The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“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
“I have the ability to convey my opinions and ideas through art, which in my opinion, is the most powerful tool I have because not everyone has it. It requires me to, first of all, have an opinion or thought, and second of all, be able to convey it with this medium. Together, that is the strongest calling for an artist," senior Eva Li said.
Humans of Harker: Artistry in abstraction
"I like challenging myself to really, really high expectations and then surprisingly, somehow it works, and I think I have the most fun doing that. Rather than making a beginner thing, I wanna be the best .I wanna do the craziest thing first," senior Gabe Li said.
Humans of Harker: B-roll to your beat
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
Aryana Bharali

Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Managing Editor

Aryana Bharali (12) is a Managing editor for Humans of Harker, and this is her fourth year on staff. This year, she looks forward to sharing the stories of the graduating class and interviewing different people on and off the campus. In her free time, she enjoys trying new coffee shops and listening to music.

All content by Aryana Bharali
Senior Rei Binkley paints a diya on Friday. Those who celebrate Diwali typically light diyas to commemorate the holiday of lights.

Embracing the light: Students and faculty celebrate Diwali spirit

by Aryana Bharali and Risa Chokhawala
November 1, 2024
Senior Navya Samuel plays with her Eagle Buddy group on Davis Field. Students had the option to interact with their Buddies on the field, as well as tour the upper school campus.

Sophomores and seniors connect with Eagle Buddies as freshman and juniors attend LIFE sessions

by Aryana Bharali, Jonathan Szeto, Leah Krupnik, and Victoria Li
September 29, 2024
Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology teacher Anita Chetty uses a probe to guide a group in examining a specific part of the rat. Throughout the dissection, she checked in with each group to ensure they could clearly identify the structures.

Human Anatomy and Physiology classes conduct rat dissection

by Aryana Bharali and Isabella Lo
September 27, 2024
At three years old, Tanishk found his affinity for tennis by hitting tennis balls in the garage, and under the mentorship of his father, he began to pursue tennis more seriously a few years later. Today, he continues to excel, ranking second statewide in the Class of 2027 and holding the National High School Tennis All-American Foundation’s 2024 title. 

Apex: Discipline over discomfort

by Tiffany Zhu and Aryana Bharali
September 17, 2024
Departing staff reflect on their years of service

Departing staff reflect on their years of service

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor
May 24, 2024
“It’s gratifying knowing that I’m helping people, especially when I see that they’re struggling. People have their conditions that they have to live with, and if I can help with that, then I will. There’s a lot of people who are scared to ask for help, so volunteering gave me that experience of being the one to reach out to them and offer that help," Diya Mukherjee (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Countering complications

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor
May 23, 2024
Andrew Smith (12) cheers from the sidelines as teammate Veyd Patil (12) races down the track in the varsity boys 1600-meter. Veyd placed second in his event with a time of 4:21.72.

Track and field runners race at WBAL Championship on senior night

by Aishani Singh, Felix Chen, and Aryana Bharali
May 11, 2024
All aboard: Union Station wows locals and tourists alike

All aboard: Union Station wows locals and tourists alike

by Jonathan Xue, Vika Gautham, Katerina Matta, Emma Milner, Alison Yang, Jessica Wang, and Aryana Bharali
April 6, 2024
“When I get into an activity, I try to gain experience and use that experience to help others. I really enjoy helping people and providing guidance to them. I want people to remember me as someone who’s willing to use my knowledge for the better and make an impact on others’ experiences,” Justin Chen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Ace-ing analytics

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Profiler
March 8, 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron delivered a speech to Congress about the relations between France and the United States in 2018. Macron chose Gabriel Attal as France's new Prime Minister on Jan. 9. (Provided by house.gov)

Global Headlines (January 2024)

by Aryana Bharali and Ella Guo
February 6, 2024
Forward Ryder Hewitt (10) steers the ball away from the sideline. The team currently holds an overall record of 5-10-1.

Varsity boys soccer overcomes Pinewood 3-1

by Aryana Bharali and Jessica Hu
February 4, 2024
Keira Chang (10) holds her self-published children’s book titled “Marinara and Alfredo: How Do Rainbows Work?” next to the periodic table exhibit in Nichols Hall. “Growing up, I had a lot of questions about STEM and science in general, and I know other children are like that too,” Keira said.

Marinara and Alfredo: Sophomore authors Amazon bestseller

by Aryana Bharali and Kairui Sun
February 1, 2024
Eva Cheng (10) navigates through Gunn's defense, finding an opening to make a pass to her teammate. The varsity girls soccer team travels to Westmont High School next.

Varsity girls soccer dominates season opener with 2-0 victory against Gunn

by Aryana Bharali and Edward Huang
December 12, 2023
"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

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Profiler
August 17, 2023
“Oftentimes when you interact with a professor or teacher at Harker, it’s a very professional relationship, but through this process, I got to know these very accomplished people as just people. It’s great to make interpersonal connections with such amazing people that I never thought I’d get the opportunity to speak to,” Vishnu Veeravalli ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Philosophical parallels, scientific studies

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Profiler
August 13, 2023
"I was running through some of my lessons with my teachers, and I asked them, 'When does somebody stop taking lessons? When will somebody stop trying to explore music?' They responded, 'When it stops being fun,'" Vishal Rohra ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Composed of compassion

by Andrew Liang, Co-News Editor
May 29, 2023
Meet your teacher: Ace of all trades

Meet your teacher: Ace of all trades

by Aryana Bharali and Tiffany Chang
May 1, 2023
“If there's a certain route that I'm working on, I know I'm not going to get it immediately. If I want to challenge myself, I have to take time to slowly work on it and not expect perfection from the beginning. Rock climbing helps me think about life in terms of just chipping at it and not tackling everything head-on as a whole,” Aaron Tiritoglu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Scaling new heights

by Emma Milner, Asst. Sports Editor
March 5, 2023
Upper school nurse Jennifer Olson processes a COVID-19 test in her office on Friday. "We do recommend daily testing for two to three days as it can take some time for the test to convert to positive once symptoms have started," Olson said.

Upper school COVID-19 cases rise after Winter Ball

by Aryana Bharali and Ella Yee
February 13, 2023

Sports Photo Slideshow Jan. 11

by Aryana Bharali, Margaret Cartee, Emma Gao, Isabella Lo, Jessica Tang, Alison Yang, and Brandon Zau
February 9, 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
Nolan Chen (10) and Gary Jin (10) run during the junior varsity boys game against University Prep on Tuesday. The Eagles burst into an early 10-3 lead following a flurry of free throws, layups and putbacks.

Junior varsity boys basketball team crushes University Preparatory 63-22

by Alison Yang, Jessica Wang, and Andrew Liang
December 14, 2022
Attendee Kashish Priyam (10) listens to Dr. Jang's talk. “A lot of the time when we hear about research, it’s skewed to one perspective, so it’s nice to hear from [other viewpoints] to learn about what it would be like if we wanted to join any of these fields,” Kashish said.

WiSTEM and Medical clubs invite members to cancer researcher speaker event

by Aryana Bharali, Humans of Harker Profiler
December 9, 2022
Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) members speak to upper school students at the school meeting on Oct. 21. They announced the pumpkin carving competition on Oct. 28 during long lunch and invited all students to dress up for Halloween.

School meeting recap 10/21/22: Fall play, GSA panel and lockdown drill

by Felix Chen, Reporter
October 26, 2022
Certificate seniors Sujith Pakala, Irene Yuan, Teresa Cai, Malar Bala, Richie Amarillas and Ysabel Chen pose with their certificates after Senior Showcase. Friday’s Senior Showcase and Hammies Ceremony recognized this year’s 17 graduating Certificate students as well as other Conservatory members.

Senior performing arts students conclude year at upper school with final showcases and awards

by Aryana Bharali, Kevin Zhang, and Sally Zhu
May 22, 2022
“It’s impossible to [express] how much debate has helped me with communicating with people and articulating my ideas beyond the tournament setting. The value of debate transcends rounds when you’re able to apply that [knowledge] to real life scenarios," Vienna Parnell (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Communicating and creating

by Aryana Bharali, Reporter
April 11, 2022
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