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
Kavya Ramakrishnan

Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Managing Editor

Kavya Ramakrishnan (12) is the managing editor of the Winged Post. This is her fourth year on staff, having previously held the positions of reporter and copy editor.

All content by Kavya Ramakrishnan
Every March, the ReCreate Reading books for the next school year are featured in a special section in the library. This year's ReCreate Reading lineup features 69 novels to choose from.

School meeting recap 3/6

by Rashmi Iyer, Reporter
March 6, 2017
Deconstructing happiness: How well-being fits into high school

Deconstructing happiness: How well-being fits into high school

by Kavya Ramakrishnan and Nicole Chen
March 24, 2016
History teacher Andrea Milius presents an overview of the trip to interested freshmen and sophomores. The 10-day trip will occur over Spring Break.

World History students travel to Europe during Spring Break

by Neil Bai, Reporter
March 23, 2016
Anuva Mittal (11) demos an experiment at the 10th Symposium. This year, WiSTEM will introduce new interactive workshops.

WiSTEM hosts 11th annual Research Symposium

by Prameela Kottapalli, Reporter
March 25, 2016
Summer interns preview fields of interest

Summer interns preview fields of interest

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
March 3, 2016

Careers in composing: Q&A with Caitlyn Smith, composer of the hit song “Like I’m Gonna Lose You”

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Managing Editor
March 3, 2016

Responsible gun use

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Vinnet Kosaraju, and Michael Sikand
February 4, 2016
Gun culture: firearms in American society

Gun culture: firearms in American society

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Vineet Kosaraju, and Michael Sikand
February 3, 2016
Senior Kavya Ramakrishnan and her sister go skiing in snowy mountains in California during break this year.

Upper School skiers fly through California snow during break

by Adrian Chu and Ria Gupta
January 30, 2016

21st U.N. COP Talks in Paris Aim to Lessen Carbon Emissions

by Kavya Ramakrishnan and Neil Bai
December 12, 2015
Campus protests surrounding treatment of students of color gain traction across nation

Campus protests surrounding treatment of students of color gain traction across nation

by Sahana Srinivasan, Kaitlin Hsu, and Kavya Ramakrishnan
November 21, 2015
Julia Eliovich stands in Lebanon, where she moved after her sophomore year at Harker. She recently moved back to California to attend Santa Monica College.

Modern International Affairs students discuss Syrian refugee crisis

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Maya Kumar, and Meena Gudapati
October 18, 2015
Teachers Pilar Aguero-Esparza and Lola Muldrew announce the dress code forum at a class meeting. The dress code has been a popular point of discussion at the upper school.

Dress code changes lead to open discussion between students and administration

by Sharanya Balaji, Vivek Bharadwaj, Kavya Ramakrishnan, and Meena Gudapati
October 18, 2015
Members of the journalism program won several commendations from CSPA for their work in Wingspan and Winged Post. Winners Kacey Fang ('15), Shay Lari-Hosain (12) and Ria Gandhi (11) are not pictured.

Journalism receives awards from CSPA

by Nicole Chen and Katherine Zhang
October 18, 2015
History teacher Andrea Milius presents an overview of the trip to interested freshmen and sophomores. The 10-day trip will occur over Spring Break.

Freshmen and sophomores learn about upcoming trip to Greece and Italy

by Kavya Ramakrishnan and Maya Valluru
September 2, 2015
Neil Movva (12), who qualified to participate in CSSF, explains his project at the 10th annual research symposium.

Beyond Synopsys

by Sahana Srinivasan, Reporter
May 16, 2015
Performers reenact the Armenian genocide at a commemoration ceremory hosted by the San Francisco City Hall. Upper school student Natalie Simonian (11) attended the event to pay tribute to those who fell victim to the attack.

American population commemorates 100th anniversary of genocide

by Vineet Kosaraju and Kavya Ramakrishnan
May 18, 2015
Rising college costs affect seniors' choices

Rising college costs affect seniors’ choices

by Elisabeth Siegel, Kacey Fang, Kavya Ramakrishnan, and Emma Yu
May 2, 2015
Lauri Vaughan, upper school campus librarian, was awarded the 2017 Margaret A. Edwards (MAE) Award for Best Literature Program for Teens by the The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). Vaughan’s program, ReCreate Reading, is a program that promotes reading to all levels of the school, involving students, faculty, administration, staff, and coaches alike.

Preview to annual ReCreate Reading program

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
April 7, 2015

TEDx: Speaker series links notables and students

by Meena Gudapati and Kavya Ramakrishnan
March 16, 2015
University of Oklahoma students rally outside the closed Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house during a rally in Norman, Okla. The two fraternity members accused of leading the singing of a racist chant were expelled from the university.

Racist incidents reported in Oklahoma, Ferguson

by Elisabeth Siegel and Kavya Ramakrishnan
March 14, 2015
Holi is celebrated in Utah as people throw colored dyes into the air. The festival's popularity has spread all over the world.

Holi festival grows in popularity across various cultures

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, WInged Post Copy Editor
March 10, 2015
Stationery to inspire studying

Stationery to inspire studying

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
February 5, 2015
184 Hours: Preparing for the FIRST Robotics Competition

184 Hours: Preparing for the FIRST Robotics Competition

by Vivek Bharadwaj and Kavya Ramakrishnan
January 29, 2015
Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine addresses the crowd at the dedication ceremony, reflecting on his time coaching Girls' Lacrosse with Berry.

Community dedicates statue in Jason Berry’s honor

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
December 5, 2014
5 raincoats under $60

5 raincoats under $60

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Aquila Copy Editor
December 3, 2014
WiSTEM Diabetes Awareness Week

WiSTEM Diabetes Awareness Week

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Aditya Varshney, and Jackie Gao
November 30, 2014
American Diabetes Month takes place each November. WiSTEM hosted Diabetes Awareness Week last week to raise awareness.

WiSTEM hosts Diabetes Awareness Week

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Aditya Varshney, and Jackie Gao
November 24, 2014
Upcoming album releases

Upcoming album releases

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Aquila Copy Editor
November 21, 2014
Madelyn Wang (12) and Archana Podury (12) wear sweaters during the fall.

Sweater weather

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
October 22, 2014

Fall Play preview

by Kavya Ramakrishnan and Alix Robinson-Guy
October 17, 2014
Rachel Freed’s advisory prepares to set out on the rapids during the junior class trip.

Rapid ropes and rafting

by Kavya Ramakrishnan and Raveena Kapatkar
August 31, 2014
Upcoming Concerts

Upcoming Concerts

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
August 31, 2014
Junior Ankita Sharma (left) holds an anaconda as a camp counselor of the Humane Society, an organization that works to protect animals. They worked with children to educate them about animal rights and safety.

Students take on summer community service projects

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
August 29, 2014
Math teacher Jane Keller and junior Nikita Ramoji demonstrate proper earthquake preparedness in the event of an earthquake. A 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit Napa early Sunday.

6.0 earthquake strikes Napa on Sunday morning

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Winged Post Copy Editor
August 27, 2014
Football boys practice passing and running with the ball. Pre-season spring training began this Monday.

Football begins spring training

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Reporter
May 23, 2014
READY TO DANCE: This multi-colored elephant will be one of the decorations present at prom, which is themed Arabian Nights this year.

An Arabian Night: Prom committee prepares surprises

by Alexis Gauba, Kavya Ramakrishnan
May 16, 2014
Boys varsity swimmers start off their events with a dive in their meet against King's Academy. Swimming is one of eight varsity spring sports.

Spring Sports Update

by Juhi Gupta and Kavya Ramakrishnan
April 4, 2014
Emma Doherty (10), team manager of Boys' Basketball passes out water bottles and Gatorades to players during halftime at the semifinal game against Seaside. The Harker Eagles defeated Seaside 71-61 to advance to CCS finals.

Team managers of Harker

by Riya Chandra and Kavya Ramakrishnan
March 12, 2014
DSC_0311-2

AP Studio Art students exhibit work

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
February 26, 2014
Production at the HELM

Production at the HELM

by Kavya Ramakrishnan, Reporter
January 27, 2014
Senior Kevin Moss dribbles past a King's Academy player. The Eagles went on to win 4-1.

Varsity boys soccer beats King’s Academy 4-1

by Alex Jang and Kavya Ramakrishnan
January 11, 2014
A fox squirrel finds a fallen nut around the trees surrounding the Quad. They will typically peel off the husk and eat it on the spot, or hop off to find a place to bury it, traveling as far as 100 meters to hide their catch.

Squirrels wreak disaster on garden beds

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
October 22, 2013
Red velvet cupcakes are a simple and easy dessert to bring to fall potlucks and parties. A favorite of many people, the cupcakes are sure to be a hit at your next event.

Sweet treats for fall

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
September 24, 2013
Link Crew member Claudia Tischler (12) relates advice and anecdotes about her own freshmen year with members of Dr. Ben Spencer-Cooke's advisory. Link Crew members visited their freshman advisories for the first time this year.

Link Crew has first advisory meeting of the year

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
September 5, 2013
Donned in cowboy hats and denim, students dance to songs played by DJ Bobby Kahlon (12). The Sadies dance took place in the gym on Saturday, March 9.

Sadie Hawkins: A Night in the Wild West

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
March 10, 2013
President Barack Obama rejoices with Vice President Joe Biden and the senior staff in the Roosevelt Room of the White House as the House passes the health care reform bill on March 21, 2010. Obama won the Presidential Election on Wednesday night, establishing his second term as president.

Obama’s victory meets mixed responses from students

by Kavya Ramakrishnan
November 8, 2012
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