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

Ritu Belani (12), Anna Lee (12) and Caden Ruan (10) choose food options from the LIFE Boards snack bar after school on March 14. The board set up the snacks as a healthier alternative option with orange juice, donuts and more.

LIFE nutrition month encourages healthy eating through speaker event and snack bars

by Jonathan Szeto, Assistant News Editor March 25, 2024

The Living with Intent, Focus and Enthusiasm (LIFE) Board held a speaker event on March 11 and two snack bars, one on March 14 and the other on March 27, as part of their Nutrition Month initiative. Dietitian...

Shafia Zaloom speaks to the frosh and sophomore classes about consent in a LIFE session on Feb. 2. Zaloom explained the meaning of a healthy relationship and emphasized the importance of not being pressured into making decisions.

Students explore cyber awareness, healthy relationships and life after high school through February LIFE assemblies

by Vivek Moorjani and Ella Guo February 23, 2024

Upper school students attended various grade level Living with Intent, Focus and Enthusiasm (LIFE) events across the month of February, while some also attended Eagle Buddy events. Assistant upper school...

Attendance Coordinator Ritu Raj smiles as she reads an email at the front desk in Main Hall. In addition to tracking the attendance of over 800 students at the upper school, Raj promotes wellbeing and supports those around her through resilience coaching.

Meet your staff: Compassion in coordination

by Mendy Mao and Ella Yee October 1, 2023

Arriving late because of traffic? Need to leave school early for a doctor’s appointment? Upper School Attendance Coordinator Ritu Raj can help you. Seated at the Main hall front desk, she is the first...

Cards with encouraging messages were displayed around campus during Wellness Week. “We all wrote down some kind of encouraging phrases on notecards to put around school,” Sonya Apsey (11) said. “It was really nice to see our advisory bonding over something [we] normally wouldn’t get an opportunity to talk about, and I think Wellness Week gave [us] that opportunity.”

Wellness Week: LIFE lessons with LIFE Board

by Shareen Chahal and Isha Moorjani December 14, 2022

The Living With Intent, Focus and Enthusiasm (LIFE) Board hosted their annual Wellness Week from Nov. 28 to Dec. 2 with activities dedicated to reframing, nutrition, exercise, sleep, relaxation and more...

This article tells the stories of students personal experiences relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, including its impacts in sports, music and health. Solitude became our reality from March of 2020 to June of 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic continued on, and more social connection has emerged out of the return to in-person learning this school year.

‘A reality check’: Students share their personal stories with COVID-19

by Sarah Mohammed and Isha Moorjani March 31, 2022

Small rectangular boxes fill the computer screen, each one carrying a familiar face, a friend or a teacher. The Zoom page serves as the only window to “normal” life. A day at the upper school, once...

Sleep deprivation causes an unwanted domino effect on one’s health and safety, leading to a higher risk of obesity, depression and drowsiness during driving and difficulty concentrating in class for high school students. Giving students the opportunity to curtail chronic sleep loss with a later school start time would improve overall student wellness, including physical and mental health, academic performance and quality of life.

Time for wellness: Upper school should consider later start time

by Ella Yee, Reporter December 1, 2021

I reluctantly force my eyes open as the dreaded “Constellation” ringtone that is set for every weekday morning reaches my ears. The familiar strong chimes with quicker, twinkling notes in the background...

Seniors Aimee Wang, Emily Zhou and Tina Zhong sit on Davis Field during a 10-minute break in upper school history teacher Donna Gilberts third period AP Art History class on Oct. 26. Upper school students have been receiving varied amounts of break times in different classes since the beginning of the school year.

Do in-class breaks matter?

by Sarah Mohammed, Anika Maji December 1, 2021

Every day her Introduction to Journalism classes meet, upper school journalism teacher Whitney Huang gives all her students a five-minute break, sectioning off the 85 minutes into two blocks with a small...

On the final day of the Olympics, seven days after she last appeared in the arena, Simone Biles returned to compete on the beam, not expecting to receive an award and saying “I was just going out there doing this for me.” Just like Biles, you have the power of choice—the power to sacrifice immediate results to take care of your well-being and to pave the way for long-term fulfillment.

Power of choice: Olympians set example of strength in making healthy decisions

by Arely Sun, Co-Managing Editor August 15, 2021

“It doesn’t matter what vault she does—it’s a showstopper,” said a NBC Sports reporter in a live broadcast. Eyes focused ahead, Simone Biles set off in a sprint, jumped from the springboard and...

Whether it be our teachers or our friends or our parents, we all need to make the readjustment back to constant social interaction. 

Staying Healthy with Saloni: Return to social interaction

by Saloni Shah, Humans of Harker Editor-In-Chief April 29, 2021

“Hey Saloni!” “Hi Saloni, how are you?” “Saloni! Happy belated birthday!” On April 19, 2021, I stepped foot on campus for the first time in over a year. Immediately, I was engulfed in an...

Learning balance as a junior

Learning balance as a junior

by David Feng, Guest Writer May 23, 2019

Junior year is nothing short of a balancing act. Many students consider their third year of high school the worst and most stressful year, and they are correct to an extent. More things are being dumped...

Saloni Shah (10) discusses health and mental wellness in her new column, Staying Healthy with Saloni.

Staying Healthy with Saloni: A new column on health and wellness

by Saloni Shah, Columnist and Assistant Humans of Harker Editor September 1, 2018

Dear Eagles, Welcome back from your exotic vacations, summer classes, travel tournaments, research labs, jobs, volunteer projects or whatever else Harker students do during summer! It’s time to kick...

Deconstructing happiness: How well-being fits into high school

Deconstructing happiness: How well-being fits into high school

by Kavya Ramakrishnan and Nicole Chen March 24, 2016

How are you? No, really. Though those words are often spoken in passing, meriting a quick one or two word answer, a recent rise in the practice of happiness and mindfulness has led people to more deeply...

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