The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“I want to be remembered as someone who helped my friends and people I know in the grades below to be able to appreciate all of our experiences together. I find it very inspiring to watch all my friends mature over time and want to help this community grow," senior Max Zhai said.
Humans of Harker: Mentoring the next generation
Humans of Harker: Bonds and bullseyes
Humans of Harker: Bonds and bullseyes
Humans of Harker: Piecing together a narrative
Humans of Harker: Piecing together a narrative
“When I was a VP, I had this urge to think, ‘I was a director last year. I know exactly what to do. I'm gonna do it myself, and then the directors can watch and take it on for the next year.' But then I had to realize that it's important to delegate and let them go through the hardship that it took me the year before. Even if they don't understand it, it's also important for them to go through that experience so that they can get to the point where I am now," senior Sanaa Bhorkar said.
Humans of Harker: Directing effort, coordinating action
“My hobbies are a lot of trial and error. With cooking and photography, it takes a lot of patience and messing up, and I kind of love that. I love growing and just getting better at something. There are just some creative outlets that I think are fun ways to spend time," senior Haden Andrews said.
Humans of Harker: Camaraderie, creativity and cooking
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
Vivek Moorjani

Vivek Moorjani, Humans of Harker Profiler

Vivek Moorjani (11) is a Profiler for Humans of Harker, and this is his third year on staff. This year, he looks forward to writing various types of articles, improving his photography and trying a Humans of Harker multimedia video. In his free time, he enjoys volunteering and reading.

All content by Vivek Moorjani
A group of Harker volunteers pose for a picture at Second Harvest of Silicon Valley's Cypress Center in North San Jose on January 20. Harker reserved two shifts on the Martin Luther King Junior Day of Service, sorting 6974 pounds of food. (Provided by Second Harvest)

Second Harvest Food Bank: Transforming food waste into lifelines

by Vivek Moorjani, Humans of Harker Managing Editor
May 2, 2025
Ashley Dickerson (9) folds a piece of paper to make origami. The Mythology Club, Origami Club and Japanese National Honor Society held a collaborative event on Monday.

Mythology Club and Origami Club collaborate with Japanese National Honor Society

by Cynthia Xie and Vivek Moorjani
March 1, 2025
Public Health Club Vice Presidents of Internal Affairs Terry Xie (11) and Ritisha Chakravarty (10) explain and guide members through the video game Plague Inc. The game introduced club members to the origins behind deadly illnesses and how scientists create vaccines to mitigate them.

STEM Spotlight: Public Health Club

by Lily Peng and Vivek Moorjani
February 3, 2025
Collaborative app spreads sustainability through textbook sharing

Collaborative app spreads sustainability through textbook sharing

by Vivek Moorjani and Lily Peng
January 15, 2025
Nov. 5 marks Election Day, and Harker Aquila is following along with national news with their own live coverage, including polls and community responses. Check this page for more information about the presidential, Senate and House of Representatives races, as well as California's propositions.

Live Coverage: 2024 Presidential Election

by Emma Milner, Alison Yang, Lily Shi, Eva Cheng, Disha Gupta, Suhani Gupta, Mendy Mao, Ashley Mo, Jonathan Szeto, Tiffany Zhu, Leah Krupnik, Lindsay Li, Vivek Moorjani, Lily Peng, Samuel Tong, Chelsea Xie, Cynthia Xie, Nathan Yee, and Elizabeth Zhang
November 5, 2024
Physics teacher Lisa Radice reaches up to hit the shuttlecock during LIFE Board's badminton tournament. In the third place match, Radice, upper school assistant division head Kelly Horan and math teacher Bradley Stoll faced off against frosh Adrian Jia and Daniel Xi.

LIFE board hosts badminton tournament during school meeting

by Vivek Moorjani and William Jiang
November 4, 2024
Outside Annabel Huang (10) dives to the ground to save a ball. The Eagles defeated the Knights in two sets 25-22 and 25-15.

Junior varsity girls volleyball conquers Kings Academy in two sets

by Vivek Moorjani and Cynthia Xie
October 30, 2024
Ankola works with companies around the world to provide a wide selection of cosmetic offerings. By testing products himself before offering them on the Spyra app, he ensures that the products supplied to his customers stay true to their advertising.

Blooming from the STEM: Connecting through cosmetics

by Jonathan Szeto and Vivek Moorjani
October 11, 2024
Humans of Harker staff presented at JEA NorCal Media Day on Saturday. They discussed the process of creating Humans of Harker and how such projects could be started in other schools.

Journalism presents “Humans of [Your School]” at JEA NorCal Media Day

by Suhani Gupta and Vivek Moorjani
September 28, 2024
Journalism Editors-in-Chief line up after the end of their presentation. They discussed leadership strategies and challenges during their session.

Leading together, learning together

by Mendy Mao and Vivek Moorjani
September 28, 2024
Varsity girls volleyball cheers during the scrimmage. They currently hold a 0-1 record.

Varsity girls volleyball warms up for season with Wilcox scrimmage

by Mendy Mao and Vivek Moorjani
September 5, 2024
Harker welcomes several new faculty and staff members to the upper school this year. Many of the new faculty and staff expressed their excitement to step into their new positions.

Welcoming new faces on campus

by Isabella Lo, Mendy Mao, Janam Chahal, Claire Yu, and Vivek Moorjani
August 23, 2024
Humans of Harker: Swiping through with perseverance

Humans of Harker: Swiping through with perseverance

by Vivek Moorjani, Humans of Harker Profiler
May 23, 2024
“I've always considered myself an optimist; I've never been able to find reasons to not be happy. If you just approach everything with that mentality of either ‘there's something I look forward to that is a positive outcome,’ or ‘there's something positive I can do to remedy the situation,’ it's very difficult to feel upset," Tanisha Singh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: An optimistic outlook

by Vivek Moorjani and Claire Su
May 22, 2024
"There's nothing gender-essentialist about sharing your feelings — anybody can," Odekirk said.

Departing staff reflect on their years of service

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor
May 24, 2024
Attendees of the research club take part in a mock-science fair in preparation for Synopsys on March 7. Synopsys is the Santa Clara County regional research championship.

Research Club holds Synopsys Championship preparation meeting

by Vivek Moorjani, HoH Profiler
March 18, 2024
The Language and Linguistics Club meet in upper school French teacher Galina Tchourilova's room on Feb. 27. The presentation focused on sociolinguistics and the diversity of dialects.

Discussing dialects: Language and Linguistics Club discovers sociolinguistics

by Vivek Moorjani, Humans of Harker Profiler
March 6, 2024
Shafia Zaloom speaks to the frosh and sophomore classes about consent in a LIFE session on Feb. 2. Zaloom explained the meaning of a healthy relationship and emphasized the importance of not being pressured into making decisions.

Students explore cyber awareness, healthy relationships and life after high school through February LIFE assemblies

by Vivek Moorjani and Ella Guo
February 23, 2024
Civic Tech Club President Krish Nachnani (10) asks speaker Sam Liccardo a question during a club event on Jan. 11. Liccardo touched upon topics of advocacy through talking about his past experiences.

Civic Tech Club continues speaker series with technology and advocacy experts

by Vivek Moorjani, Humans of Harker Profiler
January 24, 2024
Maria Hantzopoulos speaks as the morning keynote for Harker's Social Justice Conference in the Zhang Gym on Nov. 10. Hantzopoulos spoke about her personal upbringings in Queens, New York and her experiences with students with New York City public schools to address how the community can support social justice.

Harker hosts first ever Social Justice Conference

by Felix Chen, Alison Yang, Brandon Zau, and Vivek Moorjani
November 29, 2023
Caden Ruan (10) holds a container of ice cream syrup outside of Manzanita Hall during the DECA Ice Cream Social on Nov. 3. DECA month celebrations continue with the final Hustle for Muscle volleyball games happening in the Athletic Center on Tuesday.

DECA celebrates participation in DECA through ice cream social and more

by Vivek Moorjani, Katie Tcheng, and Gabe Sachse
November 13, 2023
The team celebrates after a kill from outside hitter Aline Grinspan (10). Aline, who usually plays in the backrow, began hitting for the Eagles this season following injuries to outsides Navya Samuel (11) and Elie Ahluwalia (10).

Varsity girls volleyball celebrates senior night with a three set victory over Priory

by Eva Cheng, Vivek Moorjani, and Alison Yang
October 31, 2023
Various element samples sit in the new periodic table installment in Nichols Hall. “We've been trying to make the building a place that invites students to come and learn more than what we're teaching them in the classroom,” upper school science department head Anita Chetty said.

New periodic table in Nichols Hall contains real element samples

by Vivek Moorjani, Reporter
October 13, 2023
Sophomores Syna Sharma, Disha Gupta, Ruhi Banerjee and Judi Abdelrazik cheer for their class in tug-of-war on Davis Field today. Upper school students compete in tug-of-war preliminaries during Homecoming week and finals on Homecoming night each year.

Homecoming Week Day 2: Classes gather for spirit day parade and tug-of-war

by Vivek Moorjani, Charlize Wang, and Brandon Zau
October 3, 2023
A parent converses with athletics department representative Vyom Vidyarthi (11) at the Harker athletics booth during Back-to-School Day on Saturday. Club and organization representatives, including faculty and students, set up booths outside the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) Saturday morning.

Annual upper school Back to School Day bridges parent to teacher connections

by Ashley Mo, Vivek Moorjani, and Ananya Sriram
September 10, 2023
“[My motto is] to stand out. A lot of times when I was younger, I really loved to blend in in the background because I didn't want attention on me, but when you stand out, people can really see who you are,” Makayla Aguilar-Zuniga (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Empowerment through expression

by Vivek Moorjani, Reporter
February 26, 2023
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