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
“We have so many opportunities to grow and experience new things so that we can be the next leaders of the world. As humans, we have a responsibility to act as caretakers and the voice of the wildlife we share this planet with, so improving animal welfare has always been my calling, to give a voice to the animals who cannot speak for themselves,” Alex Baeckler (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Call to action

by Esha Gohil, Humans of Harker Co-Managing Editor • May 25, 2021

Standing under a colorful Happy Hollow Zoo sign and clad in a bright orange park employee T-shirt, Alexandra “Alex” Baeckler (12) grins, the familiarity of the location a comfort to her. Alex has been...

“Elon Musk said, 'If you need inspiring words, don't do it.' I don't like doing things that I don't want to do because you're not going to have the drive to actually complete it to the very end. I feel like a lot of people don't have enough passion or interest in things; they're doing it because other people are doing it or because you're told to. If you want to do it personally, then you're going to do it a lot better than if you're told to,” Jason Kwok (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Drive forward

by Mark Hu, Winged Post STEM Editor • May 25, 2021

Eyes focused on the interior of his red Subaru and hands perched on the sides of the shiny hood, Jason Kwok (12) peers into the interior of his modded car, inspecting the individual parts and checking...

“If you focus, concentrate and control your emotions, it could be helpful in any discipline, whether it be school or baseball, or even volunteering for that matter. As long as you focus, put your mind to it and have that drive for it, things will happen better than how they would have been if you just sat there,” Andrew Chavez (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Pitching with intent

by Anika Mantripragada, Alena Suleiman, and Sally Zhu • May 18, 2021

With the ball in one hand and a large brown baseball mitt in the other, Andrew Chavez (12) stands at the pitcher’s mound, his eyes on his target. Hands clenched together, he brings one knee up and stretches...

“I always talk about how I feel like I've had so many full circle moments, where I was once the student and now I'm the teacher. It feels that much more special when I remember that I used to be the one running around the playground or forgetting my Hebrew alphabet. It’s a reminder that it's scary that we're growing up, and I don't feel like I'm too old for anything, but it’s still a significant growth,” Zoe Sanders (12) said.

Humans of Harker: The true meaning of home

by Varsha Rammohan, Co-Editor-in-Chief • May 18, 2021

In the small community of Weston on the southern coast of Florida, Zoe Sanders (12) grew up surrounded by a cozy congregation of cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and extended family. Her cousins...

“[In debate] you have to debate things from both sides, and it’s really forced me to look at things from both perspectives, think about things from different angles … I want to be remembered for providing a unique perspective on things, giving some thoughts that make people things or adding some perspective on things that make people think about something in a different way,” Andy Lee (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Masterful analyzation

by Claire Luo and Katelyn Zhao • May 18, 2021

Andy Lee (12) recalls his proudest moment in his high school debate career. He and his debate teammate had been losing to the same strategy repeatedly throughout the year, an easily discouraging situation....

“One thing that I wish other people cared about was being more conscious and aware about other people and focusing more on learning from other people. Some of my most memorable learning experiences have been from working with other people and learning from them, whether that's communities or my friends, and a lot of people take that for granted and prioritize learning from books or school and not actually learning from experiences or other people,” Zoe Kister (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Exploring the unfamiliar

by Margaret Cartee and Katie Reed • May 17, 2021

With hazel ombre hair flowing down her shoulders and a bright smile illuminating her face, Zoe Kister (12) sweeps her right leg up into a scorpion-like position, displaying her exceptional flexibility...

Music Monday is a new installation featuring a different category of songs on a weekly basis.

Music Monday: Celebrating the class of 2021 with Aquila

by Sally Zhu, Humans of Harker Profiler • May 17, 2021

Music Monday features a different category of songs on a weekly basis. Each Monday, Harker Aquila will release seven songs, one song for each day of the week.  The class of 2021 will be graduating...

“My most defining experiences all came in middle school since I was able to explore what kind of person I wanted to mold myself into. It was a struggling process, but the effort that I was a bit reluctant to put in ended up being worthwhile. It wasn’t just about finding a balance between school and leisure, but also about finding and fitting in with my own group of friends. Now … I’ve found my crowd and I’ve struck that school and fun balance that’s allowed me to be successful,” Rohan Kannan (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Creating the right vibe

by Kushal Shah, Sports Columnist • May 11, 2021

Heartily chuckling while in deep conversation with his huddled up friends during office hours, Rohan Kannan (12) points to another friend working alone on a lunch table nearby, checking in with him and...

“You're never going to be perfect, you're never going to reach your exact goal, but you can keep working towards it, finding those small things that you can change that will make a bigger improvement than you ever think they'll be able to,” Aditi Vinod (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Skiing towards success

by Lakshmi Mulgund, TALON Co-Sports and Social Media Editor • May 11, 2021

When scrolling through Aditi Vinod’s (12) Instagram feed, there may be a few robotics or dog photos scattered throughout, but the blinding white snow and skis take over her photos. In one particular...

“You really only do live once. You might as well live your life to the fullest, especially as a child. And as a teen in high school, live your life to the fullest and don't have any regrets. I like to have fun and not really care about what other people think of me. I think that's definitely a way to go with life, because if you care about what everyone thinks, you're really not going to enjoy it to the fullest,” Natalie Vo (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Swinging through life

by Sally Zhu, Humans of Harker Profiler • May 10, 2021

Natalie Vo (12) leans her head back in thought, vividly remembering the moment she qualified for the Women’s Amateur Tournament last summer, the day that all her hard work paid off and finally revealed...

 “[Coaching] taught me so much about myself as a person, but I’m helping kids develop not only as players but as people, which I think is very important. To help facilitate that change has been something that is very meaningful to me. And to see kids come into the room and grow more confident and supportive [of] each other is really, really cool; that’s why I think it’s really worth it,” Hannah Grannis (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Hurdling over horizons

by Angelina Hu and Kinnera Mulam • May 10, 2021

Amid the jerseyed middle school children dribbling soccer balls across the field stands Hannah Grannis (12). Calmly and patiently, she directs the young aspiring soccer players with the knowledge she has...

“I’ve always done my best to keep an open mind and try everything just once. You won’t ever know if you’ll like something if you never attempt it and that’s what I strive to do. At the end of the day, I just want to spend my time pursuing things that I actually enjoy doing. I’m going to do the things that are genuinely meaningful to me — things that give me the outlet I need to impact others,” Ray Wang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Dribbling with drive

by Kushal Shah, Sports Reporter • May 10, 2021

32 seconds. The scoreboard reads 62-61, with the opposing team up by a single point. A whistle’s shriek pierces the air, signaling the inbounding of the ball. Catching the inbound ball, the point guard...

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