The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“With volleyball and Medical Club, I love working with people. I get to work with people who aren't necessarily in my classes or aren't my friends specifically, but we get to work hard and work together towards a common goal. That collaboration aspect is really important to me," senior Navya Samuel said.
Humans of Harker: Cooperation through competition
“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
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
“When there’s not a way made out for me, I want to make it myself. In difficult times, I always remember, your body hasn’t given up yet. And if your body hasn’t, your mind can’t either,” Amla Rashingkar (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A piece of creativity

by Amruta Dharmapurikar and Sabrina Zhu • January 8, 2020

Drawing her bow and gently plucking the delicate strings of her viola, Amla Rashingkar (12) smiles at the group of young musicians behind her as she leads her section in the Harker Orchestra. Her eyes...

“I want to be the best person I can to people in terms of compassion and kindness. I’m not sure where it really comes from — I guess my identity, ever since I moved here, has been ‘the Canadian,’ so there’s always that stereotype where I have to be super nice to everyone and I have to apologize for everything. But it really does hurt me if I make someone feel bad. I’d much rather them be more positive or happy because of something I’ve done,” Finn Frankis (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Compassion in curiosity

by Arya Maheshwari, Co-Managing Editor • January 8, 2020

Students begin to pour into Nichols 312 and 314 as office hours ends at around 3:40 p.m., creating a buzz of action and energy throughout the rooms in anticipation of the upcoming weekly robotics meeting....

“What’s amazing about basketball is that it is just a bunch of strangers that are put together. On the team, there might be people that don’t spend time with each other and everyday we spend 2 hours bettering each other. As the season progresses, we learn to compromise and be a unit despite our lack of prior friendships because, in the end, it’s about finding a way to win,” Jeffrey Liu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Calculated composure

by Srinath Somasundaram, Winged Post Opinions Editor • January 7, 2020

Jeffrey Liu (12)  sprints up the court as he calls a play. He gazes at the opposing team’s defense searching for the precise moment to make his move. When he sees the opening, he immediately darts to...

“Cooking [is] something I just love doing. Everything I do stems from one basic belief I have in my life: YOLO. Do whatever you love. You don’t want to feel regret over not trying harder, over not being better at something you actually love. So, trust me, give your absolute all in everything you do because if you give it 100 percent, then there won’t be anything to regret when you look back at it,” Phil Han (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Tailoring each spoonful to perfection

by Kushal Shah, Sports Columnist • January 7, 2020

His hands grip the knives tightly. After a long deep exhale, Phil Han (12) moves his hands at an almost imperceptible blur, sliding the knives, one on top of another, to sharpen them. As his chill music...

“I realized that this isn't really who I am and that I wanted to express who I was to other people. I just gained this newfound sense of confidence, and especially in volleyball ... I think it's given me a lot of confidence to be able to express myself in my own way,” Lauren Beede (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Playing her own game

by Tessa Muhle and Michelle Liu • January 6, 2020

A crack rings out in the gym as she strikes the ball into the corner of the court, lightning-fast on her feet. The ball bounces on the edge of the court, catching the other team off guard and earning an...

“Jazz is all about improvising mainly, and when you improvise, it's your voice and your melodies and your notes that you play. If I'm in a certain mood or if I'm feeling a certain sort of way, I would play catered to that. I play my style catered to that tone,” Brendan Wong (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding the right melody

by Sara Yen, Features Editor • December 18, 2019

Jazz — syncopated rhythms complementing and overlapping over each other; a blend of timbres, from brassy trumpets and saxophones to the striking piano; the soul-driven improvisation and air of creativity...

“I'm not one who's going to do a super fancy speech or touch people with my words because I don't have the confidence yet to do that, and I hope to one day. The way I think or the way I talk to people just in the smallest way, if I can change somebody's attitude or the way they thought about something, that's how I want to make an impact,” Aditi Khanna (12) said.

Humans of Harker: From note to note

by Helen Zhu, TALON Academics Editor • December 17, 2019

The tune of “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry reverberates through her living room as she arrives at the next note by ear. Sitting beside a large glass window is the electric Yamaha keyboard that Aditi...

“When you speak to people outside of your direct circle, you learn a lot and you begin to question your own beliefs and I really enjoy that. I’ve learned to be more open-minded and I believe that you don’t have to dismiss someone just because they don’t agree with something that you strongly believe in,” Alicia Xu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Touch the sky

by Olivia Guo, Humans of Harker Profiler • December 16, 2019

Familiar with the crowded sidewalk at the San Jose Municipal Airport, Alicia Xu (12) crosses the street to reach the glass sliding doors. Above it reads, “Departures”. She walks into the building without...

“One of the biggest things you can take away from Quiz Bowl is learning to [make stuff up]. You have to build a rational answer upon not necessarily rational reason. It involves you trying to make a lot of connections between things that seemingly don’t line up. I think that has changed the way I see things and that really nothing is standalone; pretty much everything correlates with everything else,” Arun Sundaresan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: For ten points, name this…

by Michael Eng, Reporter • December 3, 2019

Arun “Runey” Sundaresan (12) sits at a table covered by an ill-fitting black table cloth. He is elevated on a stage in a mostly empty hotel ballroom and leans forward in his chair as his hands loosely...

“I think my curiosity is a combination of the environment I was brought up in and also the culture of Harker and the Bay Area. I always think of everything as something that can be questioned, regardless of whether it’s an established truth; that’s the only way you’ll get anywhere,” Smriti Vaidyanathan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Breaking the silence

by Delaney Logue, TALON Sports Editor • December 2, 2019

After the monotone of the pitch pipe, there’s a beat of silence; the room is holding its breath, waiting for the show to begin. Smriti Vaidyanathan (12) has never had a problem with breaking the silence....

“I think the most important decision I’ve made is consciously trying to be outgoing and being a positive influence instead of a negative one. I try to make other people’s lives a little better whether it’s being funny or being someone they can talk to. Anything really to make them laugh. I think that’s a really good thing that I want to take upon myself. I feel like more people should do that and see its impact,” Kevin Chen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Framing life with a positive outlook

by Muthu Panchanatham, Sports Reporter • November 21, 2019

One eye closed in concentration while the other resides behind his pitch-black lens, the young man turns toward the impressive skyline in the distance. As he gently presses down on the nodule protruding...

“[Writing is] a lot about being introspective, so speaking about things that maybe you aren’t comfortable with. A lot of it is about race, identity, politics and the intersection of the three … A lot of these issues don’t affect me personally, but it’s still interesting to me, because I just like listening to stories and talking to people,” Catherine Zhao (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Culture and community

by Nicole Tian, Winged Post Co-Lifestyle Editor • November 19, 2019

On a windy Monday afternoon, Catherine Zhao (12) sits on a bench behind Manzanita, describing a retreat at Walden West, an outdoors environmental program with around 100 participants from the Interact...

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