The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
“It's almost like you have to practice failing. Going through that experience, you realize that it's not the end of the world. Don't be afraid to just try to veer off and try some more unconventional methods," Eric Zhang ('25) said.
Humans of Harker: Colors of confidence
“A specific aspect of volunteering that I love is seeing the actual difference you can make. It's very fulfilling. At the farm, when kids or people with disabilities come in and meet the animals, you can see the joy that it creates. It's really an unmatched experience to see that and to be a part of creating that," Avery Jones ('25) said.
Humans of Harker: Paws and purpose
"Math is all about collaboration, much more than it is competition. It’s a subject where communication is indispensable, where you’re bound to need to consult other mathematicians for advice. I hope that I’ve been somebody who was always there to help and support other people, since math is so much more about working as a team than it is working alone," Alex Huang ('25) said.
Humans of Harker: Computational connections
“Photography reshaped the way I see certain things because it helps me see perspectives. There are a lot of different perspectives and a lot of different emotions that people have, so I feel like I can be more attuned to how people feel after looking at a lot of pictures of people's emotions and feelings," Angelina Burrows ('25) said.
Humans of Harker: Snapping a shot
“I want to be remembered for being a good leader on campus in a variety of spaces, whether in a classroom or club. As a leader of MESA, I facilitate discussions about the Middle East. Although it’s a pretty contentious area, I’m proud of how we’re able to have a safe space where nobody has any problems with anyone else," Maziar Zhai ('25) said.
Humans of Harker: Curious choices
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
Pencil in hand and timer set, Junior Jessica Zhou writes a practice test during an AP United States History (APUSH) class yesterday. The APUSH exam is scheduled to take place this Friday.

Upper school students take AP exams with special bell schedule

by Emma Gao, Co-Copy Editor • May 5, 2022

Upper school students began taking Advanced Placement (AP) exams on Monday, with exams continuing on campus next week until May 13.  The upper school operates on a special bell schedule during these two...

A technician from Inspire Diagnostics applies a sticker to a mini test vial in the Rotunda, the upper school's COVID-19 testing site, on Feb. 4. BA.2 received the title “stealth variant” due to unique genetic traits that make it difficult to trace since it often appears as the delta variant in tests.

More contagious omicron subvariant BA.2 spreads as mask mandates lift

by Kinnera Mulam, Copy Editor • March 9, 2022

The omicron subvariant BA.2 has appeared in over 40 countries, including the U.S, and is much more contagious than its predecessor.  As BA.1, or omicron, cases decline, states such as California, Oregon...

According to the Harker COVID-19 Data Dashboard, 19 students tested positive for COVID-19 from Jan. 2 to Jan. 8. As of yesterday, the upper school is not planning on implementing remote learning for any groups or grades on campus.

Upper school COVID-19 FAQ: Learning format, case numbers and contact tracing

by Lucy Ge, Co-Managing Editor • January 12, 2022

This article has been updated on Jan. 16, 2022, to reflect current COVID-19 case numbers from the Harker COVID-19 Data Dashboard. 1. How many students and faculty have tested positive for COVID-19 at...

Upper school students prepare for final exams in the library on Monday, Dec. 13. During finals week, librarians enforced a completely silent study zone in the library for students to focus on their studying.

In-person final exams return for fall semester

by Selina Xu and Michelle Wei • December 15, 2021

harkeraquila · Aquila Audible of "In-person final exams return for fall semester" Students took 90-minute in-person final exams yesterday, which will continue until Friday of this week. This...

Claire Su (9) works at her desk during remote learning. Second semester finals will be delivered virtually over the course of three days during the first week of June.

First finals of school year to be delivered virtually, students prepare for final seven AP exams

by Lucy Ge and Vishnu Kannan • June 2, 2021

Upper school students are gearing up to take finals from home this week and their last Advanced Placement (AP) exams next week, marking the first finals of the school year and the end of an extended AP...

Junior Carter Chadwick works on math homework after school as upper school students continue to take classes from home. “You get out what you put in. So if you just use other people’s work, what’s the point of it? Why even take the class or go to school? That’s how I feel about cheating in general,” Carter said.

Redefining honor amidst uncertainty

by Emily Tan, Sarah Mohammed, and Sriya Batchu • October 27, 2020

Greek philosopher Aristotle argued in his book Nicomachean Ethics that only voluntary actions, or the actual practice of virtue, could create a virtuous person. For Roman philosopher and statesman Marcus...

SAT and ACT prep books lie on a shelf. A judge in Alameda County ruled that the University of California must immediately cease considering SAT and ACT scores in admissions and scholarship decisions.

UCs must go test-blind, Alameda judge rules

by Arushi Saxena and Aditya Singhvi • September 4, 2020

An Alameda County Superior Court judge ruled in a preliminary injunction on Sept. 1 that the University of California system must immediately bar all use of SAT and ACT test scores for scholarship and...

In a landmark decision, University of California announced on Thursday their plans to completely eliminate the influence of the SAT and ACT on their admissions process by 2025.

“A pretty big domino to fall”: UC schools to eliminate SAT and ACT testing consideration by 2025

by Lucy Ge, Winged Post Asst. News Editor • May 23, 2020

The University of California (UC) Board of Regents unanimously decided on Thursday to take measures to eliminate consideration of SAT and ACT test scores by 2025 to reduce inequity in college admissions,...

Testing locations for both juniors and sophomores are posted on the TV monitors in Main. Both grades were required to be at school at 7:30 a.m.

Freshmen complete service as sophomores and juniors take PSATs

by Kushal Shah, Sports Columnist • October 17, 2019

Sophomores and juniors took the PSATs at school on Wednesday from 8 to 11 a.m., while the freshmen travelled to Coyote Creek to sustain its natural environment and preserve it for years to come.  The...

Audrey Liu (10) focuses concentratedly on her work in the library during AP week. AP Exams were help in both the Auxiliary Gym and Nichols Atrium.

Students complete first week of AP testing

by Arushi Saxena, Global Editor • May 9, 2019

Students completed their first week of AP exams on May 10, ending the week with the United States History and Physics 2 exams. Another week of AP testing lies ahead, with 17 exams being offered next week,...

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