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
Vedant Thyagaraj

Vedant Thyagaraj, Harker Aquila Science & Technology Editor

Vedant Thyagaraj is the Science & Technology Editor for Harker Aquila. He is currently a senior and has been on staff for the past three years. Vedant has a passion for technology and loves to be on top of the latest and greatest gadgets. He loves science research and economics and is very active in clubs in those areas. Outside of school, Vedant is very involved in non-profit activity and loves to run.

All content by Vedant Thyagaraj
This is the new Apple Watch that Apple released last month. More pictures can be found on Apple's website.

An Apple Watch for fitness?

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Aquila STEM Editor
May 11, 2015
Apple announced a new MacBook laptop and also finalized the details for its upcoming watch in a keynote on Monday. Apple will begin selling both devices in April.

New MacBooks and Apple Watch

by Vedant Thyagaraj
March 12, 2015
Senior Andrew Jin was named a first place winner at the Intel STS competition. Andrew is the first student from the school to win this award.

Senior Andrew Jin Named Intel STS Winner

by Vedant Thyagaraj and Vineet Kosaraju
March 12, 2015
The Pebble Time is Pebble's newest addition to its smart watch family. The device features a new color screen in place of the typical black and white screen found on the Pebble Smartwatch.

New Pebble SmartWatch

by Vedant Thyagaraj
February 26, 2015
Although it is mainly known for its therapeutic and meditative benefits, yoga can help loosen the body, increase flexibility and strengthen various muscles.

Yoga’s benefits make it a popular exercise and relaxation method

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Aquila STEM Editor
February 22, 2015
Radioshack files for bankruptcy

Radioshack files for bankruptcy

by Vedant Thyagaraj
February 20, 2015
Steven Wang (12) and Andrew Jin (12) were two of Harker's three Intel's finalists. Harker set a new national record with 15 semifinalists and 3 finalists.

Record number of Intel STS finalists announced

by Stanley Zhao, Vedant Thyagaraj, and Vineet Kosaraju
January 22, 2015
Android Auto is Google's latest attempt to expand the Android ecosystem. Android Auto allows for seamless integration of Android with modern cars.

Android Auto

by Vedant Thyagaraj
January 21, 2015
Aditya Dhar (10), Alexander Lam (10), and David Zhu (10) rehearse for their dance. This year's dance show will be themed "Jungle".

Behind the scenes: Upper School students prepare for 2015 Dance Show

by Neil Bai and Vedant Thyagaraj
January 16, 2015
CES is known for its novel technology platforms and concepts. CES 2015 will run from Jan. 6-9.

CES 2015 brings novel products

by Vedant Thyagaraj
January 9, 2015
Uber raised $1.2 billion in financing on Thursday. The company is currently valued at around $40 billion and is looking to expand its services to more countries.

Uber closes new financing round

by Vedant Thyagaraj
December 5, 2014
Intel Launches MICA Wearable Device

Intel Launches MICA Wearable Device

by Vedant Thyagaraj and Vineet Kosaraju
November 21, 2014
Snapchat Adds Money Sending Service

Snapchat Adds Money Sending Service

by Vedant Thyagaraj
November 21, 2014
What's the future of Apple?

What’s the future of Apple?

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Aquila STEM Editor
November 21, 2014
Thanksgiving Tech Must-Have’s

Thanksgiving Tech Must-Have’s

by Vedant Thyagaraj
November 14, 2014
On Monday, the highly anticipated, flagship, Nexus 9 tablets and Nexus 6 smartphones were released. The devices run the latest Android mobile operating system, Lollipop.

New Nexus 9 tablets and Nexus 6 phones

by Vedant Thyagaraj and Vineet Kosaraju
November 5, 2014

Looking to BEcon: Students debut first business conference

by Lauren Russell and Tiara Bhatacharya
October 24, 2014

The faces of Harker Dev: pro bono programmers

by Vedant Thyagaraj and Derek Yen
October 21, 2014
Q&A with Meograph CEO

Q&A with Meograph CEO

by Vedant Thyagaraj and Vineet Kosaraju
October 9, 2014
Seniors Rahul Balakrishnan and Abhi Gupta look over their stocks. The DECA Stock Market Challenge is an opportunity for students to invest in virtual stocks and will run until the end of the year.

Students begin the stock market challenge

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Aquila Science & Tech Editor
September 25, 2014
Andrew Jin (12), president of Research Club, goes through a presentation on selecting a research topic. Research Club had an informational meeting after school today, where it went over the protocols for participating the in Synopsys Science Fair in March.

Research Club Hosts First Introductory Workshop

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Aquila Science & Tech Editor
September 13, 2014
Amazon Steps Up Its Competitive Edge

Amazon Steps Up Its Competitive Edge

by Vineet Kosaraju, Vedant Thyagaraj, and Stanley Zhao
August 29, 2014
Freshman interacted with each other during orientation and engaged in various activities on Davis Field. The freshman participated in their first Matriculation ceremony on Friday and will be starting the first day of academic classes on Monday.

Class of 2018 steps in

by Vineet Kosaraju and Vedant Thyagaraj
August 24, 2014
Broadcast: Week in review (May 26-30)

Broadcast: Week in review (May 26-30)

by Shannon Su and Vedant Thyagaraj
May 30, 2014
There are different types of running shoes available, depending on the structure of the foot and the running environment. Name brands include Nike, Adidas, and Reebok.

Running with the right shoe

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Winged Post Tech Editor
May 29, 2014
Broadcast: Week in review (May 19-23)

Broadcast: Week in review (May 19-23)

by Shannon Su and Vedant Thyagaraj
May 23, 2014

Tech Talk with Vedant: Wearable Technology

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Winged Post Tech Editor
April 4, 2014
New automobile communication technology will allow cars to transfer data such as vehicle length, width, and mass from one to another. Experts hope that the system will allow people riding in vehicles to remain safer.

New vehicle technology to reduce collisions

by Vineet Kosaraju
March 12, 2014

Students Compete at Synopsys Science Fair

by Anokhi Saklecha and Vedant Thyagaraj
March 13, 2014

From Coins to Bitcoin

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Winged Post Tech Editor
March 12, 2014
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Email tips and tricks

by Shannon Su and Ria Gandhi
September 8, 2013
Technology at the 2014 Winter Olympics

Technology at the 2014 Winter Olympics

by Vivek Bharadwaj and Vedant Thyagaraj
February 7, 2014

Winter Sports Recap

by Juhi Gupta and Vedant Thyagaraj
February 6, 2014
The seniors and sophomores perform their routine during Wednesday lunch's activity. Each grade made paper dragons and choreographed a dance for the judges. With students and teachers watching on the sides of the walkways in front of Manzanita Hall, the performances were a great way to celebrate Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year spirit event takes place

by Sean Youn and Vedant Thyagaraj
January 30, 2014

Tech Talk with Thyagaraj

by Vedant Thyagaraj, Winged Post Tech Editor
January 27, 2014
Release date of iPhones 5S and 5C looms, eliciting mixed student response

Release date of iPhones 5S and 5C looms, eliciting mixed student response

by Vedant Thyagaraj and Tara Parimi
November 1, 2013
Sriram Somasundaram (11) checks his phone to see what his schedule for the day looks like. The iPhone is a popular smartphone among students and allows them to access information on the go.

New iPhones 5S and 5C released

by Vedant Thyagaraj
September 12, 2013
Students enjoy the numerous camps offered during the summer. Different types of camps include sports camps, science camps, math camps, and art camps

Students take many various summer courses

by Vedant Thyagaraj
June 7, 2013
Ramsey Homsany, General Counsel for Dropbox Inc., speaks to students about what his job entails. Students were specifically interested in the intersection of technology and legal affairs.

General Counsel for Dropbox speaks to students

by Vedant Thyagaraj
March 20, 2013
Dejected by the Baltimore Ravens' continuing success, Sushant Thyagaraj (7) reacts to the opening half performance of the San Francisco 49ers during the Super Bowl. The Niners' performance was disappointing to many fans who were expecting more.

2013 Super Bowl: Mixed emotions from students

by Vasudha Rengarajan and Vedant Thyagaraj
February 4, 2013
Students enjoy cookies, one of Howard Nichols’ favorite treats, in memory of him. Head of School Christopher Nikoloff talked about Nichols' life during school meeting on Monday, October 15.

Cookies shared in remembrance of Howard Nichols

by Emily Lin and Vedant Thyagaraj
October 16, 2012
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