The student news site of The Harker School.

Harker Aquila
Humans of Harker: Turn to talent
Humans of Harker: Turn to talent
“All my hobbies are about communication, which is something that rose very early in my childhood. When I'm shadowing a physician, it’s about, ‘She mentioned this drug, let me go home and research that.’ But at the same time, it's, ‘How is she making the patient feel more comfortable?’ When I'm outdoors in my Boy Scouts troop, it's about how can I bring all of that together,’” senior Shiven Balaji said.
Humans of Harker: Service, scouts and support
Humans of Harker: Aficionado of the arts
Humans of Harker: Aficionado of the arts
“Small improvements culminate in bigger goals. Tiny steps like increasing the efficiency of an algorithm, adding new features or beating personal records little by little, always lead to something better," senior Daniel Gergov said.
Humans of Harker: Small steps to sizeable success
“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
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
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine rallies global leaders for support in his country’s grueling war against Russia at the 2024 U.N. General Assembly on Sep. 25. Besides his official address, Zelensky wanted to sell what he calls his “victory plan”, a strategy to secure Ukraine’s victory on their terms, to Western leaders and especially President Biden.

Zelensky urges western support in ongoing war with Russia

by Charlize Wang and Lily Shi • October 10, 2024

As the Russia-Ukraine war rages on after more than two years, Western involvement in the war has become critical to its outcome. Despite the military, economic and humanitarian assistance from the U.S....

President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shake hands at the North American Leaders’ Summit. Biden and Trudeau joined Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador for the summing from Jan. 9 to Jan. 10 in Mexico City.

Global Headlines (Issue 4)

by Andrew Liang and Isabella Lo • February 2, 2023

Pope Benedict XVI dies at 95 Former Pope Benedict XVI passed away in the Vatican at the age of 95 on Dec. 31 last year. Benedict, who assumed the papacy in 2005, resigned in 2013 due to poor health,...

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced in a press release on Oct. 28 an additional $275 million of aid for Ukraine to help in the country’s resistance against Russia. “[I think that the U.S. should be] increasing aid, providing more refugee opportunities,” Stefan Maxim (10), who has observed the evolution of the war over its duration, said.

United States sends $275 million more in aid to Ukraine

by Felix Chen, Assistant News Editor • November 25, 2022

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced in a press release on Oct. 28 an additional $275 million of aid for Ukraine to help in the country’s resistance against Russia. This additional military...

A Rotten Robbie gas station sign displays the increased prices for gas in San Jose, California, on March 25. California's current average gas price is $5.689 and had a price peak on March 29 at $5.919.

Global Reset: Escalating Russia-Ukraine conflict takes heavy toll on environment, calls attention to security of clean energy

by Kinnera Mulam and Sabrina Zhu • April 25, 2022

The war between Russia and Ukraine poses threats to the environment in both the war zones and in countries with economic ties to Russia as nations scramble to compensate for the lack of Russian materials. The...

Hacking groups have attacked both Ukrainian and Russian government websites, bringing a new era of cyber warfare. Along with other misinformation on the internet, cyber warfare tactics pose a rising threat to civilian lives.

A new generation of warfare

by Arjun Barrett, Asst. STEM Editor • April 12, 2022

In a room lit only by the glow of my laptop, I stare intently at a dark terminal window full of tiny white text. Esoteric phrases like “ncat” and “ssh” clutter the screen alongside various scripts...

Brian Chen (11), Kevin Wang (12) and Alice Feng (12) stand by Research Club and Medical Club's fundraiser during lunch on Tuesday. Various organizations held fundraisers to raise money for the UN Refugee Agency.

Ukraine FAQ: Current situation, major players, ways to help

by Selina Xu and Trisha Iyer • March 25, 2022

This is a developing story. Check harkeraquila.com for continuous updates on the development of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. 1. What’s the current situation in Ukraine, and what has led up to it? Russia...

By grounding ourselves in the reality of the situation in Ukraine, we can work towards concrete actions to help those affected. Even though the conflict takes place overseas, we can still make a difference from here.

Editorial: Fighting from home with support and action

by Editorial Board • March 25, 2022

harkeraquila · Winged Post Audible: Fighting from home with support and action  A Ukrainian mother who worked for a Palo Alto start-up and her children mark one of the most infamous scenes of death...

Members of the Wilt advisory watch an announcement from Art Club during the school meeting last Friday. The meeting covered topics including the Ukraine Task Force Fundraising Initiative, upcoming spring musical and Quad mural.

School meeting recap 3/18/22: Ukraine fundraiser, Spirit painting kickoff and Drowsy Chaperone

by Selina Xu, Co-Asst. Multimedia Editor • March 24, 2022

Associated Student Body (ASB) Secretary Spencer Cha (12) opened the last Zoom school meeting of the year last Friday.   Spencer began with an update on the Ukraine Task Force Fundraiser initiative,...

Victoria Kheyfets holds up a poster in the colors of the Ukrainian flag at the Peace Crossroads in San Jose on March 6 in a demonstration advocating for a ceasefire in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24. Kheyfets' family lives in Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine.

‘I couldn’t believe that I made it’

by Alysa Suleiman and Dilsher Dhaliwal • March 23, 2022

 harkeraquila · Winged Post Audible: ‘That's my country, and they're destroying it’ This is a developing story. Check harkeraquila.com for continuous updates on the development of the Russian-Ukrainian...

A family waves signs with the colors of the Ukraine flag. A Russian airstrike hit a maternity hospital in Mariupol yesterday, wounding at least 17 individuals.

San Jose protesters advocate for ceasefire in Ukraine

by Nicole Tian, Co-Editor-in-Chief • March 10, 2022

The San Jose Peace and Justice Center and San Jose Friday Peace Vigil held a demonstration at the Peace Crossroads on Sunday with around 30 protesters to call for a ceasefire in Ukraine after Russia invaded...

Demonstrators at the Global Day of Action Sidewalk Vigil hold up signs supporting a ceasefire in Ukraine. The San Jose Peace and Justice Center organized the event yesterday at the intersection of the Winchester and Stevens Creek Boulevards in San Jose and provided signs to participants.

ASB initiates Ukrainian aid fundraiser effort

by Isha Moorjani and Nicole Tian • March 7, 2022

Associated Student Body (ASB) announced the establishment of a Ukraine Fundraiser Task Force on March 1 for humanitarian aid and to help support the Ukrainian people.  “Over the past week, ASB has...

After a sequence of targeted attacks between the U.S. and Iran, tensions between the two countries are escalating.

Harker Aquila’s guide to the escalations between the U.S. and Iran

by Lucy Ge and Arushi Saxena • January 16, 2020

To clarify the time difference between Iran and California, all dates and times are reported in PST. Iran is 11 hours and 30 minutes ahead of California. Prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump authorizing...

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