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
“Learning how to do makeup really helped me gain confidence because I saw a different side of myself — I saw my own beauty. Your face is like a very interesting canvas. It’s something that you know better than anyone else, so it’s very fun to experiment with how you can make yourself look different," Shinjan Ghosh (12) said.

Humans of Harker: From palette to canvas

by Anika Mani, TALON Co-Editor-in-Chief • March 25, 2022

Makeup brushes lay across a picnic blanket. Her chain necklace glistens in the light. With a smile as radiant as the sun’s reflection in the mirror, Shinjan Ghosh (12) delicately applies bright, pigmented...

“I always thought I would be a college recruit, but I realized that playing golf competitively was just not my thing. It was a really difficult decision to make, but in the end, I sacrificed golf for academics and committed to that choice without ever turning back or regretting it," Tina Xu (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Striking a balance

by Katie Wang, TALON Co-Photo Editor • March 25, 2022

Those who do not know Tina Xu (12) well can usually recognize the name from its frequent appearance in Eagle Update highlights. If not that, Tina’s unique effortless style, both in character and in fashion,...

“My favorite part [about table tennis] is that it's not just about your technique and your strategy; it’s very much a mental game. Even though you have your club mates and your coaches there, they can't come play for you, so you can't have an off day, because there's no one to pick up the slack for you. It's helped me a lot with being more confident in myself and being able to withstand pressure from [my] academic life as well," Ritika Rajamani (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Taking her best shot

by Lavanya Subramanian, TALON Student Life Editor • March 24, 2022

Ritika Rajamani (12) recalls the moments before her match at the 2017 US National Table Tennis Championship. Matching her steps to the beats of the upbeat music playing in her ears, she steadied her breathing,...

"Toxic positivity is the idea that we have to force ourselves to be happy all the time. We think the best thing about life is being happy so we feel like we have to be happy all the time to live a satisfying life. But that's not the case, we can take life as it comes, both positive and negative, and it’ll be okay," Madeleine Hansen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Behind the lens

by Smrithi Sambamurthy, TALON People Editor • March 24, 2022

Reminiscing on past adventures, Madeleine “Maddie” Hansen (12) recalls where her passion for photography initially stemmed from. She had peered through the viewfinder, adjusting her focus and aperture,...

“I'm interested in whatever I'm interested in, and that’s what led me to all the different activities that I do. It’s led me to small hobbies like playing squash a lot, and it has also helped me connect with people and be more free and open when talking to others," Rohan Thakur (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The little things below the surface

by Edward Huang, Assistant Features Editor • March 23, 2022

Rohan Thakur (12) recalls getting his first bid to qualify him for the Tournament of Champions debate competition in his senior year and experiencing the joy of achieving such a huge goal after years of...

“Music makes you work hard. Practicing forces you to keep yourself in charge because no one's ever going to be there telling you, ‘Oh, this thing is due.’ It's up to yourself to spend the time and that can be really hard. I think the process for everything is worth it no matter what comes out," Karolyn Cheng (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Peace in performance

by Anika Mantripragada, Reporter • March 23, 2022

Lifting a silver flute to her lips, Karolyn Cheng (12) blows into the mouthpiece. Sweet music fills the practice room on the second floor of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC). With a composed...

“I like how [the retirement community residents] are regulars. You don't get new people often. If I'm able to find a grouchy person and be empathetic and extra nice to them, and have them like me after, It makes my heart very happy," Alyssa Tomberg (12) said.

Humans of Harker: “Our best moments together”

by Sarah Mohammed, Features Editor • March 22, 2022

Alyssa Tomberg (12) adores her family car. Being in her family’s ownership since 2004, the small, royal blue Subaru is the same age as her. It finds comfort in the same home. Its engine revs up like...

“[Art is] a really good way to let out all your emotions. For someone like me, who is not very good at communicating their emotions very well, art is a really good place to dump all your feelings into if you don't like saying it by word of mouth. You can do anything with art. There's honestly no right or wrong way to do art, so whatever you want to do, you can do," Ray Ka (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Details in design

by Margaret Cartee, Assistant Opinions Editor • March 22, 2022

In a life dominated by social media, small details can blend into an endless chain of images. Ray Ka (12) relishes the nuances of her designs, which she posts on Instagram, reflecting on the process of...

“I like to see someone else fall in love with something that I care about too. [It’s] that feeling of giving back with what I know. And then, I grow as a violin player, I grow as a tennis player, I grow as a person, so I'm getting a lot back in return," Kavita Murthy (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Music and mentorship

by Irene Yuan, Co-Managing Editor • March 21, 2022

Kavita Murthy (12) recalls the first time she helped out with the lower school orchestra in 2015. Rehearsal had already started, so Kavita, wearing her middle school uniform, entered the room and sat in...

“School is kind of procedural — everything has a set schedule. But when you’re hiking, backpacking, you can do what you want to do, and use your own skills or knowledge to make that happen," Alex Zhang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Challenges for the mind, expeditions in the outdoors

by Julie Shi, Reporter • March 21, 2022

Alex Zhang (12) smiles as he recalls the semester-long Study of Organic Chemistry course he had taken the previous semester, especially the rewarding experience of translating lecture notes into hands-on...

“Throughout the years I've really found myself and found who I am. And I'd like to say that I found myself with silent confidence. I'm a pretty quiet person. But I think that I do have a very silent confidence and that's something that not many high schoolers have," Kalyn Su (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A silent confidence

by Heidi Lu and Olivia Xu • March 20, 2022

Following the fall of Saigon in 1975, over 125,000 Vietnamese refugees poured through the doors of the United States, settling in the country. Over the next 25 years, the deluge of Vietnamese refugees...

“On one hand, I really enjoy everything I do, but that's not the only reason it's worth it to me. In my Boy Scout troop and when teaching at Mathnasium, I really feel like it's worth it because, thinking of all the people in my Boy Scout troop who helped me along that journey and helped me become who I am today, I really want to give back to them," Tristan Goodwin (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Giving back, “one step at a time”

by Anika Maji, Reporter • March 19, 2022

Mount Baldy, New Mexico. Standing a daunting 12,441 feet tall, the mountain represented the pinnacle of the 70-mile long backpacking trip Tristan Goodwin (12) took in the summer of 2019 with the Boy Scouts....

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