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
"There are not a lot of people who identify as Punjabi Sikh, so I used to really distance myself from it. But over quarantine, I was forced to sit with myself and figure out who I was and who I wanted to be. I started learning about my religion and history and realized how much I appreciate it. Now, I’m proud to say that I am who I am," Jasleen Hansra (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Unapologetic and unstoppable

by Mihir Kotbagi, Reporter • May 8, 2023

As the buzzer sounds, signaling the end of the first half of the game, the varsity girls water polo team meets at the edge of the pool. Palo Alto High School leads by multiple goals, but the game is not...

"Sometimes, choir is nerve- racking, depending on how much we prepared the song. But in general, when I go up on the stage, it feels like all the nerves melt away. I’m just with my choir, and we’re having a good time," Ayla Apsey (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Harmonizing positivity

by Angelina Burrows, TALON Co-Sports Editor • May 8, 2023

In only a few weeks, the velvet seats of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center will fill with an audience anticipating a night of harmony and soothing music. On stage, a group of singers dressed in black...

"Over the past few years, I learned that everybody’s making the same mistakes, and nobody really cares what you’re doing as long as you fix your mistakes. That also translates to out of school. Nobody cares as much as you think they do, and I had to get over that," Claire Kampmeier (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Seize the clay

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Editor-in-Chief • April 28, 2023

With headphones on, Claire Kampmeier (12) concentrates on sculpting a smooth, symmetrical ceramic creation. After weeks of work, she can finally finish and watch the product come out of the kiln with light...

"A big part of my life is that 'never give up' mentality. Despite all the setbacks, if you really push yourself to the fullest, good things will happen to you. This year on the Harker soccer team, two of our six games ended with one of our goals in the last minute causing a tie. Our team really embodies that 'never give up' spirit. Our mentality is that you play until the final whistle," Rahul Herrero (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Dribbling towards dreams

by Disha Gupta, Reporter • April 28, 2023

Rahul Herrero (12) vividly recalls watching his teammate dive to block an incoming ball with bated breath. It was the final tournament of the season, and the fate of the club soccer game had come down...

"Being around dancers and martial artists has been a unique experience. There are aspects of perseverance, especially in martial arts, that have always been with me even from when I started it. That’s shaped how I view the world," Aspen Shen (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Moving with meaning

by Charlize Wang, Reporter • April 28, 2023

As the crimson curtains of the Patil Theater stage draw open slowly, a hush falls over the audience. It’s Big Assembly Day. The opening of the Avengers theme song fills the auditorium, and Kinetic Krew...

"On one hand, it’s a personal journey. I’ve had goals that I’ve always wanted to achieve. Doing track and training sometimes twice a day and putting in sometimes four hours in a single day gives me drive and passion that I can really share with others as well," Rigo Gonzales (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Best foot forward

by Ella Guo and Jonathan Xue • April 25, 2023

100 meters to go. Positioned 20 meters ahead of Rigo Gonzales (12) is his final adversary, the only obstacle between him and Harker’s 400m relay victory. Rigo races forwards, but his opponent remains...

“Soccer shaped me to be an athlete and healthy person and to take care of my body and be a leader in terms of learning how to manage a team. It instilled confidence in my leadership skills and made me a more interesting person because I know more about different facets of life,” Cassie May (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Leading and listening

by Shaina Cohen, Reporter • April 16, 2023

The air is electric with anticipation as the soccer ball zips around on the field, passed from the defense to the center backs and then to the midfielders. From the side, Cassie May (12) sprints toward...

"I remember feeling very intimidated, but every round I progressed in the elimination, I realized that there isn’t an outside boundary between me and these ultra-great competitors. If I wanted to be, I could become one of them. That mindset shift helped me," Rahul Mulpuri (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Winning with words

by Hima Thota, Co-Features Editor • April 16, 2023

From the Green Hill Round Robin in Texas to the Damus Hollywood Invitational in Los Angeles, Rahul Mulpuri (12) has traversed the nation participating in debate tournaments. Whether it’s a small-scale...

Humans of Harker: Bringing life to the screen

by Jessica Tang, Photo Editor • March 26, 2023

BB Ajlouny (12): As a kid, there was some app on the App Store called Video Star, and it basically allows you to choose a song and then record clips and put it over it. So, as a nine year old, I made music...

“I've always had this disconnect between which culture I really feel like I should belong to. With this set of self portraits, I want to acknowledge the fact that I have a lot of confusion as to my identity, and I want other people to understand that there are people who feel the same way and who aren't sure, and that's completely okay because you don’t have to define yourself from one place," Lakshmi Mulgund (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding perfection in imperfection

by Olivia Xu, HoH Managing Editor • March 23, 2023

On Aug. 19, the class of 2026 took their first step into high school. On Oct. 6, the class of 2023 decked out in bright yellow and cheered in their last high school homecoming rally. On Feb. 4, all four...

“My advice is to never give up, but also approach your problems from a logical standpoint and try to be as honest as possible with yourself. You have to think about what options you have and what path you can take in order to succeed,” Isaac Yang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Strategy and skill

by Olivia Xu and Charlie Folk • March 23, 2023

With a quick step to the right and a slight flick of the wrist, Isaac Yang (12) hits the shuttle across the net. His intense focus on the shuttle’s trajectory allows him to react swiftly as it flutters...

“I started playing tennis when I was six years old. It's been a long time. I like being alone on the court with your thoughts and not having a game clock. You can always come back and win in tennis. There's no time limit. That's what got me really into it, and that's why I chose it over other sports,” Anushka Mehrotra (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Learning to ‘ace’ life

by Gabe Sachse, Asst. Sports Editor • March 22, 2023

The thud of a tennis ball against the pavement reverberates across the Blackford tennis courts as Anushka Mehrotra (12) competes in a doubles match against the Menlo School tennis team. The intensity with...

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