The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila

Benjamin Xia (10) savors his ice cream with his friends after watching the classs hydrogen rockets. The ice cream lab reinforced concepts of thermodynamics and energy transfer.

Chemistry students conclude school year with a blast

by Ashley Mo and Kairui Sun May 22, 2024

Students from Honors and AP Chemistry classes closed out the year with a hands-on hydrogen rocket lab on Davis Field on Monday and Tuesday. Some classes also conducted an instant ice cream experiment,...

Student presenter Oliver Chen (10) talks about his project using his poster as a visual aid. Harker students from grades eight to 12 shared their research findings in the Auxiliary Gym.

Research Symposium reaches record-high attendance, unites STEM enthusiasts

by Ashley Mo and Mendy Mao April 25, 2024

Over 800 students and parents attended the 18th annual Harker Research Symposium, themed “The Artificial Intelligence Revolution,” organized by the Women in STEM club on April 13 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m....

Students and staff witness the partial solar eclipse with special solar viewers. These glasses prevent eye damage by filtering out harmful radiation from the Sun.

Upper school community marvels at partial solar eclipse

by Victor Gong and Jessica Wang April 12, 2024

Students and staff across the upper school campus gathered outdoors during lunch on Monday, with eyes, through lenses and filters, affixed to the sun. The partial solar eclipse seized the spotlight on...

Team 1072s technical president Chiling Han (11) runs code on the robot at the competitions practice field. Despite multiple rounds of bug fixes, the robots autonomous routine failed to run properly.

Robotics team bounces back at Sacramento Regional

by Mihir Kotbagi and Charlie Wang April 11, 2024

Harker Robotics competed at the 2024 Sacramento Regional hosted at Pleasant Grove High School from March 13 to 16, making a comeback run to the finals alongside alliance partners Citrus Circuits, Berkelium...

In 2023 alone, over 10,000 research papers were withdrawn, setting a new global record. Journals subject papers to stringent review processes facilitated by expert peer reviewers, but many procedural and factual errors still manage to slip past inattentive editors, threatening to damage the reputation of legitimate scientific research.

Science has an integrity problem

by Mihir Kotbagi, Assistant STEM Editor April 8, 2024

Science, long held as the epitome of truth and objectivity, is facing an integrity crisis, with a growing number of retractions calling into question the reliability of published research and shaking...

Volunteer Jonny Xue (11) calls on an HMI participant during a Fermi estimation contest before the awards ceremony. All of the questions had to do with Om Nom, the green monster from the Cut the Rope mobile game and HMIs unofficial mascot.

Record-high 405 participants attend student-run Harker Math Invitational

by Jessica Hu, Assistant Copy Editor March 18, 2024

Four hundred and five students from 19 schools competed in the 23rd Diana Nichols Harker Math Invitational, a student-run math contest for middle schoolers, on March 9 at the Harker middle school campus. HMI...

Attendees of the research club take part in a mock-science fair in preparation for Synopsys on March 7. Synopsys is the Santa Clara County regional research championship.

Research Club holds Synopsys Championship preparation meeting

by Vivek Moorjani, HoH Profiler March 18, 2024

Research Club held a mock science fair on March 7 in upper school physics and science research teacher Chris Spenner’s room in preparation for the Synopsys Science and Technology Championship. Around...

Upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine assists Arturo Vilalta (10) with the paper chromatography lab. Students determined which M&M flavors contained yellow #5 using chromatography.

Honors Chemistry students sweeten science with M&M chromatography

by Ashley Mo, Assistant STEM Editor March 8, 2024

Honors Chemistry students conducted a paper chromatography lab using colored dye from M&Ms to determine which flavors contained the synthetic food dye Tartrazine, also known as “Yellow #5,” over...

WiSTEM members prepare to start the AI workshop on Feb. 23. Volunteers discussed logistics like screen sharing and changes in the Google Slides before the workshop.

WiSTEM shares STEM knowledge in TechGirlz AI workshop

by Ashley Mo and Mendy Mao March 6, 2024

Women in STEM Club hosted a virtual TechGirlz AI workshop about AI algorithms and applications on Feb. 2 from 4-6 p.m. and on Feb. 23 from 3:30-5:30 p.m. WiSTEM members led the event, and 26 girls...

Illustration by Emily Tan and Claire Zhao. Design by Victor Gong.

STEM Scene: Feb. 22

by Mihir Kotbagi and Claire Zhao February 22, 2024

Marc Leglise (’03) snaps a selfie from the air using a camera-helmet system. His passion for skydiving connects him to his work at Columbia Sportswear, where as a senior manager of e-commerce technology, he helps people secure the gear he uses in the air.

Blooming from the STEM: Diving into e-commerce

by Katerina Matta, Co-Sports Editor January 14, 2024

An email pops into your inbox, advertising a shiny new discount on a brand’s latest product. In just a few clicks, your purchase travels from the catalog to your cart to a warehouse, arriving at your...

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