The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
Humans of Harker: Justice through inclusivity
Humans of Harker: Justice through inclusivity
“Interacting with lower school students made me take more time for myself. I'm realizing that, not that there's no point in pushing forward, but if you only keep doing things right now for some future you, you're never going to have time to enjoy the present. And so this year, I've spent a lot more time for myself, like picking up hobbies again," senior Alicia Ran said.
Humans of Harker: Leading with heart
“The most rewarding thing about geography is learning about other cultures, learning about the architecture of other countries and being introduced to how other people live. There are a lot of things to learn about because the world's really unique, and there are lots of things you can observe," senior Eric Li said.
Humans of Harker: Coding for culture
I express myself in every aspect of my being. I try to be very true to who I am and what I want and how I feel. Whether it be my classes or what I'm writing about or who I'm talking to or how I'm dressing or the music I'm listening to that day, it's all very expressive and indicative of who I am," senior Avayna Glass said.
Humans of Harker: Crafting confections
“I hope everyone could learn a little bit, since I'm learning. As global citizens, we all have the right to vote, and we all should be educated on at least how the economy works. I hope in the future when things become even more polarized that people will still be able to have candid discourse and question what they know," senior Stefan Maxim said.
Humans of Harker: Building bots, breaking barriers
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
Charlie Molin (12) saves a ball near the net during the third set, which the Eagles won 25-19 to give them a 2-1 lead in the match.

Live coverage: Boys volleyball takes on Monta Vista in NorCal finals

by Aditya Singhvi, Anna Vazhaeparambil, and Shreya Srinivasan • May 18, 2019

Monta Vista has won the Division 1 NorCal championship to defend their title 22-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 15-13. Be sure to catch our game recap, coming soon to Harker Aquila. 4:14 p.m. The CIF Norcal...

From left to right, Bryan Zhang (10), Bowen Yin (10), Gabriel Yang (10), Ashwin Rammohan (12), Jaiman Bhagat (11) and Bradley Lu (12) pose for a photo at the CCS Regionals on May 7. The team placed fourth overall at regionals.

Boys golf ends successful season at CCS championships

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Asst. Sports Editor • May 17, 2019

After winning their sixth consecutive league championship and earning third place at the WBAL Championships, the varsity golf team ends their impressive season with sixth place in the CCS Championships...

Swim coaches and the relay team of Jason, Ethan, Matthew and Rhys pose with the third place trophy at CCS. The team competes at State Championships today.

Swimmers break CCS records, advance to States

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • May 11, 2019

Five Harker swimmers competed in the Central Coast Section (CCS) championships last Saturday, placing third and moving onto the State Championships, held in Clovis yesterday and today. The swimmers...

Seniors Jarett Anderson, Charlie Molin and Chris Gong pose with family during the ceremony.

Volleyball honors seniors, defeats Los Altos

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • May 5, 2019

The varsity boys volleyball team honored seniors Chris Gong, Jarett Anderson and Charlie Molin during a senior night ceremony held on May 1 in the athletic center before a match against Los Altos, which...

Billy Fan (10) reaches up to hit the ball during a game against rival Monta Vista High School on March 22.

Boys volleyball ranked first in CCS, seventh in nation

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • March 21, 2019

The boys’ volleyball team, currently 14-1, was ranked first in the Central Coast Section (CCS) and seventh in both the state and the nation in the latest standings released by MaxPreps. This represents...

Varsity girls basketball captain Akhila Ramgiri (12) tries to score over a James Lick defender. The girls end their season with an overall record of 13-10.

Varsity boys, girls basketball fall in first round of CCS playoffs

by Anna Vazhaeparambil, Reporter • February 20, 2019

The varsity girls basketball team fell to James Lick High School with a final score of 64-55 last Friday, while the varsity boys fell 63-52 to Palma High School last Saturday. This represented the first...

Allison Cartee (12) spikes the ball in today's CCS finals match against Notre Dame High School, held at Gunn High School this evening. The Eagles lost 14-16 in the fifth set.

Varsity girls volleyball loses CCS finals, still qualifies for NorCals

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • November 5, 2018

The Eagles lost a five set match to Notre Dame-Belmont 17-25, 25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 14-16 in the varsity girls volleyball CCS Division IV finals. Despite the loss, the Eagles still qualify for the NorCal...

Singles player Santoshi Tirumala (10) prepares to hit the ball. Santoshi, along with doubles partners Gina Partridge (11) and Amanda Cheung (11), fell in Monday's quarterfinals.

Varsity girls tennis competes in WBAL tournament, players advance to CCS

by Jessie Wang, Reporter • November 4, 2018

The varsity girls tennis team played in the WBAL Individual Tennis Tournament, which took place on Monday and Tuesday at Menlo. Doubles partners Fonda Hu (10) and Sachi Bajaj (10) took second place...

Lauren Beede (11) reaches up to tap the ball over the net in today's CCS semifinals game against Santa Cruz High School. The game was held at Menlo High School and was carried by the Harker varsity girls team, who will proceed to play Notre Dame High School in the finals game on Saturday.

Varsity girls volleyball advances to CCS finals, winning semifinals in three sets

by Kathy Fang, Managing Editor • November 1, 2018

The varsity girls volleyball team moves forward to CCS finals after winning their semifinals match against Santa Cruz High School in three sets at Menlo-Atherton High School this afternoon. The game...

Michelle Ning (10) jumps up to hit the ball. The team won 3-0 against Mercy-Burlingame in a game today.

Varsity girls volleyball wins CCS quarterfinals, advances to semifinals

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • October 31, 2018

The varsity girls volleyball team won its CCS quarterfinal match against Mercy-Burlingame 25-15, 25-18, 25-14 tonight. The girls will play Santa Cruz, who upset first seeded Carmel in the quarterfinals,...

Anya Gert (11) hits the ball over the net. “[CCS] is nerve-wracking, so I know [the team] was nervous and had the jitters,” Smith said. “We came in early and actually warmed up early so we could get some of that stuff out. I was a little worried about where [the team] would be mentally, but I think we handled ourselves pretty well.”

Varsity girls volleyball wins big in first postseason appearance since 2015

by Aditya Singhvi, Sports Editor • October 30, 2018

In their first postseason appearance since 2015, the varsity girls volleyball team won a blowout 25-13, 25-17, 25-12 victory over the Marina High Mariners at home Saturday, advancing to the Central Coast...

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