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
Rachel Ning

Rachel Ning, TALON Business/Social Media Manager and PDA Editor

Rachel Ning (12) is the Business/Social Media Manager and PDA Editor of the TALON Yearbook, and this is her fourth year on staff. This year, Rachel is excited to meet the new members of journalism and focus on outreach towards the community. In her free time, Rachel loves discovering new shows and films, watching stand up comedy, and being outdoors especially with her dog.

All content by Rachel Ning
"I always that there are some things that are going to always be out of my control, like people's opinions of me, but that’s someone else's decision. If I just keep working towards [my goal] and not think too much about what other people think of me, my hard work does pay off in the end," Emma Biswas ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Bubbling with brilliance

by Jonathan Xue and Rachel Ning
August 13, 2023
Music Monday is a new installation featuring a different category of songs on a weekly basis.

Music Monday: Savor the sounds of a folk summer with Aquila

by Rachel Ning, TALON Business/Social Media Manager
May 1, 2023
This is the third installment of “Working Title,” a podcast where staff member Rachel Ning shares her thoughts on select films and the film industry. In this episode, Rachel discusses the hidden gem "The Double," a 2013 film, and its connection with the duality of man. 

Working Title: ‘Elvis’ and why it falls flat

by Rachel Ning, TALON Business & PDA Manager
September 2, 2022
This is the third installment of “Working Title,” a podcast where staff member Rachel Ning shares her thoughts on select films and the film industry. In this episode, Rachel discusses the hidden gem "The Double," a 2013 film, and its connection with the duality of man. 

Working Title: ‘The Double’ and the duality of man

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
May 2, 2022
This is the third installment of “Working Title,” a podcast where staff member Rachel Ning shares her thoughts on select films and the film industry. In this episode, Rachel presents and explains her reactions to this year's Academy Awards. 

Working Title: Reactions to Academy Awards 2022

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
March 31, 2022
This is the second installment of “Working Title,” a podcast where staff member Rachel Ning shares her thoughts on select films and the film industry. In this episode, Rachel speaks about and reacts to the altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock at the 94th Academy Awards yesterday. 

The slap heard around the world: Will Smith and Chris Rock’s altercation at the Academy Awards

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
March 28, 2022
“What is more important [to me] now is enjoying yourself and doing the technical stuff if you have the patience for it but not forgetting what music actually is. I accepted music as a hobby and not something you have to compete with other people for," April Zhang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The technique behind the art

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
March 17, 2022
“Sports are very symbolic of real life: you have a team and people who need to work together in order to complete a goal. That translates into life in a lot of ways. You need to have trust with the people you’re working with and be able to take leadership. With soccer, that’s something that’s helped me," Sarah Leafstrand (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Adventures just for kicks

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
March 7, 2022
Students attend Evan You's speaker event, where he discussed his experience opening a start-up company. You founded Vue.js, which strives to make website designing and building more accessible.

App Development Club holds startup speaker event

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
February 26, 2022
HOSA (Health Occupations Students of America) Operations officer Jessica Zhou (11) explains club details to Nila Dharmaraj (10) and Smrithi Sambamurthy (11) on Jan. 11. The club focuses on medical events and contests.

STEM Spotlight: HOSA

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
February 23, 2022
This is the first installment of “Working Title,” a podcast where TALON staff member Rachel Ning shares her thoughts, opinions and impressions of select films. In this episode, Rachel speaks about her top five winter break watches, including “West Side Story,” “Harry Potter 20th Anniversary” and “The Daytrippers.” 

Working Title, Episode 1

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
February 11, 2022
“[It’s true that] the worst thing that someone can say is no, but you're going to get a ‘no’ by default if you never go out and try to make a change or try and do something. The worst possible outcome is already going to happen if you don't try, so you might as well try," Allen Boyce (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Bird’s-eye view

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
February 8, 2022
Time management is the act of organizing and allotting your time to different activities in order to optimize the 24 hours that are given in a day. A study from Princeton University found that adopting small habits such as having a routine, having an organized environment, and properly planning out your schedule are important keys to integrating good time management into a daily ritual.

Tick tock: Time management plays important role in student lives

by Rachel Ning and Smrithi Sambamurthy
November 18, 2021
Associated Student Body (ASB) Vice President Ayan Nath speaks after he and other members of student council presented a video on cleanliness on campus during lunch. "The other day, I was walking by, I heard someone say, 'Oh, my God, we go to Harker, we can't afford to buy more forks? There's such a shortage of forks.' And that's because you're throwing the forks away."

School meeting recap 9/10/21: 9/11 remembrance, self-study APs and Eagle Update

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
September 13, 2021
Hearts line the National COVID Memorial Wall in Westminster along the River Thames in the United Kingdom.

New restrictions put in place globally as COVID-19 cases begin to rise again

by Rachel Ning and Jasleen Hansra
September 2, 2021
“It's one of my favorite things, whether it's in sports or performing arts or dance crew, being part of something, being part of a bigger whole,” Leah Anderson (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Always on your team

by Rachel Ning, TALON Organizations Editor
April 27, 2021
“[Volleyball has] been a huge part of my high school experience … I [now] view myself as a stronger person, as opposed to going into high school, [when] I was shy and timid and not really sure of my place. But after playing especially school volleyball, my views on how I interact with people and on myself have changed for the better,” Michelle Ning (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The beauty of unity

by Claire Su and Jessica Tang
April 9, 2021
“I'm most proud of being able to help young girls find their voice in STEM and [computer science] and helping them grow as not only coders but also as people. I got started because not many girls have the opportunity to grow up in STEM, so it's more giving other girls a chance to learn,” Hilari Fan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A heart of fire and passion

by Rachel Ning, TALON Co-People Editor
January 26, 2021
“As a child, I wanted to be a fashion designer and I was really interested in designing clothes and sewing … but there's not a lot of children's clothes that follow a lot of recent trends. So, as I got older, I began to develop my own unique style,” Selin Aras (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A lover of arts

by Rachel Ning, TALON Co-People Editor
December 21, 2020
Brought to you by Harker Aquila, Funny You Should Mention It is a pop culture-based video podcast created by Rachel Ning (10) and Lakshmi Mulgund (10). 

Funny You Should Mention It: Episode 1

by Lakshmi Mulgund and Rachel Ning
August 20, 2020
“When I chose to go back to cello and made that decision myself, it was because I actually valued it. [When I’m] practicing by myself, I feel as if I can actually get into the music; it's different because there are no people, [it’s] just me and my cello,” Jackie Yang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Harmony of sound

by Rachel Ning, TALON Reporter
April 10, 2020
“Over the years, I’ve learned how to manage my time more … and take advantage of teachers’ help, which has actually been really useful. But [I] learn[ed] that it's okay to not be great at everything and it's okay to ask for help when you need [it],” Sofie Kassaras (12) said.

Humans of Harker: An intricate story

by Rachel Ning and Lavanya Subramanian
January 21, 2020
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