Urdelin Justo and Jose Hernandez, are responsible for maintaining the new environment and pruning the trees every winter.

Sumati Wadhwa (12) announces the upcoming performances of the concert before performing in Cantilena. The audience members joined the performers on stage for a rendition of the Harker School Song at the end of the concert.

Choral groups perform in RPAC’s inaugural show

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
March 8, 2018
History Club members Andrew Skrobak (11) and Aryana Far (11) announce the next Shah Salon. This Salon will be the third installment of the series of this school year.

School meeting recap 2/28

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
February 28, 2018
Brass band Lucky Chops performs a medley of songs during their performance set, challenging the audience of upper school students and faculty to correctly identify and name the song snippets included. Based in New York, Lucky Chops plays music they classify as "high energy brass funk" and features trombonist Josh Holcomb, trumpeter Joshua Gawel, sousaphonist Raphael Buyo, drummer Charles Sams and saxophonist Daro Behroozi.

Brass band performs for upper school students and faculty

by Irina Malyugina, Reporter
February 26, 2018
The performing vocal groups from all three campuses return to the stage to sing the Harker School Song. They invited the audience to sing along with the lyrics provided in the concert's program.

Upper school choirs perform at first United Voices held in Rothschild Performing Arts Center

by Arushi Saxena, Reporter
February 23, 2018
Performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree reminds students about theater protocol. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center opened on Feb. 3.

School meeting recap 2/22

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
February 22, 2018
"I have the athletic side of me and I have the art side of me, and I use the same basic mentality for both of them, and I feel like both of them also teach me how to grow as a person—in society with other people as well as in their specific areas," Mason Menaker (12) said. "They're kind of like stepping stones, where I use each of them to build a path."

Humans of Harker: Mason Menaker uses soccer and art as “stepping stones” in his life

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor
February 21, 2018
Pianist Jan Jiracek von Arnim delivers his comments on Andy Semenza's (12) performance in the piano masterclass held in the Patil Theater yesterday. Jiracek von Arnim also advised pianist Jessica Jiang (10) during the event.

Harker community celebrates opening of new performing arts facility

by Anika Rajamani, Reporter
February 9, 2018
The RPAC contains a green room, dressing rooms, spaces for orchestra and band practice and the Patil theater. Alumni, staff and students alike gathered for its grand opening last Friday.

Rothschild Performing Arts Center opens, inaugurates new era for arts

by Kathy Fang, Saloni Shah, Jin Tuan, and Tiffany Wong
February 6, 2018
Another year bites the dust

Another year bites the dust

by Nicole Chen, Kathy Fang, and Ashley Jiang
February 5, 2018
Screen Shot 2018-02-05 at 3.16.46 PM

Student Spotlight: Student artists produce original songs

by Zoe Sanders and Tiffany Wong
February 5, 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
"Welcome Home:” Opening of Rothschild Center invites Harker community to celebrate new performing arts space

“Welcome Home:” Opening of Rothschild Center invites Harker community to celebrate new performing arts space

by Nicole Chen and Kathy Fang
February 3, 2018
TALON managing and business editor Sharon Yan (12) announces that a free yearbook lottery will take place at each grade’s next class meeting. One member from each class will receive a free yearbook.

School meeting recap 1/29

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
January 29, 2018
Sana Pandey (10) does the cha-cha to a mix of music from the DJ. Winter Ball took place on Jan. 20 in the Nichols Atrium.

Annual Winter Ball, themed “Starry Night,” lights up campus

by Vivian Jin, Reporter
February 6, 2018
Mathematics teacher Jane Keller welcomes the sophomores to their LIFE assembly in Nichols Auditorium. Throughout the year, freshmen attend around five LIFE meetings, while there are only two or three meetings held for sophomores.

Freshmen and sophomores attend LIFE meetings

by Anoushka Buch and Nerine Uyanik
January 25, 2018
To many, it may seem as though I am so often on the sidelines of school events that I hardly ever participate in them, much less live them—and I understand that. But in return, I am given the chance to watch from the sidelines, to observe each moment and examine it as an artifact of time, and these opportunities have taught me, almost ironically, the importance of “living in the moment.”

“Living in the moment”—only from the sidelines

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor
January 22, 2018
Members of Amnesty International Lauren Napier (12) and Isabella Spradlin (12) share details about the organization's club week next week. The club will be selling donuts and bagels before school on Jan. 23 and Jan. 25 as well as baked goods all week during lunch.

School meeting recap 1/17

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
January 17, 2018
Founder and president of philanthropic organization The Forgotten International Tom Nazario introduces himself to upper school students and faculty. “I don’t think enough people, particularly people who live like us in the United States in a privileged environment, know about some of the people around the world who live on less than a dollar a day. We travelled to 10 countries around the world in four continents and visiting people who live on so little—and we just talked to them about their lives, how they get by. What do they do? What are their dreams? What happens if someone in the family dies? That’s the kind of poverty about one in every seven people in the world live in every day," he said.

International children’s rights advocate screens documentary at school assembly

by Vijay Bharadwaj and Tiffany Wong
January 10, 2018
Head of School Brian Yager informs students and faculty of the assault that occurred at the middle school campus on Tuesday morning. He assured the students that the priority of the school is safety and announced that there will be increased security on campus.

School meeting recap 1/4

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
January 4, 2018
Downbeat member Markus Wong (12) and a member of middle school vocal group Dynamics introduce the next few groups performing in today's concert. Every three or so performances, small groups of performers introduced the next routines to come.

Students perform in annual holiday concert

by Nina Gee, Reporter
December 8, 2017
Theater teacher Jeffrey Draper in his classroom.

Meet your teacher: Theater teacher reflects on his performing arts career

by Kathy Fang, Photo Editor
December 5, 2017
Mathematics department chair Anthony Silk announces signups for the AMC 10, 12 and the annual Tests of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition. Students can view the flyers posted around Dobbins for more information about these events.

School meeting recap 12/4

by Anvi Banga, Aquila Asst. News Editor
December 4, 2017
Kaitlyn Nguyen (12) reads a self-written poem to the Quadchella audience. A total of nine acts were featured in the Nov. 3 Quadchella.

First Quadchella invites students, faculty to participate in informal talent show

by Zoe Sanders, Reporter
November 16, 2017
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