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
Lauren Liu

Lauren Liu, Reporter

Lauren Liu (9) is a reporter for Harker Aquila and the Winged Post, and this is her first year on staff. Her favorite thing about journalism is that it speaks directly to its listener. It’s through these articles, these pithy, poignant anecdotes that jolt and resonate throughout millions of hearts. In addition to journalism, she enjoys drawing, reading all kinds of books, and creative writing.
All content by Lauren Liu
“I've always been fascinated by stories. For film, I always loved every time I watched a movie or tv show – even when I was little watching ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars – I would love discussing it with my family. Those days I didn't know how to analyze it, and I was just talking about all these facts I'd learned from Wikipedia pages. But as I read more in class, I really found enjoyment in using those terms and structures we'd discussed in our English classes. I've been really interested in film the past couple of years,” Kalyan Narayanan (’20) said. 

Humans of Harker: The force awakens

by Lauren Liu, Winged Post Copy Editor
June 1, 2020
During quarantine, my family and I have been digging for different ways to satiate our boredom. While my dad's "busy typing away another proposal on his laptop,"– I like to think it's just an excuse for him to avoid our antics–my mother, sister, and I have been trying on each other's clothes. This is my mother's dress, circa 1980's, and these are my favorite shoes.

Stories from quarantine: “The outfit I never wore”

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Varsha Rammohan, and Aditya Singhvi
May 25, 2020
IMG_2319

At home and entertained: Movies and TV shows to watch during shelter-in-place

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Reporter
May 3, 2020
My pandemic survival kit includes my favorite books, origami, various art mediums and my iPad. Cranes symbolize peace and tranquility, two emotional states that are crucial for all of our well-beings, especially during these disorienting times.

Stories from quarantine: Our pandemic essentials

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Varsha Rammohan, and Irina Malyugina
April 20, 2020
A torch representing the Latin language. The regenerative power of flames symbolizes truth, life–the part of Latin that lives on forever. The smoke radiates outwards and dissipates, symbolizing the "dead" aspect of Latin, one that isn't spoken anymore or included directly in vernacular literature.

A minore ad maius: the importance of Latin in the 21st century

by Lauren Liu, Reporter
April 15, 2020
“If you can take the time to isolate yourself from a current time and place and objectively judge yourself [by asking] yourself questions, then you can ultimately be on this constantly pivoting mind where you put yourself forth and you embrace this idea of uncertainty. You find yourself in really rewarding and really fulfilling places where you meet new people and try new things,” Bryan Wang (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Wandering, wondering and waiting

by Lauren Liu, Reporter
March 13, 2020
A poster advertising the Nanoseed benefit concert, scheduled for this Friday. Nanoseed, founded in 2014, is a student-run nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviate poverty in areas of rural China. There are twelve branches across California, each of which is headed by three students at the school where the branch is located.

“Give to grow”: Nanoseed Benefit Concert aims to alleviate poverty in rural China

by Lauren Liu, Reporter
March 11, 2020
Dragons symbolize wisdom, power and wealth and are believed to bring good luck to people. Dragon dancing is an ancient traditional dance that is said to scare away evil spirits.

Lanterns and rats, noodles and dragons: Lunar New Year’s history and traditions

by Lauren Liu and Sally Zhu
March 9, 2020
Rishi Dange (12) hits a forehand during a match against Sacred Heart. The Eagles won that match 5-2, and are currently 3-0 on the season.

8 sports spring into action

by Aditya Singhvi and Lauren Liu
February 28, 2020
“Be different. It’s really important for you to have your own personality and interests. That’s part of the reason why I called my company Persona because I feel like you have to have your own unique persona where you can have your own beliefs, have your own perspectives,” Anay Karwal (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Never losing focus

by Lauren Liu, Reporter
March 4, 2020
Two MOD Classics, the Tristan and Jasper. With pizzas "made on demand" at MOD Pizza, customers can either choose from Classics or build their own pizza, with a diverse array of toppings, sauces, cheeses and crusts to choose from.

Hungry? Ready to MOD?

by Lauren Liu and Amruta Dharmapurikar
March 2, 2020

Four years later, the fight continues

by Kathy Fang, Lauren Liu, Alysa Suleiman, Anna Vazhaeparambil, and Eric Fang
January 22, 2020
A crowd of 30,000 gathers for the fourth annual Women's March rally in San Francisco last Saturday. Later that afternoon, about 12,000 demonstrators marched down Market Street to the Embarcadero, according to estimates provided by the march's press team.

“Together, We Rise”: Women’s rights, civil rights activists around Bay Area call for change at fourth annual Women’s March

by Kathy Fang, Lauren Liu, Arushi Saxena, Alysa Suleiman, Emily Tan, Nicole Tian, Anna Vazhaeparambil, Sara Yen, and Eric Fang
January 21, 2020
Peter Galen, played by Alex Kumar (11) in "Booby Trap" leans against a piece of wood as he ponders his fate and reflects upon his past. Another soldier, acted by Shray Alag (11), examines the area surrounding him.

Performing arts presents annual Student Directed Showcase

by Sriya Batchu and Lauren Liu
January 14, 2020
Andrew Cheplyansky (12) controls the ball with a header during the varsity game against Leland last Wednesday. The varsity team will play Crystal Springs in an away conference game this Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.

Boys soccer ties Leland 2-2

by Lauren Liu and Irina Malyugina
January 13, 2020
“[I'm] never going to let myself go out of control to the point where I feel horrible... that's why I went to Mount Whitney because I needed to prove to myself [that even though] I have this chronic autoimmune disease, it's not going to stop me from doing amazing things,” Jasmine Wiese (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down

by Sarah Mohammed and Lauren Liu
January 9, 2020
Moments in Washington

Moments in Washington

by Erica Cai, Kathy Fang, Catherine Feng, Lauren Liu, Arely Sun, Nicole Tian, and Gloria Zhang
November 23, 2019
Hunger strikers gather in the Longworth office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the Capitol on Wednesday. The strikers had been in Pelosi's office for three days as a part of the global environmental movement Extinction Rebellion.

“For the change in humanity”: Members from global environment movement participate in hunger strike

by Sara Yen and Saloni Shah
November 23, 2019
A security guard keeps watch while news anchors and reporters wait for updates behind him. More security measures were implemented in the building due to the impeachment hearings.

A peek inside the impeachment hearings

by Lauren Liu and Arely Sun
November 23, 2019
Sarina Sharma (11), playing Ginette, smiles as she rests her head on Nicky Kriplani's (11) shoulder in the prologue of the fall play. The play, "Almost, Maine," was performed between Oct. 24 and Oct. 26 by two casts of students in the Patil Theater.

Love, loss and some laughter in between: Two casts of students perform in fall play “Almost, Maine”

by Sally Zhu and Lauren Liu
November 2, 2019
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