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
Katie Wang

Katie Wang, TALON Photo Editor

Katie Wang (12) is the photo editor of the TALON Yearbook, and this is her fourth year on staff. This year, Katie looks forward to photographing with new staff members and experimenting with the new camera gear. When she isn’t shooting an event, Katie alternates between annoying her dog and pretending to work on her college essays.

All content by Katie Wang
"Trying new things isn’t always something that automatically comes to me. But trying new instruments has really made me feel like if I do try something new, I can have a really good time with it while learning something interesting," Will Lee ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: An instrumental transition

August 17, 2023
“To some extent, being a senior on the team means that I have more people relying on me and more people actually believing that I can be of any help to them. That's what's really emotional and really heartwarming is that I started off heavily relying on my seniors. They helped me with so many different things and to see that I was really able to fulfill their legacy and help the next generation as well, that’s all I hope for,” Jessica Zhou ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Setting the course

by Shiv Deokar and Katelyn Zhao
June 2, 2023
“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. Life is really about going out and opening your mind and ears to new things and the rest of the world,” Ryan Chang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Fishing for peace

by Emma Li, Reporter
March 17, 2023
Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) leaders Iris Fu (11) and Fern Biswas (10) facilitate sign-ins for attendees of Challenge Day in front of the Zhang Gym the morning of March 3. “[Challenge Day] is such an important event because — I’ll talk from my own personal experience — I felt so bonded to the community after [Challenge Day],” Iris said.

Community connections strengthen during underclassmen Challenge Day

by Emma Gao, Co-News Editor
March 11, 2023
“Weightlifting has changed what I value. It's made me a lot more ambitious. Before I did it, I was a bit complacent. I didn't really have any goals in life, but now my ambition has carried over to school in academics,” Leo Tuckey (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Raising the bar

by Katie Wang, TALON Photo Editor
March 6, 2023
“My mom always tells me this one thing: whenever I feel sad, she tells me that everything always works out. And it's true. Knowing that what is happening now is temporary and that it will always end up on a better path helps me keep a better outlook on life,” Paulina Gicqueau (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Taking the stage

by Brenna Ren, Reporter
March 6, 2023
“I want to somehow get people to truly care about real world topics outside of the limited hour, two hours that they spend watching something. It’s a lot of work. It takes a lot to just improve. But it’s also wonderful if I can somehow give that out to the world through my art. That would be everything I would ever hope to accomplish,” Alisa Grebin (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creating for a cause

by Mirabelle Feng, TALON Reporter
February 18, 2023

Photo Slideshow Jan. 24

by Tiffany Chang, Steven Jiang, Andrew Liang, Heidi Lu, Desiree Luo, Kinnera Mulam, Lavanya Subramanian, Jessica Tang, Katie Wang, Selina Xu, Alison Yang, Grant Yang, Medha Yarlagadda, Kevin Zhang, and Sally Zhu
February 9, 2023

Photo Slideshow Jan. 11

by Arjun Barrett, Aryana Bharali, Margaret Cartee, Vivian Chen, Mirabelle Feng, Charlie Folk, Emma Gao, Vika Gautham, Ariana Goetting, Edward Huang, Yifan Li, Isha Moorjani, Katie Reed, Jessica Tang, Lindsey Tuckey, and Katie Wang
February 9, 2023
Abby Tcheng (12) holds a hand-made paper lantern. The Harker Spirit Leadership Team organized a Lunar New Year crafts activity during long lunch on Jan. 20.

Lunar New Year welcomes in Year of the Rabbit

by Emma Gao, Ella Yee, and Sabrina Zhu
January 27, 2023
“I used to think that I shouldn’t try if I’m not already good at it, which hurt me because I didn’t put my best effort into some things. If I go in with an ’all or nothing’ mindset, it helps motivate me to try my best at the things that I do," Ananya Bammi (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Pinpointing passions

by Claire Su, TALON Conservatory Editor
January 17, 2023
Heavy rain forms puddles on campus this week. Over two inches of rain have fallen in Santa Clara County since Dec. 1, an amount 21% higher than the average rainfall for this time of year.

Heavy rain falls across Bay Area as storm continues

by Emma Gao, Co-News Editor
December 11, 2022
Kimaya Mehta (9), playing for her first year on the high school varsity girls golf team, follows through with her swing. The girls golf team emerged undefeated in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) for the fifth consecutive year, making it to the Central Coast Championships (CCS).

Swinging through rain or shine: Girls golf team brings their best

by Emma Milner, Co-Assistant Sports Editor
November 29, 2022
“A lot of people think that in general, percussion is very basic, like hitting instruments, but with the marimba, you can do so much more. There are different types of mallets, different types of bars and different types of sounds you can make, so the versatility of percussion makes the potential to create infinite. It's really cool how you can integrate a lot of skills and make your own style of music," Harrison Chang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Strike a chord

by Katie Wang, TALON Co-Photo Editor
March 29, 2022
“I always thought I would be a college recruit, but I realized that playing golf competitively was just not my thing. It was a really difficult decision to make, but in the end, I sacrificed golf for academics and committed to that choice without ever turning back or regretting it," Tina Xu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Striking a balance

by Katie Wang, TALON Co-Photo Editor
March 25, 2022
Junior and sophomore dragon dance teams line up next to the Main parking lot and practice their choreography before the official dragon dance competition begins. Seniors placed first in the Class Dragon spirit competition, sophomores second, juniors third, and freshman fourth.

Chinese National Honor Society celebrates Chinese New Year with upper school community

by Katie Wang, TALON Co-Photo Editor
February 23, 2022
“[In] freshman year, making new connections and meeting new people was not a priority for me. I’ve realized now that if you actually reach out to people and make the effort to get to know them, [the different perspectives] make every activity worth it. It sucks to do things on your own," Anya Warrier (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Meet me on stage

by Katie Wang, Co-Photo Editor
November 6, 2021
Talk around campus: Club showcase

Talk around campus: Club showcase

by Jessica Tang and Katie Wang
August 19, 2021
“I learned that even if my beliefs don't change, it's really a powerful experience to be able to understand why someone might believe differently. In a lot of cases, our beliefs are driven by our fears and our hopes, things that may not be understood at first, but end up being more similar than expected,” Julia Biswas (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Beyond the data

by Katie Wang, TALON Photo Editor
March 17, 2021
“I really [believe in] having a moral code that rubs off on other people and makes other people better in your presence. Generally, people reflect the energy you give them, so you can expect whatever you're giving out,” Jason Hoang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Live, laugh, learn

by Katie Wang, TALON Asst. Photo Editor
January 5, 2021
“I’m always glad to see people using their talents, their abilities to help others … not to fulfill a graduation requirement, but for the sake of helping. If people saw that both big and small steps can work wonders for the world, the community or even just a friend, we’d be in a better place,” Elizabeth Chen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Always in heart, never apart

by Katie Wang, TALON Asst. Photo Editor
October 28, 2020
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed a test kit in February, during the early stages of the outbreak, but it proved to be faulty. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in March that it would begin to issue Emergency Use Authorizations (EUA) to clinical laboratories and commercial manufacturers that have produced tests that are screened by the FDA before their distribution and use.

COVID-19 testing and treatments explained: Cases ramp up as researchers race to find sustainable cures

by Mark Hu, Katie Wang, and Nicholas Wei
May 20, 2020
“[Kickboxing] really just helps me clear my mind ... It's kind of a way to step back and also burn off some pent-up stress. It's great to get exercise and build muscle, but it's also really stress-relieving,” Maya Shukla (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Beyond perception

by Jasleen Hansra and Katie Wang
February 21, 2020
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