The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“In every activity I do, there's always an element of making sure that my work can impact people. In what I've done, there are times when people question what I do or if what I'm doing is correct. For me, what is most important is that what I'm doing can have a tangible impact on someone else. As long as I believe that an impact can occur, then I want to do that regardless of what other people think," senior Valerie Li said.
Humans of Harker: Calling for change
“My favorite part is not even the content, just how all my family presented. I made a jeopardy one time about myself to see who knew me the best, and that was funny because I realized that they do pay attention more than I give them credit for. I appreciate my family more for that," senior Rithika Yamasani said.
Humans of Harker: Finding strength in connection
Humans of Harker: Data and dynamics
Humans of Harker: Data and dynamics
“Once people start lifting, they'll never be happy with how they look or how big their muscles are. It definitely makes them more self-conscious about how they look because a lot of people train for muscle size. Since I'm not trying to pursue lifting in college and it’s just for fun, I train for both. It's not exclusively one or the other," senior Jason Yi said.
Humans of Harker: Power through
“Food brings people together. Cooking is one of the very few things in our world that can do that. No matter where you go, you will always see families sitting around a table eating food. It's very powerful and I'm glad that my cooking club could be a part of that," senior Ian Gerstner said.
Humans of Harker: Crafting cuisine and catching critters
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 definitely learned that hard work pays off. It might sound cheesy, but it actually does. If you never take your foot off the gas pedal, you can accomplish whatever you want. Even last year when I wasn’t playing football, I was in the weight room working out. I honestly feel like there’s always something that can be done, and more work to be put in," Trevor Thompson (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Field to court

by Julia Amick, TALON Business Editor • April 9, 2019

Trevor Thompson (12) leans back in his chair with his arms loosely crossed across his chest. He lets a smile appear on his face as he jokes around with his friends during lunch. Sitting under the tree...

"I wish people would look more at their happy moments, and focus on the joy in their lives. Everyone should try not to focus on their failures and sad moments, and try to move on and grow from it," Linda Luo (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Finding a voice

by Arushi Saxena, Global Editor • April 8, 2019

Laughing softly while tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Linda Luo (12) reminisces over the past four years. Round, navy blue lenses frame her smiling eyes, and a soft wind blows around her, harmonizing...

"I've been involved in the arts for as long as I can remember in one form or the other. I think it's just amazing because you could do this for your entire life and never get bored because there are so many aspects of what you could do in the entire world of theater," Ellie Lang-Ree (12) said.

Humans of Harker: On and off the stage

by Reporter, Arely Sun • April 8, 2019

Swinging over to tie her hazel-brown hair into a bouncy ponytail, Ellie Lang-Ree (12) prepares to lead warmups for the cast of "Urinetown." Dynamic notes of Beyonce’s “Get Me Bodied” blast out of...

“It’s worth it to me because then I can see as kind of a leader how other people get involved in this and how they also fall in love with Interact...seeing more positive actions going out into the world is really cool," Ashley Jia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Friendly interactions

by Irene Yuan, Reporter • April 8, 2019

Standing near the front of math teacher Bradley Stoll’s room, Ashley Jia (12) spends the second half of a long lunch helping run Interact Club. In her light blue Interact sweater, she occasionally glances...

"Audio itself is interesting to me. The technicality of audio is interesting to me . How it sounds in the theater and how it interacts with everything else going on is interesting to me. And the process of working with all the other designers, that's probably the most important to me," Zachary Wong (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Making sound waves

by Nina Gee, Visuals Editor • March 28, 2019

This is the first installment of the Humans of Harker 2019 video series. Through this project, the Harker journalism program aims to tell the story of the senior class, one profile at a time.

“People made a place for me on student council and on journalism. . . I want to make that place for other people as well. I think anyone can be a representative, anyone can write for the school newspaper, any can put their voice out if they want to. It just takes time and nurturing and the reassurance that you're able to do it. . . . I hope that as a leader I can bring that to other people. There are different types of leaders out there, and everyone deserves a chance to develop their own leadership style," Katherine Zhang (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Giving voice

by Gloria Zhang, Features Editor • March 27, 2019

Confident. Empathetic. Energetic. Down-to-Earth. Genuine. Authentic. Sensitive. Kind. Funny. Words can hardly illustrate what Katherine “Kat” Zhang’s (12) exemplifies to her friends and teachers....

"When I was younger, I would always try to be unique. For a project, we would always have to pick pieces of paper, and I would always be the last one to pick... I would wait until all the colors were chosen, and I would pick the one that nobody had chosen. First of all, I didn't want that color to feel left out. Second, I didn't want to follow the crowd because my project would look like everyone else's, and I wanted to stand out," Samantha Yanovsky (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Communicating with a smile

by Arely Sun, Reporter • March 26, 2019

You can often see Samantha Yanovsky (12) striding along, a bright smile lighting up her face, saying “hi” to people as she passes them with warmth and confidence. Her wavy brown hair floats on her...

“I do think [music] is worth it because I’d rather be myself than present myself as a prepackaged, artificial box. Every year I’ve been playing harp, there’s always one song that makes me cry from frustration and happiness — frustration from feeling as if I’d never master whatever I was doing, and happiness from finally sharing the piece with others. Playing the harp has opened a window into knowing myself better as an ambassador, as a collaborator, as a listener and as a performer, and I wouldn’t give that up for anything," Tiffany Wong (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Musings and melodies

by Katherine Zhang, Winged Post Editor-in-Chief • March 25, 2019

Tiffany Wong’s (12) bright laugh cuts through the crisp winter air as she leans her full body weight against a glass door in Dobbins Hall, causing it to swing forward. Somewhere off in the distance,...

"Sports is—it's pretty cheesy—it's kind of like my life. I've been doing sports my whole life, so it's just always exciting to play a sport, between basketball and volleyball, or pretty much any sport. I always get into it. It always entertains me," Jarrett Anderson (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Head in the game

by Nina Gee, Visuals Editor • March 25, 2019

A man of few words: that's what Jarrett Anderson (12) is. On the court he emanates a quiet, burning energy that one feels more than sees, but don't mistake that for passivity. When he plays, Jarrett...

“Going to that [certificate] meeting has changed my life for the better. I have a lot of the same friends that I did before then, but I really have expanded my horizons and know more people now. Wherever I go for college, even if there’s no one from Harker, if I join a choir or an a capella group, there’s always going to be an instant home for me," Marina Logue (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Beneath the outer shell

by Varsha Rammohan, Copy Editor • March 24, 2019

“Going to that [certificate] meeting has changed my life for the better. I have a lot of the same friends that I did before then, but I really have expanded my horizons and know more people now,” Marina...

"Have something that you can go outside and experience. I don’t think enough people realize the opportunities they have here in California. The nature we have here - it’s probably top-class and it’s probably not going to get any better anywhere else you go. And I think that people should take advantage of that, while they have it," Krish Kapadia (12) said.

Humans of Harker: All around

by Arya Maheshwari, STEM Editor • March 23, 2019

In the summer, he’s surfing. In the fall, he’s mountain biking. In the winter, he’s snowboarding and also starts playing soccer, which continues into the spring. For Krish Kapadia (12), sports and...

“Use your voice. Speak your mind, because that's what this country is about, that's what life's about, that's what our world has come to be about. Speak your mind, and listen to others. But vote—most importantly vote," Haris Hosseini (12) said.

Humans of Harker: Speak up

by Kathy Fang, Managing Editor • March 22, 2019

His voice resonates in the bright, open space of the athletic center as he strides across the gym floor before a sea of his peers and his teachers. He bears a stately confidence, looking up into the audience...

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