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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

Aquila Weekly Wrap-Up: Jan. 11-17

Aquila Weekly Wrap-Up: Jan. 11-17

by Lily Shi, News Editor January 20, 2025

This is Aquila Weekly Wrap-Up, where we bring you the latest updates from around our school community. Saturday The annual Senior Directed Showcase featured four 30-minute plays at the Patil...

Assistant Upper School Division Head Kelly Horan discusses new courses added to the 2025-2026 academic school year. Some of these included advanced topics in Chinese and math.

School Meeting 1/7: Student Directed Showcase, course selections and summer programs

by William Jiang and Leah Krupnik January 12, 2025

Head of Upper School Paul Barsky opened the first school meeting after winter break for grades 9, 10 and 11 in the Athletic Center on Tuesday. Meanwhile, seniors gathered for a meeting about their end-of-year...

Directors’ Roundtable: Revisiting Stories from Student-Directed Showcase

by Alison Yang and Suhani Gupta March 8, 2024

A month ago, the Conservatory premiered the annual Student Directed Showcase. The directors, seniors Isabella Ribeiro, Mariana Rai, Selina Xu and Sonya Apsey, each selected and produced four one-act plays...

Characters in "Pressure" crowd around Hannah Streeper's Sam after she fainted. All four SDS plays centered around the high school experience and adolescence's stresses.

Annual SDS showcase spotlights student directors

by Young Min, Emma Li, and Alison Yang February 15, 2024

A girl strides up to the mirror and finds her younger self staring back. A classroom strains under the stress of a sudden lockdown. A quartet of teenagers face the social, familial and academic pressures...

Performers unveil work in the arts during Student Directed Showcase productions

by Sidak Sanghari, Hima Thota, Alison Yang, and Sally Zhu January 18, 2023

A misshapen blob of students, dressed in costumes ranging from floral shirts to ski boots to construction vests, gather onstage. Wrapping their arms around each other, they squat down, heads bowed in anticipation....

Harker Spirit Leadership Team officers, some donning dinosaur costumes, discuss Homecoming week activities at yesterday's school meeting. Other topics included Student Directed Showcase announcements, CareerConnect opportunities and Honor Week activities.

School meeting recap: 09/21/22: CareerConnect, Student Directed Showcase and “Guess That Song”

by Katerina Matta, Reporter September 22, 2022

Associated Student Body (ASB) President Kris Estrada (12) opened the school meeting yesterday.  History club President Rupert Chen (12) and Vice President Sarah Mohammed (12) introduced their trip...

Students in "Governing Alice" played by Sidak Sanghari (9), Leyla Artun (12) and Arianna Weaver (12) wave their hands. Four student-directed plays performed in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center on Jan. 7 and Jan. 8.

Annual Student Directed Showcase production entertains audience amidst COVID-19 pandemic

by Sally Zhu and Kinnera Mulam January 20, 2022

Where can you learn about all of American history and grow inspired by a basketball team’s hunt for new players in one sitting? Or enter a fictitious world of shunned “lefties” and sympathize with...

Saumi Mehta (12), one of the four senior directors, participates in a staged reading of the play "Squad Goals" on Oct. 1. The student directors posted the cast lists for all the plays on Saturday.

Cast lists for 2022 Student Directed Showcase plays announced

by Sally Zhu, A&E and Lifestyle Editor October 21, 2021

The Student Directed Showcase (SDS) student directors announced the cast list for the 2022 SDS productions in a Schoology post on Saturday.  Performing Arts Director Laura-Lang Ree uploaded a post...

Namrata Karra (11) looks at a copy of "Squad Goals" while listening to others read their lines from a scene in “Squad Goals" on Friday. The Student Directed Showcase directors this year are seniors Josh Field, Richard Amarillas, Saumi Mehta and Ysabel Chen.

Student Directed Showcase readings take place for a peek into plays

by Ananya Sriram, Reporter October 3, 2021

Students interested in auditioning for Student Directed Showcase (SDS) familiarized themselves with two of the four SDS plays, “Governing Alice” by C. Derby Swanson and “Squad Goals” by Don Zolidis,...

The sophomore class sits on the gym floor while members of the junior class, senior class and faculty sit on the bleachers during school meeting yesterday. The freshmen were absent from the school meeting due to freshman student council speeches taking place at the same time.

School meeting recap 9/29/21: Homecoming week, Student Directed Showcase and CareerConnect

by Anika Maji, Reporter September 30, 2021

Associated Student Body (ASB) President Dawson Chen (12) began the meeting. The freshman class was not present in order to listen to freshman class council election speeches held in the Patil Theater....

From left to right, Jasmine Li (10), Sarah Raymond (12) and Aastha Mangla (10) rehearse lines in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center on Nov. 18. All three students are performing in senior director Vaishnavi Murari's play "It's Our Town, Too."

The show must go on: Student directors prepare plays to be shown virtually

by Alysa Suleiman, A&E Editor December 18, 2020

Ever since joining the performing arts community at the upper school in freshman year, Topaz Gao (12) knew they found their place of inspiration. Their journey in theater inspired them to dabble in playwriting,...

Peter Galen, played by Alex Kumar (11) in "Booby Trap" leans against a piece of wood as he ponders his fate and reflects upon his past. Another soldier, acted by Shray Alag (11), examines the area surrounding him.

Performing arts presents annual Student Directed Showcase

by Sriya Batchu and Lauren Liu January 14, 2020

After a semester of preparation and hours upon hours of rehearsals, the Student Directed Showcase (SDS), featuring four plays, took the stage last Friday and Saturday night. in the Rothschild Performing...

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