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

Helen Yang, Features Columnist

Helen Yang (12) is the Arts & Entertainment Columnist for Harker Aquila and Winged Post. She sees journalism as an opportunity to interact with and understand the community around her. In her free time, she enjoys reading, playing the piano and listening to global music genres. She also holds a black belt in Tae Kwon Do.

All content by Helen Yang
Helen's BTS Podcast

Helen’s BTS Podcast

by Helen Yang, Reporter
May 14, 2019
"I’ve got a pretty good life and have a lot of reasons to be happy. And I want other people to be happy, too, [so] I always try to be the best supporter that I can be. I [am] a feminist and ally, because I can’t just sit around… I need to do my part and help out. I actively participate, because if I don’t decide to be really committed, I won’t be able to make a real impact. If you want change to happen, then you need to do your part to make change happen," Damini Kaushik (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Joy in spreading joy

by Helen Yang, Columnist
May 11, 2019
A spiritual experience.

Greetings from California

by Arely Sun, Catherine Feng, and Helen Yang
April 25, 2019
"Getting past my own head—just being confident in what I say or do—I think that’s my biggest challenge… But I find that as long as I prepare, then I’m fluent enough and confident enough to be proud of what I’m doing. When I go into the [debate] round, the nervousness fades away as I give my speech. That’s when I don’t really care who I’m debating, because I’m confident in myself," Clarissa Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Curiosity and confidence

by Helen Yang, Reporter
April 24, 2019
“Moving to America, I was really scared in the beginning. It was like coming to an amusement park where there are a lot of people having a lot of fun, and then finding out that everyone is different from you. Academic challenges are easier to deal with, but making new friends—these kinds of things are more emotionally attached. I had to embrace the environment, and then the environment embraced me," Jessica Pan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Turning barriers into stepping stones

by Helen Yang, Reporter
February 19, 2019
Ishaan Mantripragada (9) dribbles the ball downfield as a St. Francis player chases after him. The Eagles lost the game 4-2.

Freshmen excel on varsity teams in fall, winter seasons

by Irene Yuan, Muthu Panchanatham, and Helen Yang
December 5, 2018
STEM Scene (Volume 20, Issue 2)

STEM Scene (Volume 20, Issue 2)

by Helen Yang, Columnist
October 18, 2018
Sokol plays the role of Benjy in William Faulkner’s “The Sound and the Fury,” where she plays a man with a child’s mind.

So you wanna be a performance artist?

by Helen Yang and Erica Cai
October 17, 2018
Freshmen discuss the course planning website at their LIFE session on Friday. Academic Dean Kelly Horan spoke about how to maintain a balanced course load.

Seniors and sophomores unite with Eagle Buddies, juniors and freshmen attend LIFE sessions

by Helen Yang, Columnist
October 15, 2018
College counselors visit the class of 2019 during a class meeting.

The Partisan Trap

by Srinath Somasundaram, Opinion Editor
September 20, 2018
Harker's first place team poses with their trophy. The competition was held from June 22 to 25.

Harker teams win awards at national TEAMS competition

by Helen Yang, Columnist
September 3, 2018
Designer Mimi Tran, center, poses after her fashion show on Aug. 25.

So you wanna be a fashion designer?

by Helen Yang, Columnist
September 3, 2018
Meet your teacher: History teacher strives for inner balance

Meet your teacher: History teacher strives for inner balance

by Mahika Halepete and Helen Yang
May 14, 2018
Allersma demonstrates her frisbee skills. Allersma has played both competitively and recreationally.

Meet your teacher: Physics teacher plays in tight-knit Ultimate Frisbee community

by Helen Yang, STEM Editor
March 8, 2018
Satchi Thockchom (12) speaks at the EPA hearing about the CPP repeal at San Francisco on Wednesday. The CPP targets the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from coal-burning at electricity power plants.

Students speak against CPP repeal at EPA hearing

by Helen Yang, Aquila STEM Editor
March 2, 2018
5 rising K-pop acts to watch this year

5 rising K-pop acts to watch this year

by Helen Yang, Aquila STEM Editor
February 24, 2018
Responses to things you should never say to a K-pop fan

Responses to things you should never say to a K-pop fan

by Nina Gee and Helen Yang
January 8, 2018
Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

10 classic holiday movies to watch over break

by Helen Yang, Aquila Asst. STEM Editor
December 10, 2017
You hit send, now what?

You hit send, now what?

by Helen Yang, Anjay Saklecha, and Rose Guan
November 16, 2017
“This kind of shows that there are a lot of things that have happened. Maybe some men have been doing this, who are prominent in the industry, but have been doing this for decades and we’re only figuring out about this now. It shows us that there may be more than just the people that have been mentioned so far," Lisa Barooah (9) said.

Pulse of the People: Survivors share stories to spark dialogue

by Prameela Kottapalli and Irina Malyugina
November 16, 2017
20171105_154512

Daylight saving time: What, why and when

by Kaidi Dai, Reporter
November 8, 2017
HispanicHonorSociety10.19.17_HelenYang

Photo Frenzy 10/23/17

November 1, 2017
Research partners Swapnil Garg (12) and Katherine Tian (11) received notice on Nov. 6 that the Siemens Foundation named them regional finalists. They developed an automatic cancer-severity classifier at the Heng Lab in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center of the Harvard Medical School.

Siemens regional finalists announced today

by Helen Yang, Aquila Asst. STEM Editor
October 18, 2017
Siemens semifinalists announced today

Siemens semifinalists announced today

by Helen Yang, Aquila Asst. STEM Editor
October 17, 2017
All Nobel laureates announced by Nobel Foundation

All Nobel laureates announced by Nobel Foundation

by Helen Yang, Aquila Asst. STEM Editor
October 14, 2017
Nobel Foundation announces laureates

Nobel Foundation announces laureates

by Helen Yang and Varsha Rammohan
October 12, 2017
Students attend a workshop held by Research Club on Sept. 27 in physics and science research teacher Chris Spenner's room. Proposals for projects done in research institutions are due tomorrow.

Synopsys guideline change announced

by Helen Yang, Aquila Asst. STEM Editor
October 1, 2017
Sophomores Vani Mohindra, Sachin Shah, Cynthia Chen, Allison Jia, Jacqueline "Jackie" Yang, Emily Liu and Eileen Li pose with their trophy.

Sophomores succeed at national TEAMS competition in Orlando

by Nina Gee and Helen Yang
September 7, 2017
Good Fortune Friday: Our interpretations of what sits inside a fortune cookie

Good Fortune Friday: Our interpretations of what sits inside a fortune cookie

by Vijay Bharadwaj, Kathy Fang, Kaitlin Hsu, Prameela Kottapalli, Nisha Shankar, Sahana Srinivasan, Jin Tuan, Helen Yang, and Derek Yen
May 26, 2017
K-pop update: BTS on a world tour, KCon hosted in Mexico City, and more

K-pop update: BTS on a world tour, KCon hosted in Mexico City, and more

by Helen Yang and Sofie Kassaras
March 28, 2017
“I like to volunteer. It’s fun to spend time with them because their lives are so different but they still have such a positive outlook on life. We see people who are so privileged, but then they get upset about seemingly inconsequential things,” Uma Rao (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Uma Rao benefits her community by volunteering

by Helen Yang, Reporter
March 18, 2017
Students sit in anticipation for the awards ceremony at DECA SCDC to begin. The event took place from Thursday, March 2 to Sunday, March 5 in the Santa Clara Marriott.

Harker DECA members take top awards at annual State Career Development

by Helen Yang, Reporter
March 7, 2017
Meet Fresh: Traditional Taiwanese desserts

Meet Fresh: Traditional Taiwanese desserts

by Helen Yang, Reporter
February 28, 2017
Students practice a pose during a yoga session. The athletic department offers yoga, along with capoeira, as an alternative for earning P.E. credits.

Yoga and capoeira activities offer an alternative to P.E. or team sports

by Maya Valluru and Alex Wang
January 26, 2017
Memoir Monday: Baby Brother

Memoir Monday: Baby Brother

by Helen Yang, Reporter
January 23, 2017
“Using programming, I can tell [computers] what to do with their ridiculous brain power. Part of why I enjoy computer science is because of those moments where I go, ‘Oh man, I figured out the answer!’ whenever I solve whatever problem I’ve been trying to solve. There’s that little epiphany I get, and I think that’s the best feeling,” James He (12) said.

Humans of Harker: James He problem-solves using computer science

by Helen Yang, Reporter
January 12, 2017
Conservatory groups from the Upper, Middle, and Lower schools performed in the annual holiday show for students and faculty to enjoy on Friday, Dec. 9.

Conservatory groups perform in annual Holiday Show

by Helen Yang, Reporter
December 10, 2016
Finalists and semifinalists named in Siemens Competition

Finalists and semifinalists named in Siemens Competition

by Helen Yang and Rashmi Iyer
November 18, 2016

Antimicrobial resistance discussed at UN General Assembly

by Helen Yang, Reporter
October 16, 2016
Global Reset: Climate change brings both droughts and floods

Global Reset: Climate change brings both droughts and floods

by Katherine Zhang and Helen Yang
October 11, 2016
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