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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

“Everyone has a different story. In a café, I’ll imagine everyone’s life as a story floating above their head, like a bubble. I go to places where I'd talk to people that I don't otherwise meet. I like to give little compliments because they always make [people’s] days so much better, and that will usually start a conversation. Even if it's a five-minute interaction, there's so much you can learn and so much that you can take away from it,” Hari Bhimaraju (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Connections, cafés and creativity

by Anoushka Buch, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief April 21, 2021

A tool that allows the visually-impaired to learn about the periodic table. A friendship formed over a colorful journal and a hot latte. An imaginary world that’s too complex for anyone to understand...

“I was not very connected to a specific religion or my culture, but at Magic, I think that my nothingness had value as a blank slate for all these ideas. It was a very easy, comfortable spot of discourse. Having a clean outlook allowed me to look at all these ideas and let them mix and meld into my own identity, so a fusion of different ideas and outlooks is the way that I see the world now. That helped me realize having no identity is an identity in itself,” Anoushka Buch (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Mix and meld

by Nilisha Baid, TALON Business Manager April 21, 2021

As the sun rises over the Stanford Dish, Anoushka Buch (12) shares a laugh with her fellow volunteers. Together, they water a field of plants and set up Tubex to protect the trees before driving back down...

“I don't want to dog on teamwork because I'm a big fan of teamwork for sure—there are a lot of times for it. But to a degree, I really do appreciate the importance of self-sufficiency. I’m a big fan of that, not in a way of ‘you should not need other people,’ but when necessary, you should be able to handle what's thrown at you,” Bayden Yazalina (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Under the hood

by Arya Maheshwari, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief April 20, 2021

Machines are black boxes to most people. They serve a purpose; once they outlive their usefulness, they are readily replaced. But give Bayden Yazalina (12) a computer—no matter how old—and its CPU...

“I hope people will be a lot more accepting of any genre of music. As the Eastern [and] Western worlds overlap with each other, it's inevitable that their cultural exports will also intermingle. It's up to us to accept that these genres of music do in fact exist and are in fact valid. It's really nice for me, as an East Asian person, to see other East Asian people become more represented in the media,” Audrey Liu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: From Beethoven to BTS

by Nilisha Baid, TALON Business Manager April 20, 2021

A single note rings out from the keyboard. As her fingers fly across the keys, Audrey Liu (12) builds the melody in a crescendo, expressing her emotions through her music, and the sound fills her backyard. After...

“I'm proud of every moment I've done well, but at the same time I don’t see one moment over the others. By being proud of a moment too much you're satisfied and complacent — and you can't ever be complacent. You want your proudest moment to be in your future. I feel like the past isn't important; it's about what you do in the present and the future,” Eric said.

Humans of Harker: Trust the process

by Aditya Singhvi, Co-Managing Editor April 20, 2021

“Boom Boom Boom Boom!” One of the first memories that arise when you ask varsity boys basketball assistant coach Eric Lee about Eric Zhu (12) is of him playing an entirely different game — Brawl...

“I used to be pretty shy, but I broke out of my shell in high school. I really like getting to know everyone. That feeling when you know that someone trusts you enough to let you truly understand them is so special because it allows for this genuine connection. It makes me very happy to know that people trust me,” Shreya Srinivasan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creating sunshine

by Anoushka Buch, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief April 20, 2021

Every evening, the sun sets over Evergreen’s hills, casting a bronze glow on the city’s greenery that’s perfectly complemented by a rose-stained sky. And every evening, Shreya Srinivasan (12) can...

“Everyone's an unfinished puzzle. And that's part of the reason why I want to connect with different people. I feel that learning about someone's different experiences gives me a more complete perspective of the world and of the problems other people deal with. I might not be able to help them, but I can somewhat alleviate their pain and help them through their situations,” Kushal Shah (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Bonds for a lifetime

by Nicholas Wei, Humans of Harker Profiler April 20, 2021

Business psychologists. Biotech entrepreneurs. Medical professors. These are just a few types of people with whom Kushal Shah (12) has formed connections and helped connect others. Whether he is meeting...

“The birth lottery is this idea that says when you're born, you have no determination to decide which family you're born into … It's like a lottery. You can’t control where you're born or what circumstances you end up in, or what you want to do. I'd like the ability to change that up — it's worth it,” Krishay Mukhija (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Details make a difference

by Heidi Lu and Ananya Sriram April 15, 2021

Dressed in a polished and refined suit accentuated by a striped blue tie, Krishay Mukhija (12) focuses on the boy in front of him who is buttoning the cuffs of a crisp white shirt. Watching the boy fix...

“Being able to convey my emotions to an audience and being vulnerable to a group of people are aspects that I've grown in regarding dance. Learning how to take risks is a skill that has followed me outside of dance. There have been a lot of struggles throughout my years of dancing, but it has really taught me how to be persistent and resilient even when things get tough,” Karina Chen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Dual discoveries

by Helen Zhu, TALON Managing Editor April 15, 2021

Minutes before her number is called, Karina Chen (12) puts on her headphones and presses “play.” Listening to the music of her upcoming routine, she envisions herself on stage, deliberately selecting...

“I love to make people laugh or smile or try to brighten up their day, just a little bit. That's probably one of my favorite things to do. I’ve really enjoyed the brief interactions that I've had with everyone. I’ve known some of [my classmates] for 13 years now. It's kind of hard to not like them, even a little bit,” Ryan Tobin (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Soccer savant

by Tanya Karpinchyk and Sydney Ling April 15, 2021

Wearing a deep green Harker jersey and blue cleats, Ryan Tobin (12) sprints to his opponent, getting closer and closer to the soccer ball. The crowd sits on the bleachers of Davis Field, watching anxiously,...

“I'm someone who overthinks a lot of things, but the one thing in my life that I don't overthink is why I do the things I do. It's more like I do them to the best of my ability — how can I learn the most of [what] I somehow stumbled upon. You make the best of what you have. It goes back to the idea of spontaneity and living in the moment,” Arusha Patil (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A world of facets

by Sara Yen, Winged Post Co-Editor-in-Chief April 15, 2021

“It’s either a good time or a good story.”  Whether lost in the countryside of Peru, stuck in a blizzard in Iceland or captivated by a Buddhist temple in San Francisco, Arusha Patil (12) lives...

“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

Since he was a freshman, N Wang (12) has been creating a digital map of Silicon Valley with a specific purpose: sharing the Bay Area’s history. His vision is for the map to provide easier access to the...

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