The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
Humans of Harker: Leading with every lesson
Humans of Harker: Leading with every lesson
“For me, discipline can only happen when I try the things that I really like. Since I like basketball and I like guitar, I'm willing to contribute to the discipline. It's not really discipline at that point — it's passion," senior Advay Monga said.
Humans of Harker: Dribble and drive
“Working on Roobi has taught me how to bounce back from failures, and that problems need to be addressed one bit at a time because you can't just tackle huge goals. I learned to not be afraid of failure because every failure is a step towards success. I try not to look back and wish I could change something because I can't. It's the past. Instead, I look forward," senior Daniel Dorfman said.
Humans of Harker: Steeped for success
“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
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
"I like to analyze both myself psychologically and just like things in general by trying to notice details. It's helped me know myself better. I understand why I'm doing certain things, even if they aren't the best thing, so I can work towards becoming a better person," Amrita Pasupathy ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Hitting escape

by Ananya Sriram, Katelyn Zhao, and Olivia Xu • August 13, 2023

Escapism: avoiding reality by engaging in entertainment and fantasy. In other words, a psychological escape that plucks readers from reality and leaves them immersed within a mystical world. Imagine...

“The most important thing in terms of practicing big pieces is bringing it down to smaller chunks and practicing those smaller chunks. When I practice, I don't usually run through the whole song just because that’s not how you get better. You have to look at smaller sections, get good at those sections, then add it all up to make the whole piece good,” Matthew Chen ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Small steps, big gains

by Katelyn Zhao, Humans of Harker Co-Editor-in-Chief • August 11, 2023

As the sunlight filters through the windows of the orchestra room, Matthew Chen (‘23) carefully pulls his bow against the strings of his cello. The smooth, rich oak-colored instrument rests in front...

"Sometimes, I'd challenge the coach and say, 'I don't think this makes sense.' The coach, instead of saying, 'No, listen to me,' would actually reconsider, and then give us a better answer, or reaffirm the answers proving we're wrong with actual biology to teach us. The coaches have been extremely nice and actually taught me so much beyond just being a track runner," Zain Vakath ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Targeting track

by Vivek Yella, Reporter • August 10, 2023

A breeze swirls past runners on a chilly Tuesday evening while they zoom around the curve of the track in the 200 meter sprint. Down the final stretch, Zain Vakath ('23) pumps his legs as hard as he can,...

"Water polo is one of the most physically demanding sports. I've gained lots of strength from it. I've also been able to be a part of a sports varsity sports team. For a lot of high school, it's a good experience that I've had because I’ve become more of a person who's able to cooperate and work with others and be a part of the team," Bora Koyuncuoglu ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Ripple of positivity

by Isabella Lo and Michelle Wei • August 7, 2023

Surrounded by colorful books, Bora Koyuncuoglu ('23) patiently explains a difficult topic to a group of young students at the San Jose Public Library. As they slowly begin to grasp the idea, eager smiles...

“To some extent, being a senior on the team means that I have more people relying on me and more people actually believing that I can be of any help to them. That's what's really emotional and really heartwarming is that I started off heavily relying on my seniors. They helped me with so many different things and to see that I was really able to fulfill their legacy and help the next generation as well, that’s all I hope for,” Jessica Zhou ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Setting the course

by Shiv Deokar and Katelyn Zhao • June 2, 2023

When Jessica Zhou ('23) first immigrated to the United States, she found herself in an unfamiliar environment and felt uneasy about finding a support system within golf to cheer her on for her successes....

"I like to see how much I’ve grown. I’m proud to say that the Charmander on my screen became a real sketch; and maybe someday I can create a game that inspires someone like it did for me," Carlo Banzon ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Sketches from a screen

by Ananya Sriram, Winged Post Co-Managing Editor • June 1, 2023

Minecraft. Pokémon. Fortnite. To many, these names simply embody entertainment. Yet, to Carlo Banzon ('23), these video games, along with the many others he plays, are carefully curated pieces of design...

"Even though high school can be daunting at Harker, don’t be afraid, and go out and do what you want to do. I was scared to try things at first: I didn’t try out for the DECA leadership team, I didn’t play football, and I didn’t hang out with the people that I wanted to hang out with. There’s a lot of things that I didn’t do because I was scared, and it took a pandemic for that to change for me. Don’t make that mistake. If you fall down, you’ll be able to get yourself back up," Rohan Gorti ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: ‘Tuff’ness in a touchdown

by Ananya Sriram, Winged Post Co-Managing Editor • May 30, 2023

36 seconds. While the timespan is short, in football, a game of clever coordination and tight timing, every moment matters. As the clock ticked down the final moments of the first half during the 2022...

"I was running through some of my lessons with my teachers, and I asked them, 'When does somebody stop taking lessons? When will somebody stop trying to explore music?' They responded, 'When it stops being fun,'" Vishal Rohra ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Composed of compassion

by Andrew Liang, Co-News Editor • May 29, 2023

The soulful sound of Vishal Rohra’s ('23) saxophone reverberates throughout the dimly lit auditorium. His fingers glide effortlessly along the golden keys, mesmerizing the audience with his melodic grace...

“My favorite part of computer science is having the ability to create solutions. Computer science is a very complicated subject, so trying to navigate and combine concepts to create solutions. Computer science taught me how to learn on my own or find solutions on my own because it's very complex,” Benjamin Tian ('23) said.

Humans of Harker: Tides of curiosity

by Lindsey Tuckey, TALON Co-Conservatory Editor • May 28, 2023

In the ocean’s depths, the eerie glow emanating from bioluminescent creatures remains the only respite from total darkness. Despite the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench extending seven miles below...

"In a way, music is a second language for me. When I sit down at the piano, or when I’m performing, I get a sense of comfort, because at that moment, I don’t need to do anything. The music does it for me, and that’s what makes it all worth it," Hita Thota (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Symphonic storytelling

by Katelyn Zhao and Chayce Milheim • May 18, 2023

Taking a deep breath in, Hita Thota (12) trains her eyes on the black and white music sheet in front of her and focuses on the first note. Closing her eyes, she begins to guide the violin bow across the...

“Journalism really helped me with people skills. I [also] got to take photos and meet a lot of my closest friends in journalism that I don't think we would have otherwise. Photographing and capturing a lot of people's memories and being able to provide people with those pictures feels super special,” Smrithi Sambamurthy (12) said.

Humans of Harker: A designer’s eye

by Brandon Zau, Photo Editor • May 18, 2023

As Smrithi Sambamurthy (12) stepped onto a flight headed to Pittsburgh, a wave of uncertainty occupied her mind. Smrithi’s first time traveling alone, the experience filled her with anticipation. But...

“When you learn how to learn, it's not only in athletics, not only in school, not only in your social life: it applies to everything because it's the process of learning how to learn and figuring out how you learn. You learn when you're intentional about the work that you do, when you put effort into the work and are mindful about doing the right things," Sydney Adler (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Splash of spirit

by Olivia Xu and Angelina Burrows • May 17, 2023

“Eagles on three. One, two, three. Eagles!” Sydney Adler (12) huddles with her team, rallying her teammates as they prepare for the start of another game. It’s Sydney’s last home game, and the...

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