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
Arjun Barrett

Arjun Barrett, Aquila and Winged Post Managing Editor

Arjun Barrett (12) is the managing editor of Harker Aquila and the Winged Post. In his third year on staff, he plans to dive deep into various topics and report the highly technical information that the more STEM-inclined members of our community enjoy. Outside of journalism, Arjun enjoys software development and ethical hacking.

All content by Arjun Barrett
A redwood tree outside of Dobbins Hall fell in front of the library. Administration called all students to the Zhang Gymnasium following the event.

Tree collapses outside Dobbins Hall, injuries being ‘taken care of’

by Felix Chen, Sally Zhu, Sabrina Zhu, Lavanya Subramanian, Arjun Barrett, and Ella Yee
March 21, 2023
The Empire State Building stands above New York City. Harker journalism visited the attraction during the CSPA Spring Convention, traveling all the way up to the 102nd floor.

Highest of high-rises

by Arjun Barrett, Angelina Hu, and Edward Huang
March 18, 2023
An illustration of censorship of a student newspaper. The debate over student press freedom continues to rage on at the state level across the country.

Fight for their rights: Student publications stand up for freedom of press

by Arjun Barrett and Sally Zhu
March 17, 2023
Women’s History Month serves as one way students and faculty can celebrate women’s many contributions to modern society and recognize their erasure throughout history. “It’s a chance to pause and reflect on the fact we need a separate category of history for half the population of the world,” FEM Club Advisor Donna Gilbert said.

“We can still do better:” honor her-story

by Arjun Barrett, Managing Editor
March 16, 2023
A conceptual illustration of a transformer box commonly used by AI. While machine learning text generators like ChatGPT might seem impressive, they rarely understand the content they produce at the same level as humans.

The AI revolution isn’t here yet

by Arjun Barrett, Managing Editor
March 13, 2023

Photo Slideshow Jan. 11

by Arjun Barrett, Aryana Bharali, Margaret Cartee, Vivian Chen, Mirabelle Feng, Charlie Folk, Emma Gao, Vika Gautham, Ariana Goetting, Edward Huang, Yifan Li, Isha Moorjani, Katie Reed, Jessica Tang, Lindsey Tuckey, and Katie Wang
February 9, 2023
“I like considering the viewpoints of people who I disagree with. I’ll go to the Heritage Foundation to read news articles even though I expressly disagree with their views. [In debate], I can’t tunnel vision into one side of the argument; I have to understand not only how to make my own claims, but also the intricacies of the other side," Muzzi Khan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding the middle ground

by Arjun Barrett, Managing Editor
February 3, 2023
International Physics Olympiad Gold Medalist and Harker alumnus Rishab Parthasarathy (‘22) delivers a keynote speech virtually to attendees of the inaugural Harker Physics Invitational (HPhI). The inaugural contest took place on Nov. 19, gathering over 100 participants virtually.

Inaugural student-run Harker Physics Invitational draws over 100 attendees

by Arjun Barrett, Managing Editor
January 17, 2023
The security of our digital lives has become a more pressing concern in recent years. Recent developments in the field of cybersecurity could disrupt global technology in minutes.

Why cybercriminals don’t ‘hack the mainframe’ anymore

by Arjun Barrett, Managing Editor
August 31, 2022
“One of the best things about what I do is the benefit to others. It's very exciting to provide something for a group of people and make them enjoy a specific activity that you helped contribute to. In an environment where it can be really stressful sometimes, it's good to get a smile or two," Arvin Nidadavolu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A stroke of brilliance

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor
May 9, 2022
“This competition, we spent a lot of time working on the autonomous functions. We designed a routine that would steal from the other teams, which no other teams really had in the competition. And we managed to execute that pretty consistently against some of the better teams. Continuing to learn more and more useful information over time is really important for growth," Chirag Kaushik (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Innovation and automation

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor
April 27, 2022
Hacking groups have attacked both Ukrainian and Russian government websites, bringing a new era of cyber warfare. Along with other misinformation on the internet, cyber warfare tactics pose a rising threat to civilian lives.

A new generation of warfare

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor
April 12, 2022
“[Life is] about finding your true passion, sharing it and following it in a way that makes you happy. You don’t have to be like everyone else. If you be who you want to be, you will be successful, and there will always be a community willing to embrace you," Harshil Garg (12) said.

Humans of Harker: For the record

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor
February 28, 2022
A large portion of modern technology relies on open-source packages, or software and applications that are available to the public.

Unsung heroes fuel the software industry

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor
December 2, 2021
The global silicon shortage, driven mainly by the pandemic, has hampered the production of widespread technologies, including automobiles.

How a 50 cent part is killing a trillion dollar industry

by Arjun Barrett, Assistant STEM Editor
September 24, 2021
STEM Scene showcases briefs to update our community on the STEM world.

STEM Scene: Sept. 14

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor
September 14, 2021
An illustration of the COVID-19 virus. This article addresses common myths surrounding COVID-19, the delta variant and vaccines and provides accurate answers from the CDC and The New England Journal of Medicine.

Myth-busting COVID-19 and the vaccines

by Arjun Barrett and Nicole Tian
August 28, 2021
STEM Scene showcases briefs to update our community on the STEM world.

STEM Scene: Aug. 17

by Sabrina Zhu and Arjun Barrett
August 17, 2021
Marchers attend a rally in San Francisco on June 19, 2020, to commemorate Black history and advocate for investment in education. Last Wednesday, the passage of the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act established June 19 as a federal holiday.

Juneteenth celebrated nationwide as a federal holiday

by Sabrina Zhu and Arjun Barrett
June 23, 2021
“I'd want to be remembered for being someone who you can have a conversation with that would make you think and make you laugh. I don't think those two things are two extremes; they can be two sides of the same coin because a really interesting conversation with someone can be both really funny and really thought-provoking,” Akshay Manglik (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The philosophy of humor

by Arjun Barrett, Reporter
April 29, 2021
This simple program represents my opinions on the pandemic: I've loved being able to develop my hobbies over the pandemic, especially with regards to programming. But at the same time, the convoluted nature of the code is also reflective of the confusion I've felt over with regards to the pandemic.

How we overcame the unknown of 2020

by Harker Journalism Staff
April 17, 2021
"I want to be remembered for being a person who's always there for people to talk to, and I want to be that person who people can come to whenever they have a problem or if they want to talk or if they have good news or bad news, and they want to share it," Ankita Kundu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Your daily dose of compassion

by Arjun Barrett and Aastha Mangla
April 7, 2021
Attendees laugh at upper school Director of Learning, Innovation and Design Diane Main’s joke during a Zoom cook-off held by junior class council, where contestants gave presentations and taste tests of their dishes.

Upper school student council connects community virtually

by Anmol Velagapudi and Arjun Barrett
February 23, 2021
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