The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“I find value in what I do because it makes people feel happy when they see us perform. It makes them feel encouraged. It brings spirit to people, and it brings our team together in the community. Dance — it's a community thing, not just moving," senior Zachary Soraire said.
Humans of Harker: Dancing in the spotlight
Humans of Harker: Crossing the finish line
Humans of Harker: Crossing the finish line
“I want to be known as someone that’s able to do my own thing, so goal-determined that I don’t let the failures stop me: someone who can take the situation and turn around to look at it from an optimistic view. I’ll just keep getting back up again and again and again," senior Rushil Jaiswal said.
Humans of Harker: Going the extra mile
“A lot of team members at Addax Games had more experience than me, so there is a lot of stuff that I don’t know as well as they do about those games. In general that would be bad, but when it comes to playtesting, that can be quite useful because not everyone who plays the game will be super experienced with board games," senior Saahil Herrero said.
Humans of Harker: Player to playtester
Humans of Harker: Charging through challenges
Humans of Harker: Charging through challenges
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
All content by Shreya Srinivasan
“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

by Saloni Shah and Erica Cai
July 26, 2021
“Everything happens for a reason, so in my mind, there's going to be a class or a professor, or an assignment or something that leads me somewhere. That's my vision … [and] we'll see [how it ends up],” Anna Arnaudova (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Cheez-its and chuckles

by Ariana Goetting and Defne Avkarogullari
May 5, 2021
“[The Notre Dame-Belmont tournament] shifted how I saw being on a team. You don't have to be on the court to contribute; you're important no matter where you are. It was almost a turning point of the season where we started doing really well afterwards … I started to like even cheering on the bench,” Emma Dionne (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Acing life as an athlete

by Tina Xu, TALON Co-Sports Editor
April 26, 2021
“I don't think I've ever been pushed more in a role than I had for [Marvin's Room] because not only was I in every single scene, I was majorly featured in every single scene. It was a character who’s so different from me, in every single way that I really had to get more creative about how I portrayed her. After I did that role, I fell into this mindset of, ‘Okay, I'm an actor now’ because before I really saw myself as a singer who acts sometimes,” Vaishnavi Murari (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Time to shine

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 23, 2021
“Sculpture is a way for me to communicate my ideas and beliefs in a way that resonates with a viewer. I really enjoy the process of experimenting with a bunch of different materials because the medium that I work in, mixed media sculptures, is very open-ended,” Alex Zhai (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Medium with meaning

by Shinjan Ghosh, TALON Co-Student Life Editor
April 21, 2021
“I realized I wasn’t being my true self [in middle school]. I was putting myself in a box. I used to be really intentional with the words that I was saying, but once I got open [as] I grew up, I lost that need to be completely filtered. That’s one of the best changes that has ever happened to me, just growing more confident,” Elaine Zhai (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding comfort in the uncomfortable

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
April 14, 2021
“I've always been observant of what other people are feeling and I've always wanted to help people. Experiencing my own struggles made me really understand what it feels like. I just want to make sure no one feels alone, no one should feel that way,” Vidya Jeyendran (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Soundtrack of soft science

by Sydney Ling and Katelyn Zhao
April 12, 2021
“The field of neuroscience … I had always thought of it as something super technical. I didn't think I was able to get involved in it as a high schooler. The fact that I was able to get into what I thought would be a super technical field, and don't get me wrong, it definitely is, but I was able to get involved in it as a high schooler — I'm glad that I encountered it and that people exposed me to it,” Pramiti Sankar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Freeing the mind

by Nicholas Wei, Humans of Harker Profiler
March 16, 2021
“With music, a lot of it is interpretation and making the music that you make into [a] style distinct to yourself. In research, your objective is to solve a problem or find an answer; the creativity plays in the sense of how you approach that, [which is] similar [to] music [in] how you interpret things or how you decide to make the mood of that piece,” Elizabeth Szeto (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Learning from others

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief
January 13, 2021
My workspace essentials include a pen/pencil holder, a notebook, and my laptop. I've never been one to always sit at my desk to study, but I've been forcing myself to do that more now that we're at home!

Stories from quarantine: Our pandemic workspaces

by Emily Tan, Winged Post Features Editor
December 2, 2020
The 2019-2020 yearbook will be distributed to students on Nov. 7, during the monthly pick-up day. This year's theme is "Emergence."

My pandemic essentials include my laptop, scrunchies, my phone, AirPods, a sweatshirt, colorful pens and Cookies 'N' Creme Hershey's Kisses. I use these items to keep myself entertained and comfortable during quarantine.

Stories from quarantine: Our pandemic essentials

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Varsha Rammohan, and Irina Malyugina
April 20, 2020
“Downbeat has taught me to be more confident in myself and to also take risks on stage without worrying about what others might think. When I get out of my head and stop thinking about how others will perceive me, performing is actually so fun and engaging. You can take on so many different roles and personas, and finding the right balance for the character you’re trying to portray while still including your own personal flair is truly a challenge but honestly one of the most interesting experiences I’ve had,” Emily Chen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Taking charge

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Managing Editor and Business Manager
March 25, 2020
“Trying to be friends with as many different people as possible has been really cool and also kind of life changing because I think I've definitely become a different person. Since coming here and just getting to know different people and accepting them has been really interesting for me, and I think that it's a really good thing to learn early on in your life,” Allie Lee (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Love is the secret ingredient

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Managing Editor and Business Manager
February 28, 2020
“When I’m feeling some type of way...art is really a distraction because especially when you’re sketching something and trying to be meticulous about it and really focused on achieving a specific goal. You really have to give it most of your attention which is nice because when I’m in class, I have a lot on my mind and it’s nice to almost be forced to focus on one thing and just take it easy,” Delaney Logue (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Adding color

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Managing Editor and Business Manager
January 13, 2020
Charlie Molin (12) saves a ball near the net during the third set, which the Eagles won 25-19 to give them a 2-1 lead in the match.

Live coverage: Boys volleyball takes on Monta Vista in NorCal finals

by Aditya Singhvi, Anna Vazhaeparambil, and Shreya Srinivasan
May 18, 2019
“Not anything is given to you. You know, you got to take it and you have to earn it. Hard work pays off."

Humans of Harker: Touchdowns and life lessons

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Organizations and Co-Sports Editor
March 21, 2019
“Clothes just represent my mood. If I’m in a more happy mood, then I’ll express that through vibrant colors and put more effort into what I’m wearing. I also like to express my culture through fashion. I’m Pakistani so when we go out to a Pakistani event, I like to wear salwar kameezes or saris because I think it's a part of who I am growing up and seeing these strong women wearing these things," Sunya Siddiqui (12) said.

“Everyone has goodness in them and happiness inside them but sometimes people don’t really see it, or the current stress and load of things that are bothering them is kind of blocking them from accessing that happiness. I think it’s important for people to realize in the midst of all this craziness there is a way for people to be happy, and once you are happy, you’re going to be more productive and more motivated," Nastya Sushkova (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Positivity from within

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Organizations and Co-Sports Editor
January 26, 2019
Emma Boyce (10) tussles for the ball against an opposing Crystal player. The girls lost 0-1 at home on Tuesday.

Girls varsity soccer faces narrow loss against Crystal Springs Uplands

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Organizations and Co-Sports Editor
January 19, 2019
Curry Pizza House offers a variety of pizzas including this one, the Tandoori Chicken Pizza. The restaurant merges Italian and Indian cuisines to create dishes called Desi Pizzas.

Curry Pizza House blends traditional Italian dishes with Indian curries

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Organizations and Co-Sports Editor
January 11, 2019
Alycia Cary (12) gives a talk about how to view the fear of ambiguity and categorical thinking at TEDx on Saturday. Senior speakers are chosen after a process of filling out an application about their interests and being interviewed by the TEDx team.

Annual TEDx event features speakers who “dare to differentiate”

by Shreya Srinivasan, TALON Reporter
October 24, 2018
"If I could describe water polo in one word, I would say it's tough,” Aadith Srinivasan (12) said. “From early morning conditioning to summer practices in the blazing heat to chlorine burning my eyes following a long day of games, the sport has taught me that I have to make sacrifices in order to do something I love."

Humans of Harker: Aadith Srinivasan leads silently

by Andrew Chang, TALON Organizations Editor
June 12, 2018
“Golf is pretty unpredictable,” Jin Kim (12) said. “Even the best in the world have bad days and it's pretty hard to deal with it, but it's a growing experience because I have to learn to deal with bad rounds. In the end, it just feels really good leaving the course after practice because I knew I worked really hard that day and I could go home and rest easy.”

Humans of Harker: Jin Kim derives easygoing attitude from golf

by Shreya Srinivasan, Reporter
April 10, 2018
"During summer, I had an internship in [San Francisco], and I brought my junior mentality with me, so I was trying to be perfect and I was stressed about everything," Preethi Madabusi (12) said. "The manager sat me down and we had a performance review, so he was analyzing my performance and he said that I was a really hard worker but there was one thing I needed to fix, and that was that I needed to calm down. He said that I tried to be perfect and no one can be perfect. That's when I realized if other people can notice that about me, that's something I should really change."

Humans of Harker: Preethi Madabusi opens up during conversations

by Shreya Srinivasan, Reporter
March 19, 2018
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