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
Ritika Rajamani

Ritika Rajamani, TALON Business Manager and PDA Editor

Ritika Rajamani (12) is the Business Manager of the TALON Yearbook, and this is her fourth year on staff. This year she hopes to connect with our seniors and their parents through the production of Personal Display Ads (PDA). When not working, she enjoys playing table tennis and spending time with friends.

All content by Ritika Rajamani
“Part of the reason why I am always open to trying new things, such as trying water polo, is because I am okay with not being good at it as long as I know that I am able to get better. I am a person who likes to put myself out there and see what I can do. When I really like things, I will continue to work at them even if I know that I am not the best person there," Sinaya Joshi (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Live and let live

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Business Manager and PDA Editor
June 3, 2022
“I like to be accessible to everyone. It stems from being on a team. A team is only as strong as its weakest link. Everyone on the team works together, and you need to be able to trust and rely on others. That has translated into my social life. I like to be there for everyone around me,” Megha Salvi (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A kick into the future

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Business Manager and PDA Editor
January 27, 2022
“One of the best things about senior year is that you can take much more niche classes, and I would tell [people] to take great advantage of that, because Harker has classes that no other schools offer. It's benefited me [and] I'm really glad, retrospectively, that I tried a bunch of classes I had no idea about instead of trying to only take things I was familiar with,” Avery Young (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Venturing into the unknown

by Lavanya Subramanian, TALON Student Life Editor
May 6, 2021
“A big part of my art and also what I want to do in life is I want to create change, whether that's through social change or technology. A big part of that change comes from visual image and design because that's the world's language. Not everyone can understand languages, but everyone can understand a photo, and that has to do with making change that comes from a conflict of ideas,” Ashley Gauba (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creativity born from conflict

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Business Manager
April 27, 2021
“The issue I see today is that pioneers aren’t really recognized. Do you know who invented the keyboard? I have no idea who did that. And we all use the keyboard today. So shouldn’t that be incredibly important? Shouldn’t we remember these things? I want to be the guy who makes people remember that. Remember why we have the things we have in the world, and how we got there,” N Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Seeking common ground

by Trisha Iyer, Reporter
April 14, 2021
“I want to give back in a meaningful way that not only helps people that don't have the same resources as me, but also is fun in the process. I know a lot of things can be super overwhelming at times, and everyone experiences it, so I want to create an environment that's carefree and a safe space for people to just express themselves and allow them to find that passion that I found through volunteering and research,” Rhea Nanavati (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Find the kindness within

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Co-Academics Editor
February 18, 2021
“[I've always had] a fear of not doing well [which was influenced by] the definition of the stereotype that we hold at Harker. It's something I grew out of by senior year ... I realized [that] we're all just in this together and what happens in our lives happens. It's all about how I choose to present myself. It's not about what other people may think,” Julia Yusupov (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Reimagine the possibilities

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Academics Editor
November 13, 2020
“I wanted to be able to document everything I was living through because I have been loving my life. In high school, I suddenly had so many new friends and we were hanging out quite often, traveling all over with each other. It was so beautiful that I could capture these moments with photography. I hope that I can continue to capture these types of moments in the future as well,” Mohan Awasthi (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Strive for independence

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Photo Editor
April 6, 2020
“Bharatnatyam is a very different style of dance. You're trying to tell a story and it's all about learning a story from the past. It's all about getting in the mind of like those characters and portraying their similar emotions outwards to the audience. I think that right now, for me, that is the most important thing,” Sejal Krishnan (12) said. 

Humans of Harker: Performance of a lifetime

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Photo Editor
March 31, 2020
“Art is a vehicle for positive change in some way. It's an easy way to spark conversation about topics that are too difficult to maybe address or talk about otherwise. I think that's something I've really endeavored to do. I do my art especially because I'm inspired by other artists who do the same thing, artists who use their art to confront controversies and incite discussion about things that are difficult,” Zara Vakath (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Find your inner artist

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Photo Editor
January 22, 2020
“I think we all put too much pressure on ourselves to be perfect, and we forget that maybe there’s some beauty in that imperfection. When we come to that realization, we can be happier as people and as a community. I am still working on finding the balance between striving to be my best self and just being okay with who I am," Anika Rajamani (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Roots and resilience

by Irene Yuan and Emma Gurleroglu
May 11, 2019
“The feeling of performing, doing well, and being proud is the best feeling to have. Although at times it is really overwhelming to learn difficult music and play in front of large crowds, the feeling of doing a good job is rewarding enough," Arushee Bhoja (12) said.

Humans of Harker: In search of creativity

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Reporter
March 12, 2019
“We focus a lot on the technology we make, but we don’t focus nearly as much on the people we are trying to impact. I think that getting to know people and getting to know their stories is something that should be done,” said Alycia Cary (12). “I think that communication is important in being knowledgeable about how we are going to change the world and the people were impacting. That’s why I try to actively listen to people’s concerns and take into account other’s perspectives.”

Humans of Harker: United we stand

by Ritika Rajamani, TALON Reporter
March 3, 2019
Staff photographer Mark Kocina performs his juggling act during Quadchella on Thursday. The song "Take On Me" by a-ha accompanied his act.

Quadchella talent show features comedy, poetry, music, juggling

by Anika Rajamani and Ritika Rajamani
November 11, 2018
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