The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“After I joined choir, I realized how important a sense of community and belonging is. It’s not vital to having a good time in high school. Before that, I was perfectly happy in sophomore year. But joining choir in junior year gave me that sense of working toward a long-term goal together and trying to perfect it and practice it with other people," senior Harrison Chen said.
Humans of Harker: Exploring sound and science
“I want to be remembered as someone who helped my friends and people I know in the grades below to be able to appreciate all of our experiences together. I find it very inspiring to watch all my friends mature over time and want to help this community grow," senior Max Zhai said.
Humans of Harker: Mentoring the next generation
Humans of Harker: Bonds and bullseyes
Humans of Harker: Bonds and bullseyes
Humans of Harker: Piecing together a narrative
Humans of Harker: Piecing together a narrative
“When I was a VP, I had this urge to think, ‘I was a director last year. I know exactly what to do. I'm gonna do it myself, and then the directors can watch and take it on for the next year.' But then I had to realize that it's important to delegate and let them go through the hardship that it took me the year before. Even if they don't understand it, it's also important for them to go through that experience so that they can get to the point where I am now," senior Sanaa Bhorkar said.
Humans of Harker: Directing effort, coordinating action
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
Last-minute merges at the entrance before school or improper turns onto the highway and Saratoga Avenue as students and parents leave school constitute a danger to the community. With only one entrance and exit to campus, drivers often make unsafe decisions to save time.

Editorial: Irresponsible driving endangers community

by Editorial Board • March 28, 2024

The final school bell chimes at 3 p.m. Within minutes, students flood Harker’s loading zones, and traffic slows while cars fill the exit lanes. As the traffic lights switch to green, a turning car suddenly...

Leaving students out of the circle of communication means leaving them entirely in the dark during a potential life or death situation.

Editorial: Lack of transparency creates danger

by Editorial Board • October 13, 2023

Students crouched on the floor as they waited in silence during the lockdown on Sept. 13 without knowing the events taking place beyond the classroom walls. At 3:25 p.m., the public address (PA) system...

Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) announces the annual Spirit Kickoff during school meeting on Aug. 28 in the Zhang Gymnasium. The Spirit Kickoff took place on Friday in the Quad from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

School meeting recap 8/28/23: Artist in Residence, Spirit Kickoff and safety protocols

by Charlize Wang • September 5, 2023

Associated Student Body (ASB) president Daniel Lin (12) opened the second school meeting of the year on Aug. 28.  Upper school art teacher Brian Caponi announced the Visual Arts Department’s 2023-24...

Head of Upper School Paul Barsky first notified students of the new crosswalks during the school meeting on Oct. 28. He encouraged students to use them to stay safe and for student drivers to pay attention to new safety features and developments.

New crosswalks installed in parking lots promote student safety

by Sidak Sanghari and Isabella Lo • December 7, 2022

Harker administration installed new crosswalks in the front loading zone parking lot leading onto the campus and one from the far student parking slots to Davis Field during the last week of October to...

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit 12 miles east of the San Jose upper school campus yesterday at 11:42 a.m. The campus suffered no damage to the property and continued the school day as scheduled after the incident.

5.1 magnitude earthquake shakes San Jose

by Felix Chen and Kinnera Mulam • October 26, 2022

A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck 12 miles east of the San Jose upper school campus yesterday at 11:42 a.m. Three aftershocks followed yesterday at magnitudes 2.9 at 11:47 a.m., 3.5 at 3:08 p.m. and...

In the aftermath of countless mass shootings and an intrusion on our own campus, we cannot be passive bystanders and wait for a more dangerous situation to happen to us in order to enact change. Our system for responding to school shootings needs an update.

Editorial: Responses for school safety require an update

by Editorial Board • September 14, 2022

This June, Harker encountered an unarmed intruder on campus — one of the rare times when a shelter-in-place was not a drill. With this incident and the heartbreaking school shooting at Robb Elementary...

This pandemic isn’t behind us yet, so we take on the responsibility to assure each other through the simple actions of sitting two to a table or waiting a few more months for a hug. Practicing simple actions protects the community we have waited so long to meet again.

Safety depends on accountability

by Editorial Board • May 18, 2021

Four weeks ago, our student body’s year-long separation from the upper school campus finally came to an end. Shortly after Santa Clara County restrictions eased restrictions, the senior class spirit...

Jessica Zhou (10) prepares to hit a bunker shot at a practice round at Cinnabar Hills Golf Club last week. Following the upper school's safety protocols for athletes, players are required to wear masks and social distance at all times.

Spring sports kick off

by Anna Vazhaeparambil and Varsha Rammohan • March 1, 2021

Despite a delayed start to their seasons, due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Santa Clara County during the winter, upper school athletes in cross country, football, girls golf and girls tennis are currently...

The quad after school today. The upper school will be closed to all students beginning tomorrow following a reported case of COVID-19 in the family of a non-teaching staff member.

All 4 campuses likely to close through spring break after parent of non-teaching staff member tests positive for COVID-19

by Sara Yen, Anna Vazhaeparambil, Varsha Rammohan, Alysa Suleiman, Kathy Fang, Arushi Saxena, Aditya Singhvi, Esha Gohil, and Eric Fang • March 12, 2020

All four of Harker’s campuses will be closed for students after classes today after a parent of a non-teaching staff member in the upper school, with whom that staff member lives, tested positive for...

Two women, both wearing protective masks, select vegetables at 99 Ranch Market in Cupertino on Sunday evening. Due to the global novel coronavirus outbreak and the recent confirmation of cases in Santa Clara County, stores around the Bay Area have been experiencing shortages of masks.

Second case of coronavirus confirmed in Santa Clara County, unrelated to first case

by Varsha Rammohan and Gloria Zhang • February 2, 2020

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed a second case of the new coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, in Santa Clara County today to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.  This...

An illustration of the 2019 novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, created by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What to know about the 2019 novel coronavirus

by Kathy Fang, Eric Fang, and Alysa Suleiman • January 30, 2020

As the 2019 novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, continues to spread across the world, Harker Aquila breaks down what you need to know about the outbreak. What is the 2019-nCoV?  The 2019-nCoV is a respiratory...

The downstairs boys bathroom in Dobbins was closed today after two upper school students found and reported a threatening graffiti message inside the bathroom. In response to this report, upper school administrators called an all-school meeting at 2:45 p.m. today.

Upper school administration calls sudden, mandatory all-school meeting after students reported threatening graffiti message

by Harker News Staff • November 5, 2019

Upper school administration called students and faculty to a sudden and mandatory all-school meeting in the athletics center at 2:45 p.m. today after students reported a threatening graffiti message in...

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