The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

“I learned how to spend time by myself and learned how to be alone. It’s peaceful to not have to worry about anything or worry about what anyone thinks of me all the time, and I think that has made me more confident and shaped me to realize that it doesn’t matter who I am with and that it is ok to be by myself. I’m not saying I’m an introvert, I still like to go out and do things—I just learned how to spend time with myself, Sahana Narayan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The value of time

by Julia Amick, TALON Business Editor April 15, 2019

Dressed in dark grey leggings, a navy blue sweatshirt and black flip-flops, Sahana Narayan (12) leans against the wall with her legs stretched out in front of her. Every so often, Sahana switches between...

“I want to be the person who can impact people, somebody who worked for others and always thought for the benefit of others,” Ayush Vyas (12) said. “I want to be that leader who was never overly vocal but still always cared and was vocal when someone needed to step up and say something. What often gets overlooked is a captains ability to listen and learn, but to me, thats my most important value.”

Humans of Harker: Duality in leadership

by Srinath Somasundaram, Opinions Editor April 14, 2019

The huddle rocks back and forth as Ayush Vyas (12) begins a chant, firing up the football team up as he leads them, storming, onto the field. “This year, on the football team, I had to take charge...

“If you do something, you should try to put as much effort into it as you can, because through my experiences, I’ve seen people who are really talented at what they do, but then they don’t put as much effort as they can and they kind of waste that talent,” Alex Yu (12) said. “Similarly, [there are] people who started from the bottom but then really worked their way up to the top.”

Humans of Harker: Splashes of music

by Nicole Tian, Reporter April 14, 2019

After pushing past the black, wiry gate to the swimming pool, the air tingles with chlorine, and pop music blasts through a speaker in a faraway corner. Slicing through the water in crisp butterfly strokes,...

“[Reverse engineering] really started with robotics, there was one team that brought this really interesting mechanism to the world,” said Eric. “I could just, for the life of me, not figure out how it works. So I took a couple of videos, asked them for a couple of pictures, and I spent years on that. Occasionally I would spend an hour or so looking at it, trying to figure out how it works and a year or two later I finally figured out how it works. It made me realize that I love figuring things out, Eric Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Toy and Tinker

April 12, 2019

With the look of interest and wonder in his eyes, Eric Wang (12) ponders the complexities of common items such as door knobs and toilets to understand how they work and function as a quaint pastime. Reverse...

I started following Kpop idols more these days because there’s more of a human aspect. If you get something just straight from the imagination, like in anime or something, sometimes they just start repeating. I like seeing actors because there’s no way for then to copy. Due to a lot of circumstances like plot and the actual capabilities of the actors themselves, each scene they act is going to look different. So I really appreciate that. And the camera work, if you mash all those together, usually it’ll come out with something different, Catherine Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Getting real about realism

by Laura Wu, Co-People and Seniors Editor April 11, 2019

Turning side-to-side on her stool in the art room, Catherine Wang (12) smiles as she starts to talk about one of her passions: J-dramas. While society often labels all TV shows as mindless and the same,...

“In robotics I’ve learned the mechanical and software engineering that comes with building a robot, programming it to move and perform tasks. At the same time, a big part of robotics is networking and socialization. An ability I’ve gained is to combine both the engineering aspects and also the more social aspects [of robotics]. Skills such as talking to judges, being able to present your ideas in a clear fashion and making friends with other people to work together and do well in competitions have been really important and useful,” Rithvik Panchapakesan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Building new horizons

by Muthu Panchanatham, Reporter April 11, 2019

Safety goggles adorning his face, Rithvik Panchapakesan (12) stares intently at the complicated piece of machinery in front of him. His team watches behind him as he operates the manual mill to precisely...

“[Track] is just a fun time. A lot of my friends were there, and it kinda just taught me that if I work on something that I’m not good at, it’ll eventually get better. You’ll get better, but most importantly you’ll have fun,” Surya Gudapati (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Fun and games

by Erica Cai, Reporter April 10, 2019

As he jogs a warm-up lap around the Blackford track, Surya Gudapati (12) cracks a joke to his friends, grinning over his shoulder. Laughter and exclamations mingle with the rhythmic thudding of sneakers...

“I definitely learned that hard work pays off. It might sound cheesy, but it actually does. If you never take your foot off the gas pedal, you can accomplish whatever you want. Even last year when I wasn’t playing football, I was in the weight room working out. I honestly feel like there’s always something that can be done, and more work to be put in, Trevor Thompson (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Field to court

by Julia Amick, TALON Business Editor April 9, 2019

Trevor Thompson (12) leans back in his chair with his arms loosely crossed across his chest. He lets a smile appear on his face as he jokes around with his friends during lunch. Sitting under the tree...

I wish people would look more at their happy moments, and focus on the joy in their lives. Everyone should try not to focus on their failures and sad moments, and try to move on and grow from it, Linda Luo (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding a voice

by Arushi Saxena, Global Editor April 8, 2019

Laughing softly while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Linda Luo (12) reminisces over the past four years. Round, navy blue lenses frame her smiling eyes, and a soft wind blows around her, harmonizing...

Ive been involved in the arts for as long as I can remember in one form or the other. I think its just amazing because you could do this for your entire life and never get bored because there are so many aspects of what you could do in the entire world of theater, Ellie Lang-Ree (12) said.

Humans of Harker: On and off the stage

by Reporter, Arely Sun April 8, 2019

Swinging over to tie her hazel-brown hair into a bouncy ponytail, Ellie Lang-Ree (12) prepares to lead warmups for the cast of "Urinetown." Dynamic notes of Beyonce’s “Get Me Bodied” blast out of...

“It’s worth it to me because then I can see as kind of a leader how other people get involved in this and how they also fall in love with Interact...seeing more positive actions going out into the world is really cool, Ashley Jia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Friendly interactions

by Irene Yuan, Reporter April 8, 2019

Standing near the front of math teacher Bradley Stoll’s room, Ashley Jia (12) spends the second half of a long lunch helping run Interact Club. In her light blue Interact sweater, she occasionally glances...

Audio itself is interesting to me. The technicality of audio is interesting to me . How it sounds in the theater and how it interacts with everything else going on is interesting to me. And the process of working with all the other designers, thats probably the most important to me, Zachary Wong (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Making sound waves

by Nina Gee, Visuals Editor March 28, 2019

This is the first installment of the Humans of Harker 2019 video series. Through this project, the Harker journalism program aims to tell the story of the senior class, one profile at a time.

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