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
Lakshmi Mulgund

Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief

Lakshmi Mulgund (12) is the co-editor-in-chief of the TALON Yearbook, and this is her fourth year on staff.  Lakshmi hopes to collaborate with new reporters and learn more about design skills for both yearbook and news. In her own time, she does bharatanatyam, has fun sneaker shopping and renames her Spotify playlists about ten times a day.

All content by Lakshmi Mulgund
"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

August 17, 2023
"Over the past few years, I learned that everybody’s making the same mistakes, and nobody really cares what you’re doing as long as you fix your mistakes. That also translates to out of school. Nobody cares as much as you think they do, and I had to get over that," Claire Kampmeier (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Seize the clay

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Editor-in-Chief
April 28, 2023
“I've always had this disconnect between which culture I really feel like I should belong to. With this set of self portraits, I want to acknowledge the fact that I have a lot of confusion as to my identity, and I want other people to understand that there are people who feel the same way and who aren't sure, and that's completely okay because you don’t have to define yourself from one place," Lakshmi Mulgund (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding perfection in imperfection

by Olivia Xu, HoH Managing Editor
March 23, 2023
“The attitude I live by is to try new things even if I don't know how to do it. I've been trying to push myself in general, and doing so has allowed me to experience a lot more things that I wouldn't have if I never tried it in the first place. I'm really glad that I'm pushing myself to go outside my comfort zone,” Deeya Viradia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Waves of change

by Jasmine Hansra, Reporter
March 7, 2023
A group of friends hold up peace signs. "Being kind to myself is knowing and accepting that at times, we might be perceived as falling short, and that's okay," upper school Assistant Academic Dean and LIFE Board Adviser Kelly Horan said. "We're all human, and we only have so much time and so much bandwidth.”

Building kindness and gratitude

by Sabrina Zhu, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief
November 15, 2022
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit 12 miles east of the San Jose upper school campus yesterday at 11:42 a.m. The campus suffered no damage to the property and continued the school day as scheduled after the incident.

5.1 magnitude earthquake shakes San Jose

by Felix Chen and Kinnera Mulam
October 26, 2022
“I want to be a person who's willing to foster innovation and change and have an impact on intellectual curiosity and exploration. Through the investment club, through doing research and through mentoring other kids, I want to stimulate creativity,” Armaan Thakker (12) said.

Humans of Harker: On the fast track

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
October 4, 2022
“Animation just clicked in a way. I had been interested in art, but that felt different. [Animation] felt like it had something behind it, whereas previous things felt surface level. I wasn't making that crazy of things, but just the process of doing it was much more enjoyable," Carter Chadwick ('22) said.

Humans of Harker: Creating his own world

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Co-Sports & Social Media Editor
July 16, 2022
“Being able to express yourself allows you to be your best self, and finding things that combine things you love to do, trying to further your passions as opposed to sticking to what you think you should do or what other people imply that you should do, it's really important for the best growth so you can be your best person," Nageena Singh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Picture (im)perfect

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Co-Sports and Social Media Editor
April 16, 2022
LA restaurant recommendations: Food that fulfills and decor that delights

LA restaurant recommendations: Food that fulfills and decor that delights

by Sally Zhu and Lakshmi Mulgund
April 9, 2022
Hummus and pita, and pasta with lemon chicken at The Proper Restaurant & Bar. The restaurant had many gluten-free and vegetarian options for those who couldn't eat meat products.

The walls of the Proper Restaurant & Bar are decorated with black and white photography and old books. The restaurant was known for their drinks including a variety of mocktails.

Deviled eggs get served to the table as a part of a set group of appetizers. The Proper Restaurant & Bar, located in Pasadena, serves Italian cuisine and scratch food dishes.

The Proper Restaurant & Bar 

April 9, 2022
Servers walk around the dining area at the Bottega Louie restaurant in Downtown Los Angeles. Though spacious, the large dining area led to a loud environment.

Rows of macarons decorate the display at Bottega Louie in Downtown Los Angeles. Harker Aquila visited Bottega Louie on Thursday for dinner.

Bottega Louie

April 9, 2022
Next year's ASB Secretary Michelle Jin (11) holds the microphone while giving her speech in the Athletic Center on Monday. Michelle brought up the idea of using the ASB Instagram page to post announcements and the ASB website to post meeting minutes.

Students elect Associated Student Body (ASB) members for 2022-23 school year

by Margaret Cartee, Asst. Opinions Editor
March 30, 2022
“The most satisfying part of playing piano is when I’m working on a really difficult passage for a long time, and then, for the very first time, I can play it through without stopping or mistakes. Even though the process of getting there can be really frustrating, at that one moment, it feels like everything before was worth it," Yvan Grinspan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Keys to compassion

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Social Media and Co-Sports Editor
January 20, 2022
Khanhlinh Tran (9) prepares to swing at the golf ball on Oct. 11.

Weekly Previews: Oct. 11-15

by Desiree Luo, Reporter
October 11, 2021
Tina Xu (12) swings at the golf ball while Emi Fujimara (10) looks on during the varsity girls golf team's match against Notre Dame-Belmont on Sept. 2.

Weekly Previews: Sept. 27-Oct. 3

by Kinnera Mulam, Olivia Xu, and Desiree Luo
September 26, 2021
Sydney Adler (11) reaches for the ball during the water polo team's match against Mountain View on Sept. 9.

Weekly Previews: Sept. 20-26

by Vishnu Kannan, Co-Managing Editor
September 20, 2021
Sports slideshow: Sept. 17

Sports slideshow: Sept. 17

by Alysa Suleiman, Smrithi Sambamurthy, Lakshmi Mulgund, Carter Chadwick, and Erica Cai
September 17, 2021
Jason Yi (9) jukes out a defender during football practice on August 13. The football team placed second in a 7 vs. 7 passing tournament in July.

Fall sports kickoff with preseason training

by Anika Mani and Lakshmi Mulgund
August 22, 2021
“You're never going to be perfect, you're never going to reach your exact goal, but you can keep working towards it, finding those small things that you can change that will make a bigger improvement than you ever think they'll be able to,” Aditi Vinod (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Skiing towards success

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Co-Sports and Social Media Editor
May 11, 2021
A conversation from right before COVID-19 lockdowns were put in place last year. More than a year later, the path to normalcy seems closer than ever.

How we overcame the unknown of 2020

by Harker Journalism Staff
April 17, 2021
I keep a whiteboard for quick notes and reminders to help me keep organized and always have my sketchbook in front of me in case I have any extra time after class or during breaks. I also make sure to have my bullet journal to keep track of what I need to do throughout the day.

Stories from quarantine: Our pandemic workspaces

by Emily Tan, Winged Post Features Editor
December 2, 2020
“[Music] is worth it because it's something that's for myself, and it's something that I genuinely have found myself to enjoy. It's a great way for me to express my own creativity and explore and learn about myself in the process,” Santoshi Tirumala (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Conversation isn’t always spoken

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Asst. Sports Editor
November 3, 2020
Brought to you by Harker Aquila, Funny You Should Mention It is a pop culture-based video podcast created by Rachel Ning (10) and Lakshmi Mulgund (10). 

Funny You Should Mention It: Episode 1

by Lakshmi Mulgund and Rachel Ning
August 20, 2020
At home and entertained: Movies and TV shows to watch during shelter-in-place

At home and entertained: Movies and TV shows to watch during shelter-in-place

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Reporter
May 3, 2020
Washington Monument. In front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, the Washington Monument is the tallest structure in the area, built to commemorate George Washington.

Awake at night: D.C. monuments honor nation’s history

by Tiffany Chang, Lakshmi Mulgund, Smrithi Sambamurthy, Pelin Unsal, Anna Vazhaeparambil, and Helen Zhu
November 23, 2019
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