WINGED POST
THE UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE HARKER SCHOOL
Upper school implements revised guidelines for dress isha moorjani Head of upper school Butch Keller announced the revised dress code, which features information on community guidelines, reinforcement and special dress, at the school meeting on Jan. 11. Revised community guidelines include: “For safety reasons, shoes must be worn” and “Sleepwear, swimwear, and undergarments should not be worn as an outer layer during the academic day.” It also mentioned special dress, or “semi-formAl or dressy-casual” clothing, and it also states that clothing with “hate speech, violence, sexual harrassment, public displays of nudity, and drugs/alcohol” will be reported to the dean of students.
WEEKLY COVID-19 TESTING POLICY Every Friday from 7:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at Nichols Rotunda Those who have previously had COVID-19 do not need to test for 90 days after their infection date.
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Love knows no distance
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
PAST MICHELLE WEI
The Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) hosted the fourth annual Student Diversity Leadership Gathering (SDLG) virtually on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., featuring keynote speaker Dr. Rodney Glasgow and adult session speaker Toni Graves Williamson. More than 50 people attended the event, facilitated by SDC advisors and members. Students and teachers from the Harker community were also joined by students and teachers from other schools in California including Menlo High School and the Kirby School in Santa Cruz. The event featured Dr. Glasgow’s keynote speech at 10 a.m., with Williamson presenting afterward. Williamson introduced the topic of white fragility, discussing how to turn fragility into agility through self-reflection, staying in relationships, not waiting for praise, listening and having conversations. Separate student and adult sessions began at 11:20 a.m., offering a safe space for students and educators to discuss topics pertaining to diversity and inclusivity. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article
Climate Change Heroes: Redwood trees
pg. A12 BE MY VALENTINE?
WAY DOWN WE GO Dancers perform choreography by Makayla Aguilar-Zuniga (11) and Nupur Gupta (11) to a 2020 dance show song.
sally zhu & michelle liu A hush of excitement falls over the audience as the lights dim in Patil Theater. The curtains draw back. Regal trumpet sounds blare from the soundtrack, announcing the dancers spotlighted in formation on stage. For the first time in two years, members of Harker Dance Company (HDC) and Kinetic Crew perform the annual dance production’s opening number in front of a live audience. Pink and purple lights flood the theater, with the dancers shining brightly in sparkly pink flapper dresses and blue sequined jackets. 80 students and 13 dance routines lit up the stage in this year’s dance production “Blast from the Past.” Featuring tap, hip-hop and lyrical routines, the show used songs from past dance productions ranging from 2012 to 2020.
This year’s dance production returned to the in-person stage after a recorded performance with no audience for last year’s dance production. Juliana Li (9), who danced in “Nicest Thing,” a lyrical routine choreographed by director of upper school dance Karl Kuehn that narrates the story of one-sided romance, welcomed the return to in-person dance rehearsals and shows. “It’s pretty refreshing because in the last two years, I basically wasn’t able to perform on stage,,” Juliana said. “I like in person dancing better because you actually get in-person corrections from the teacher. The lag in online classes is pretty bad and you’re always off the music, so it feels better to be back in person again.” The show began with “Opening,” which featured the casts of the upper school dance teams, and closed with a finale of the entire production cast. The 13
routines were choreographed by dance teachers Kuehn, Rachelle Haun, Kento Vo, Kimberly Teodoro and Jessica Arguello-Chatfield, as well as eight student choreographers. Student choreographers Makayla Aguilar-Zuniga (11), BB Ajlouny (11), Kai Due (12), Nupur Gupta (11), Nikki Kapadia (12), Eileen Ma (11), Sujith Pakala (12), Brandon Park (12), Anja Ree (11) and Irene Yuan (12) took part in a choreography class where they worked on music, choreography, costumes and lighting, also teaching the routines to fellow students. “Teaching is very fun — it’s not something you get to do very often,” said Kai, who choreographed a hip-hop routine to “Fire” by Pdogg and BTS. “Having a lot of people who are ready to learn and who will work hard to try to get it right was my favorite part.” Continued on page A4.
Upper school COVID-19 protocol update Learning format, case numbers, testing procedures and contact tracing lucy ge How many students and faculty have tested positive for COVID-19 at the upper school? According to the Harker COVID-19 Data Dashboard, two students tested positive in the past week. 63 students have tested positive so far in 2022, with 35 onsite positive cases and 28 off-site positive cases. 66 upper school students and 27 upper school staff members have tested positive since August, according to COVID-19 case data updated on Feb. 7. Is the upper school planning on implementing remote learning for any groups or grades any time soon? No, according to Head of School Brian Yager as of Jan. 15. How does upper school contact tracing work? When a student tests positive, the upper school uses seating charts, sports team rosters and any information provided by the student to determine who is
considered a close contact, according to upper school nurse Jennifer Olson. The time frame for determining close contacts starts two days before onset of symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test. A student is considered a close contact if they were within six feet for more than 15 minutes of an individual who tests positive within the time frame. When can a student return to in-person classes after testing positive? In accordance with recently updated Santa Clara County guidance, students who test positive need to isolate for at least five days, not including the day of testing positive or onset of symptoms. After five days of isolation, they may return to school only if their symptoms are gone or resolving and they test negative on a COVID-19 antigen test. Once an upper school student isolates for ten days, they are allowed to return to school without testing negative. Most people are no longer contagious 10 days after onset of symptoms, according to Harvard Health Publishing of Harvard Medical School. Continued on page A3.
ESHA GOHIL
isha moorjani
Butch Keller announces retirement
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SDC holds fourth annual Student Diversity Leadership Gathering
pg. A2 HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL TO RETIRE IN JUNE
TESTING PROTOCOL Upper school nurse Jennifer Olson prepares COVID-19 testing kits to be distributed on Jan. 25. Weekly on-campus student testing at Nichols Rotunda was implemented last week. DESIGN BY MICHELLE LIU
A2 WINGED POST
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 NEWS VOLUME
Head of upper school Butch Keller to retire
ESHA GOHIL
AUSTRIA ADVENTURES The Kellers take a photo with TALON yearbook students Kathy Duan (‘17) and Jessica “Fred” Chang (‘15) in the 2015 summer journalism trip.
PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN
Students, faculty reflect on Keller’s legacy and impact on upper school community
sriya batchu Coach. Mentor. Adviser. Leader. After 15 years at Harker as head of upper school and varsity boys basketball coach, Samuel “Butch” Keller Jr. announced his retirement in early fall. He and his wife Jane Keller, who teaches math and physics at the upper school, will be moving to South Carolina to be closer to their family. Keller’s decision was also influenced by his wife’s health. Mrs. Keller was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in early fall. To support her, the upper school community joined together to create 1000 paper cranes and the Associated Student Body (ASB) Community Service Committee hosted a fundraiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS). At that school meeting, Keller also announced that Mrs. Keller’s health was improving, with the possibility of complete remission in March of 2022. Ultimately, his decision to retire is fueled by the desire to spend more time with his family in South Carolina. Keller looks forward to spending quality time with his grandchildren in South Carolina, teaching them how to water ski as well as how to fish. “It’s a life-changing experience when you think about losing the person who’s closest to you, and for this community to rally together and support her and support me — you have no idea what that means,” said Keller at school meeting on Dec. 3 when providing an update on Mrs. Keller. “What you do inspires us so much.” “All the students over these 15 years are the reason I’m here,” Keller said. “To AR
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“I feel like cheating is going to become a lot more rampant and a lot more problematic” MATTHEW GOETTING (10) “I’ve read some places that this also helps those with disabilities in taking the exam, because it’s a ton more intuitive”
JASON SHIM (9) “As long as the content doesn’t change too much, I don’t think it’ll have much of an impact”
CHLOE LEE (10)
celebrate your successes and your failures and to help you overcome them. That’s why I get up every day, besides my family. So I’m looking forward to seeing my family, but it’s gonna be a tough look in the rearview mirror when I walk out on the last day.” Over the course of his time at Harker, Keller enacted many changes to better the Harker community. Out of his many contributions, Keller helped establish the LIFE program at the upper school with Ms. Keller in 2014 and initiated the Eagle Buddies program in 2010 to connect students across Harker campuses. “I think everyone would agree that he cares about the people with whom he works, and he really wants the best for the institution,” said Jennifer Gargano, Assistant Head of School, Academic Affairs. “He’s been a great model for all the leaders at the upper school, and he will always go the extra mile for a faculty member because he, like a lot of us administrators, sees this whole school as a family. It’s more than just a job, it’s our family.” After 15 years of dedication at the upper school, Keller has left his mark and his legacy at Harker. Mugs all with different logos and colors sit on a bookshelf in his room, a reminder of the students he has worked with throughout his career. Each one is from a different college that Keller has visited during his Keller Tours, a yearly tradition that he and his wife, Jane Keller, have upheld until the pandemic hit. “One of his superpowers is his ability to have relationships and connect with people,” said upper school academic dean
PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN
COACH KELLER Keller encourages his team at the varsity boys basketball game against Oak Grove High School on Nov. 16. Keller has served as head coach for the varsity boys basketball team at Harker for 15 seasons, coaching for 25 years before coming to Harker.
ESHA GOHIL
THE KELLERS Jane and Butch Keller will be moving to South Carolina to be with family.
PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN
LEGACY OF MEMORIES Keller poses next to the bear statue outside Dobbins honoring his son-in-law and beloved Harker teacher, Jason “Bear” Berry, who died in 2013.
and pre-college counselor Kelly Horan. “I do think that has been something that has kept our school and our upper school afloat during things like the pandemic, and challenges that were completely unexpected and never faced during the history of our school.” Over the course of his time at Harker, Keller played a key role in creating the uplifting and dynamic environment that Harker is today. Keller makes helping those around him his priority, inspiring the students and faculty who work with him. “He’s just one of the most caring and empathetic people I know,” said executive assistant to the head of upper school Lori Villarreal. “He’s always in your corner to help fight for anything you believe in, and he’s proactive to see what he can do to make people’s thoughts and ideas come to life.” Keller has also served as head coach of the varsity boys basketball team for 11 seasons during his time at Harker. Abhi Namala (11), power forward for the varsity boys basketball team, notes how Keller created a welcoming environment on the team. “He creates an environment where everyone can be themselves and really express how they feel,” Abhi said. “He always tries to make your experiences better. He does that with everyone. And that’s a lot of effort, as a principal and everything. It shows how much care and love he has for our team and each and every single one of us.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
2021 YEARBOOK Keller holds a copy of the TALON Yearbook in May of 2021. He was named 2016 JEA Administrator of the Year for his support of student journalism at Harker.
KELLER HIGHLIGHTS 2007 Keller launches Eagle Buddies program to connect lower school and upper school campuses
2014 Keller named Journalism Education Association (JEA) Administrator of the Year
2017 Keller announces retirement after 15 years at Harker
Keller joins Harker as new head of upper school
2010 Keller helps create Harker’s LIFE program with his wife, upper school teacher Jane Kelller
2016 Keller reaches 600-win coaching milestone on Jan. 11, 2017
2021
College Board shifts SAT and PSAT into digital format saurav tewari The College Board announced last Tuesday that the SAT and PSAT are moving online, as students in the U.S. will take the tests on their devices starting in 2024, while international students will take tests online starting in 2023. In recent years, standardized tests have gone from a prerequisite to apply to a non-obligatory choice. According to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, about 80% of America’s 2,330 four-year colleges don’t require standardized tests for admission and several colleges have gone test-blind.
“For me, the content doesn’t matter as much since everyone takes the same test as it’s standardized, but what’s more important is how colleges are going to see this since more and more of them are moving away from SAT’s,” Kaitlyn Wang (10) said. SAT and ACT critics maintain that the tests exacerbate inequality. According to the Harris Poll in a poll of 1000 Americans, 51% of respondents agreed that standardized tests are biased in favor of affluent students. In opposition, supporters of the tests argue that they provide a common point to judge students and can help bridge inequality gaps by allowing lower-income students to earn scholarships. The test will still be scored out of
1600 points and proctors must monitor test-takers. Students will use their laptops and tablets or school-issued ones, and devices will be provided to students who need them. The test will run for two hours and features adaptive testing. Students will be able to use calculators on the entire math portion instead of the current system where there is a no-calculator portion as well. Reading sections will be compressed. Students can receive results in just days due to the online system. In their news brief on Jan. 25, College Board announced that they will work with local school districts to issue devices to students who don’t have access to one. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI
WINGED POST A3
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 NEWS VOLUME
SB 866 proposed to lower vaccination barriers for teens
CROWNS ALL AROUND Members of leadership from The Winged Post, Harker Aquila and TALON Yearbook publications pose for a picture in August 2021.
PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN
Upper school seniors work to achieve vaccine autonomy through CA Senate Bill 866
PROVIDED BY OFFICE OF STATE SENATOR DR. RICHARD PAN
Upper school journalism publications win CSPA Crowns dilsher dhaliwal
CA SENATE BILL 866 Seniors Saanvi Arora and Cady Chen present on Jan. 21 with founder and Executive Director of GENup Alvin Lee and Sen. Scott Wiener.
Sen. Scott Wiener introduced California Senate Bill 866 (SB 866), which would allow individuals 12 years old and older to receive vaccinations without parental approval, on Jan. 21 at a press conference in San Francisco. Representatives of GENup, a student-led national educational advocacy organization and a co-sponsor of the bill, spoke at the press conference. GENup National Director of Innovation and Strategy Cady Chen (12) and Director of Strategic Partnerships Saanvi Arora (12) both expressed their support for the bill, highlighting the need for vaccine autonomy during the pandemic and the adverse impacts of COVID-19 on education. “Vaccination autonomy will allow us to seize agency over our own education, our own safety and our own futures,” Cady said during the press conference. “From our peers, we have learned of too many scenarios where current vaccination protocols that require parental consent prevented them from getting vaccinated.”
SB 866, also known as the Teens Choose Vaccines Act, would lower the vaccination age of consent from 18 to 12 years old.
“Vaccination autonomy will allow us to seize agency over our own education, our own safety and our own futures” CADY CHEN (12)
GENUP NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF INNOVATION AND STRATEGY
“I do think that 12 [year olds] and older are smart enough to make their own decisions, medically speaking,” Varun Bhupathi (9) said. Cady and Saanvi both worked with Wiener’s office on the planning process of SB 866, which was co-introduced by Sen. Richard Pan in the California Senate
on Jan. 20. The pair had also worked with Pan’s office on SB 871, the Keep Schools Open and Safe Act, which would mandate COVID-19 vaccinations for all California students without a personal beliefs exemption if passed. Upper school history and social science teacher Carol Green notes that there is precedent for SB 866. She also recognizes that SB 866 would impact a non-voting population. “The only concern that I have is when you’re watching the news and when you’re listening to these different debates, the people who do vote are not the ones that necessarily directly impacts,” Green said. “If there’s a lot of parents who voice concern, then it’ll be up to these elected officials to do what is in the interest of the community at large.” In order to become law, SB 866 will need to pass committees and house floor votes in both the California State Senate and the California State Assembly and receive approval from California Governor Gavin Newsom. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
ESHA GOHIL
Upper school COVID-19 protocol update
CASE NUMBERS 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.
lucy ge Continued from page A1. After an individual contracts COVID-19, can they still test positive after 10 days even when they’re no longer contagious? Yes. According to MIT Medical’s website, which states that people infected with COVID-19 are likely to continue testing positive after the end of the contagious period. This is due to non-dangerous “viral remnants” of COVID-19 that remain in the body. Who can be tested, and how many tests does the upper school have?
According to Olson, testing is available to all students, faculty and staff at any time — if tests are running low, groups such as close contacts are given priority for testing, but shortages are “usually not a problem.” All upper school students are currently required to test weekly. The upper school has a “good supply” of tests, according to Olson. The school has unlimited access to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests, which detect for COVID-19 genetic material, from Inspire Diagnostics. Rapid antigen tests are stored at the lower school and are distributed to campuses as needed. The PCR tests usu-
ally return results about 24-48 hours after testing while the rapid antigen tests take 15 minutes to return results. For how long will class and school meetings take place remotely? Class and school meetings will take place over Zoom for an indefinite amount of time until further notice, according to upper school senior class dean and English teacher Christopher Hurshman. Meetings are being held virtually in students’ advisories in an effort to avoid large gatherings of community members in one place. What does “mild” mean when describing COVID-19 cases? According to the National Institute of Health, “mild” refers to cases of COVID-19 that display typical symptoms such as fever, cough, loss of smell, nausea and sore throat, but not difficulty breathing or “abnormal chest imaging.” Moderate and severe cases of COVID-19 both involve difficulty breathing. Who is eligible to receive a booster shot? Individuals 12 years of age or older are eligible to receive their booster shot five months after their second Pfizer or Moderna dose or two months after their one Johnson & Johnson dose, according to Santa Clara County Public Health’s website. To sign up for a booster shot, visit vax.sccgov.org. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Freshmen Alex Zhong, Daniel Chen, Gabe Li and Sophia Liu discuss their roleplay event.
MEDHA YARLAGADDA
lucy ge
PROVIDED BY CADY CHEN
The Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) announced The Winged Post, Harker Aquila and TALON Yearbook publications as Crown winners in the print news, digital news and print yearbook categories, respectively. The publications will receive either silver or gold crown awards during the CSPA Spring Convention from March 16 to 18. The last time all three programs were awarded the CSPA crown award was in the spring of 2019. “This is just an exceptional year for our program,” Director of Journalism Ellen Austin said. “Given what last year was like when we were completely remote, to get this level of recognition speaks to the incredible journalistic force of this program and the dedication of everybody on staff, especially the leadership.” CSPA, based in New York, is affiliated with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Founded in 1925, it accepts newspapers, yearbooks, magazines and online content created by students in middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities for membership. The CSPA Crown Award recognizes “a student print or digital medium for overall excellence.” The Winged Post and TALON were also selected as National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA) Pacemaker finalists for 2021. NSPA, a non-profit organization based at the University of Minnesota, works with student journalists through conventions and awards programs. The NSPA awards Pacemakers, considered to be the highest national honor in student journalism.
Harker DECA joins in-person Silicon Valley Career Development Conference ananya sriram
The upper school DECA chapter attended the 2022 DECA Silicon Valley Career Development Conference (SVCDC), participating in competitive events and attending workshops at the Santa Clara Marriott hotel from Jan. 7 to Jan. 9. After being held online last year, the conference returned to an in-person format this year. Originally, 126 upper school students signed up for the event, but due to concerns regarding COVID-19, only 71 students attended. Additionally, the school also decided not to participate in the overnight component of the event. “If we were to do this in normal times there would have been some social networking after all of the events,” upper school business and economics teacher and chaperone Patrick Kelly said. “Hopefully we’ll do that in February; The networking events are practical [by] meeting people who have the same interests as you.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI
A4 WINGED POST
23 • ISSUE 4 NEWS VOLUME FEBRUARY 10, 2022
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PAST
SALLY ZHU
TIGHTROPE Makayla Aguilar-Zuniga (11), Irene Yuan (12), Sanaa Bhorkar (9) and Emma Biswas (11) tapdance to the beat of a song from the 2017 dance production, “Circus.”
SALLY ZHU
FIRE Aspen Shen (11), Brandon Park (12), BB Ajlouny (11) and Sujith Pakala (12) perform a dance to “Fire” by BTS, a song from the 2017 Harker upper school dance production, “Circus.”
IRENE YUAN
Dance Production 2022 reimagines music from past shows
KATELYN ZHAO
LAVANYA SUBRAMANIAN
LATCH Anika Mani (12), Nupur Gupta (11), Kai Stinson (10) and BB Ajlouny (11) perform a song from “Peace, Love and Dance,” the 2014 Harker dance production.
IRENE YUAN
sally zhu & michelle liu OPENING Harker Dance Company (HDC) performs the 2012 show’s opening song.
NICEST THING Juliana Li (9) leaps into a tilt jump during a song from the 2014 dance production.
HEATHENS Aspen Shen (11) and Daniel Wu (12) perform a 2017 show song.
'HEATHENS' Brandon Park (12) PAINT IT BLACK Irene Yuan (12) dances to a song from the 2012 production.
'LATCH' BB Ajlouny (11) & Sujith Pakala (12)
CASTLE Grace Eassa (10) twirls to a song from the 2018 dance production.
'FIRE' Kai Due (12) 'CASTLE'
Nikki Kapadia (12) & Irene Yuan (12)
RUN THE WORLD Shreeya Merchia (10) and Alice Feng (12) perform a 2012 song.
WONDERWALL Fiona Yan (10) is supported by Imogene Leneham (12) and Michelle Jin (12) in a lift during a song from the 2016 dance show.
SEPTEMBER Kai Due (12) jumps over four other dancers during a song from the 2014 show. DESIGN BY MICHELLE LIU
IRENE YUAN
'WONDERWALL' Eileen Ma (11) & Anja Ree (11)
ALYSA SULEIMAN
'WAY DOWN Nupur Gupta (11) WE GO' & Makayla Aguilar-Zuniga (11)
MICHELLE WEI
ALYSA SULEIMAN
STUDENT CHOREOGRAPHERS
MICHELLE WEI
Continued from page A1. The show featured a variety of colorful and inventive costumes, props and stage design to create a set of unique performances. Dancers wore black-and-grey colorblock bodysuits while performing to the song “Paint it Black,” and Brandon’s routine to “Heathens” involved a glowing prop lantern and smoke machine fog to create a mysterious effect. Routines used a range of lighting to match the moods of dances, which ranged from mellow and melancholy to dramatic and fiery. Nupur, as a first-year student choreographer who worked with Makayla on the routine to “Way Down We Go,” chose black blindfolds as part of the routine’s costume to add another layer of meaning. Dancers performed with their eyes covered on stage, slowly taking off the blindfolds as the routine drew to an end. Nupur enjoyed working with her co-choreographer and fellow dancers, taking away many new insights from the experience. “This is my first year choreographing for the dance show and it really means a lot to me to get this opportunity to choreograph for such a great show,” Nupur said. “I’m hoping to choreograph next year as well and see how I grow as a choreographer throughout the years.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article
ALYSA SULEIMAN
LOSE MY BREATH Samvita Gautham (11) dances to a song from “Elements of Dance,” the 2013 dance production.
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 GLOBAL VOLUME
Omicron disrupts global economic recovery
WINGED POST A5
Governments around the world respond to impact of omicron
dilsher dhaliwal
DATA FROM GLOBALDATA BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS
Chinese communities celebrate Lunar New Year worldwide
ILLUSTRATION BY ARELY SUN
Global communities are celebrating Lunar New Year, which lasts for 16 days and ends on Feb. 1. It is usually celebrated in Chinese culture by cooking traditional meals like dumplings and “tangyuan,” gifting red envelopes with money in them, or “hongbao,” and lighting fireworks. Celebrations vary between cultures, as in Singapore, foods like nasi biryani and chicken curry are eaten. This zodiac year is the year of the tiger. Source is AP News
Pentagon places up to 8,500 troops on alert for possible Eastern Europe deployment
ECONOMIC ESTIMATION Economies in Europe, Asia and the US fall in economic growth projection due to inflation and the omicron variant. In comparison to 2021, India, China, Japan and Germany’s forecasted gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022 increased.
MATTHEW MCCORKLE HISTORY AND SOCIAL SCIENCE TEACHER
Unlike most countries, places like Western Australia and China have taken a zero-COVID approach to omicron through an elimination strategy designed to have no detected infections in a population and pre-COVID economic levels. Various other implemented country policies include lockdowns for virus containment or high risk areas, routine PCR testing and contact tracing after a positive test, and screening for entire communities in China and isolation and quarantining for incoming foreign travelers and short, intense PCR testing and lockdowns after an outbreak in Australia. “Either we’re unwilling to go back to restrictions and we’re just going to deal with this as the new normal or effectively assess that it’s just not worth the potential reduction in cases to deal with the costs associated with maintaining and implementing these various preventative measures,” McCorkle said. “I think you are going to see a diversity of response across the United States, in not just states but also localities going on in the future.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
DATA FROM AP NEWS
FROM 4.9% TO 4.4%
UN approves resolution condemning Holocaust denial
1.2% decrease DATA FROM AP NEWS
IN PREDICTED ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR UNITED STATES DUE TO OMICRON VARIANT
FROM 4.2% TO 3.0%
3.3% decrease IN PREDICTED ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR CHINA DUE TO OMICRON VARIANT
FROM 8.1% TO 4.8%
DATA FROM AP NEWS
diversity of response across the United States, in not just states but also localities, in the future”
IN PREDICTED ECONOMIC GROWTH WORLDWIDE DUE TO OMICRON VARIANT
1.7% increase IN PREDICTED ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR JAPAN DUE TO OMICRON VARIANT
FROM 1.6% TO 3.3%
1.3% decrease IN PREDICTED ECONOMIC GROWTH FOR 19 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES DUE TO OMICRON VARIANT
FROM 5.2% TO 3.9%
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly approved a resolution on Jan. 20 that condemned Holocaust denial and urged nations and social media companies to “take active measures to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial or distortion.” The resolution was sponsored by Israel and strongly supported by Germany. The assembly approved the resolution by consensus, and Assembly President Abdulla Shahid met with Holocaust survivors before the assembly meeting. Iran “disassociated” from the resolution. “We now live in an era in which fiction is becoming fact and the Holocaust is becoming a distant memory, and as this happens following the greatest crime in human history, now comes the greatest cover-up in human history,” Gilad Erdan, Israel’s UN Ambassador, said at the assembly. Sources are AP News and United Nations press releases
President Biden and Fumio Kishida hold virtual meeting
DATA FROM AP NEWS
“I think you are going to see a
0.5% decrease
DATA FROM AP NEWS
The omicron variant caused a drop of around 7% from the most recent high of an index of 4796.64 on Jan. 3 in the S&P 500, the stock market index that tracks the performance of the top 500 large companies in the U.S., which according to the Wall Street Journal, sent global markets reeling from losses and led to 2022 quarterly economic growth predictions to be withdrawn by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Jan. 24. According to Associated Press (AP) News, Standard and Poor’s 500 (S&P 500) corrections happen once in a few years, and the last time a correction occurred was in March 2020 because of the rise of COVID-19. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), omicron is far more contagious than previous variants of the coronavirus like the delta variant, but the overall severity and fatality is lesser than that of previous variants. According to AP News, while the number of available jobs increased in December as businesses looked to hire more workers, many of these jobs are not being filled. The increase in per-item production costs has also led to an increase in inflation for prices for consumers, according to AP News. “Manufacturing anything and producing anything becomes more expensive,” upper school history and social science teacher Matthew McCorkle said. “Things that you would previously have been readily able to purchase, you’re now facing disruptions with. It’s taking longer for these goods to arrive.” With businesses losing money, the U.S. government implemented a number of measures to bolster the economy during the initial stages of COVID-19 including providing stimulus checks, which prevented businesses across the U.S. from going bankrupt, according to upper school business and entrepreneurship teacher Sam Lepler. In 2021, the Biden administration implemented the American Rescue Plan with the aim of alleviating the economic effects of COVID-19. The plan included various goals aimed at relieving the economic crisis and helping American families, such as providing vaccines nationally, reopening schools and providing a check of $1400 per person to working families. “Stimulus allowed these businesses, the capital to lose money for many, many months or years, but not disappear,” Lep-
ler said. “Starting a whole brand is going to take years, so if it collapses and goes away, it doesn’t just recover when things recover. Keeping a lot of these businesses from going bankrupt is what that stimulus did, as well as supporting a lot of workers.” While stimulus checks in the United States helped businesses stay afloat and prevent millions of layoffs, they also contributed to inflation according to AP News, along with other measures the government took to limit economic damage, such as removing the reserve requirement in March 2020. As Rahul Herrero (11) discussed, the reserve requirement previously required banks to hold a certain amount of cash in reserve. As a result of its removal, more cash could flow among the people in the United States, bolstering economic growth but also creating additional inflationary pressures. Now working to respond to rapid inflation, the Fed has announced intent to increase interest rates beginning in March according to AP News.
ESHA GOHIL
michelle wei, katelyn zhao & mark hu
8,500 American troops were put on heightened alert for possible deployment to Eastern Europe according to Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. President Biden, authorized the change in force posture due to Russia amassing over 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s border, which raised fears of a possible Russian invasion. “The United States has taken steps to heighten the readiness of its forces at home and abroad, so they are prepared to respond to a range of contingencies, including support to the NATO response force if it is activated,” Kirby said. Biden said that he will be “moving U.S. troops to Eastern Europe and the NATO countries in the near term.” Sources are White House and Department of Defense Briefing Room
President Joe Biden had a virtual meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Jan. 21 to discuss security issues in the Indo-Pacific. The 80-minute-long meeting focused on China’s increased aggression toward Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory. Biden and Kishida discussed human rights violations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and announced a new “2 plus 2” dialogue focused on economic issues such as supply chains and investment in key technologies , along with the economic ties between Japan and the United States. North Korea’s recent ballistic missile tests were also discussed, and Biden agreed to work with South Korea and Japan to discourage North Korea from more provocative actions. Kishida also supported Biden’s efforts to deter Russia from invading Ukraine. Sources are AP News and White House Briefing Room DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI AND ANANYA SRIRAM
WINGED POST A6
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 OPINION VOLUME
Mirror, mirror on the wall $4.8 billion
ananya sriram On a sunny day, the wind blows across a beach in Sayulita, Mexico, as prospective couples fill a romantic resort. They happily pass time with each other, while other contestants get to know each other in hopes of finding true love. Yet, in the midst of “Bachelor in Paradise,” contestant Brendan Morais’ words, “She had zero prospects, it’s not like I was keeping her from someone,” ring an alarm in the head of Natasha Parker, contestant and former partner of Brendan. In just a few seconds, Bachelor in Paradise has become “Bachelor in Hell” for Natasha, who faces not the complications of love, but the affliction of colorism. Throughout the beginning of the “Bachelor in Paradise” series, Brendan matched with Natasha, creating a con-
tented couple, despite rumors that he was seeing another series contestant, Pieper James. Although Brendan later left Natasha to see Pieper in the show, his behavior could have been dismissed as an act of love for Pieper, rather than colorism. Yet, his insistence that he had done Natasha a
Unlike other forms of bias, colorist prejudices are hardest to suppress with conscious effort favor by matching with her during the first few weeks of the series is a blatant display of colorism that reveals his inherent prejudices against darker skin tones. Natasha was arguably one of the only contestants with a darker complexion, along with Tahzjuan Hawkins, but Brendan explicitly
stating that Natasha lacked prospects suggested that he viewed her as unattractive to the other contestants, primarily due to his toxic perspectives on darker skin that suggested it was less desirable. Colorism is the discrimination of individuals by skin color, with lighter skin tones receiving preferential treatment over those with darker complexions. Colorism does not solely stop at prejudice, infiltrating beauty standards to emphasize fair skin as a part of the “pure, white and innocent” look. While many tend to have colorist perspectives, only a few are conscious of their prejudices as opposed to many who are unconsciously colorist or have implicit bias, similar to Brendan Morais. Implicit bias is common in dating shows, with it most commonly appearing through racism, but colorist bias is equally as prevalent. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article
77%
Of Nigerian women use skin-lightening products regularly
61%
Of Indian skincare market consists of skin-lightening products
DATA FROM WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ILLUSTRATION BY ARIANA GOETTING
Market value of skin-lightening products worldwide in 2017
ILLUSTRATION BY MARGARET CARTEE
Colorism in dating shows promotes toxic beauty standards across cultures
neo alpha
guest writer
Neo Alpha (10) offers his take on the effects of political polarization’s on the Harker community. In Congress, everything is a party-line vote. Impeachment, COVID stimulus packages, the infrastructure bill, increasing the debt ceiling, you name it. Regardless of how popular something is, one side almost always stonewalls it. Partisan animosity is the main cause for this voting pattern—the infrastructure and stimulus bills had substantial bipartisan popular support, for their contents if not for the bills themselves, both of those topics have been highly controversial in Congress. The only option for defusing this polarization is civil discourse, engaging in discussions that promote greater understanding of opinions with which people disagree. Such discussions also promote greater critical thinking about one’s own opinions and logical absurdities in their justifications that simply will never be pointed out in an echo chamber. America might as well be two separate countries on the same land within a few years. Deconstructing echo chambers is essential to preventing that from being a reality that makes action on issues impossible. That all brings us to Harker, a community which seems to have many left-wing echo chambers and a few center-right
ILLUSTRATION BY ALENA SULEIMAN
PROVIDED BY NEO ALPHA
GUEST OPINION: A nation divided by political polarization
enclaves. As far as I can tell, Harker isn’t full of people espousing ultra-far-right nonsense on the level of “vaccine microchips” or “COVID is a lie” or “BLM’s goal is to oppress white people,” but I do think Harker suffers from the above issues to a pretty significant extent, with echo chambers favoring left-wing ideas. One trend that I’ve noticed in the friend groups that I encounter, whether sporadically or frequently, is that the groups are either politically inactive or ideologically homogeneous. Hard-left groups seem to be more homogenous than center-right groups. This self-sorting phenomenon only seems to become more pronounced on social media platforms, where people have a similar level
of political alignment but there are more people circulating politically-charged ideas within the echo chamber. As an officer of Civil Discourse Club, I’ve encountered some people who seem to oppose it, especially where they can claim that discussing the second side to certain issues is racist/sexist/etc; as happened with our meeting to discuss Black Lives Matter and police reform that sparked some backlash, especially on social media, which denied the two legitimate sides to the issues of police reform and race. There are two sides to everything. Contrary to what the aforementioned lot was suggesting, “Black lives matter” as a statement of fact is true, essentially ax-
DESIGN BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM
iomatically, but “the police should be defunded” and other such statements associated with the movement Black Lives Matter are not axiomatically true and are certainly up for discussion. Even if people make blatantly racist comments, the only productive course of action is discussing why the associated opinions are bad— censoring them, which seems the most obvious course of action at first glance, sends those opinions to alternative platforms where those opinions get amplified in echo chambers. Further, accusing people of being racist as an endpoint to every argument is counterproductive, especially when dealing with the center-right— they aren’t part of some monolithic body of opinions but rationalizing them as that stifles productive discussion. This is the national crisis to end all national crises. We, as Harker, shouldn’t collectively remain complicit in reinforcing the positive feedback loop of echo chambers and political polarization. We may think we’re on the right side of things, but knowing as much is impossible without more rigorous testing of our ideas. Actual engagement with a diverse range of opinions is something that we should all actively seek to do. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article Guest opinions are entirely the opinion of a Harker community member and do not represent the opinion of The Winged Post as a publication in any way. Please email harkeraq@gmail.com with any comments about this piece.
WINGED POST A7
ILLUSTRATION BY ANIKA MANTRIPRAGADA
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 PERSPECTIVES VOLUME
GRINDING TO A HALT Pushed past our limits margaret cartee “I got three hours of sleep last night,” a girl two sofa seats to the right of me whispers to her friend during an after-school Journalism workshop. My mind flashes to the @harkersleeps Instagram account, which features over 30 images of different students catching some much-needed rest throughout the school day. For freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors alike, the feeling of being overworked is mutual. I attribute this issue to the idea of “grind culture,” the general atmosphere that compels students to add more and more to their academic and extracurricular responsibilities. This grind culture creates a toxic environment where students are pressured to push themselves past their limits often caused by peers, parents, or themselves. According to Harker Aquila’s Instagram poll, out of 101 upper school students who voluntarily responded, 74.26% said they felt negatively pressured by their peers or parents to push themselves academically or non-academically. But where does this feeling come from? As one of the major K-12 college prep schools in California’s tech focused Silicon Valley, it’s no surprise that Harker’s environment feels like it’s constantly weighing and wearing students down. Opportunity-oriented parents also set high expectations and pressure students to continue adding responsibilities in the form of advanced classes or outside activities. However, students, too, play a massive role in shaping the culture at Harker. Students have casual conversations trying to outdo one another for the most challenging course load or the fewest hours of sleep, thus normalizing the grind culture and constant academic stress. This idea of pushing yourself to become better than your peers or a cookie cutter applicant for Ivy Leagues has become ingrained in students’ mindsets. From the same poll on Harker Aquila’s Instagram, out of 108 upper school students, 91.67% compared themselves to their peers at Harker somewhat often or very often. When students prioritize sleep instead of studying, they fall behind on homework and assignments. This balancing act of self-care and the pursuit of the
perfect report card has often forced me to overlook learning content in favor of finishing homework. However, if students focus on finishing an assignment rather than sleeping, they show up to school poorly-rested and unfocused, which hurts their academic performance according to the American Psychological Association. Though some say the grind culture can prepare students with necessary life skills for college and beyond, this statement only applies up to a certain level of difficulty. Once students feel adequately challenged with their course selection, why should they feel the need to add on another Advanced Placement (AP) class
RISE AND GRIND
Preparing for the future kinnera mulam Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a line of students form at the teacher’s desk. They shuffle forward one by one as they sort out their doubts and inquiries no matter the number of them. Rarely did I see one of my peers hesitate to ask a question as requesting help wasn’t judged nor looked down upon. I brought up this aspect of Harker to my cousin, who attends a school with a less stressful, rigorous environment. To my surprise, he explained that he hardly
Harker’s rigorous classes require students to remain focused and learn organization skills to Am I not doing enough? Why can’t I handle as many succeed. These techniques will prove particularly useful extracurriculars and AP in college and beyond. classes as my peers? Why So, why not start can’t I be more productive with my time? practicing now? I can’t help but question my self-worth and my academic load:
or start a nonprofit organization just for the sake of college applications? Often students pick extracurriculars with the hope that it will bring them more opportunities, but these added activities can also become sources of extra stress. Although their intentions might come from a good place, extrinsic motivation from friends or parents can act as longterm negative reinforcement, potentially teaching students to rely on an extrinsic reward for learning, like a grade, rather than learn because it is enjoyable. As students, we can assess if the extracurriculars or academic courses we participate in truly benefit us or not and try to have more productive conversations with parents about our course loads. We need to choose activities and courses that are for us, not for a college admissions officer or our parents. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
sees his peers ask teachers for help. He follows the same trend because he feels as though consulting a teacher for help carries a level of stigma with it. Strong student-teacher relationships are a direct result of our intensive, competitive environment dubbed as grind culture. The difficulty of our courses compel us to ask our teachers for assistance, creating a community where requests for help aren’t shamed, one of the positives of grind culture. Over the years, I’ve noticed that we students have started to disregard the many benefits to grind culture. For one, the competitive atmosphere encourages students to push themselves and as a result, leads them to learn more about studied topics. A study by Raphaël Le Bouc and Mathias Pessiglione of Sorbonne University investigating effects of a classroom competition found that it boosted student performance. Person-
ally, Harker’s competitive environment is benign as it motivates me to put more effort into my classes, but when I’m struggling, I can always contact a peer for help. I’ve found a majority of my friends simply through helping each other out or discussing challenges regarding school results in bonding with my peers. As I began challenging myself with higher level courses and an increased number of activities, I’ve felt more comfortable asking my teachers for help. A couple years ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of doing so due to the less intensive atmosphere I learned. A study by the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that close teacher-student relationships result in a higher attendance rate, more collaboration and increased learning engagement, producing an overall improved academic performance. Whenever I ask a teacher for help, I feel more at ease, and I can enjoy the subject since lack of support isn’t an issue. Outside of course load, grind culture compels students to enter more activities and enables them to find their interests in topics such as athletics, STEM and performing arts. As they narrow down their options, students take on leadership roles in these areas through clubs and extracurriculars. Without the push to venture out of their comfort zones, students would find it more difficult to locate a passion. The negative perceptions of grind culture stem from the rumors we spread across campus such as how students must enroll in 20 Advanced Placement (AP) classes and participate in equally as many clubs for colleges to even consider accepting them. The transmission of these rumors creates the false mindset that students must overschedule themselves to succeed, which diminishes enjoyment associated with school. If we discontinue propagating these rumors, we can all experience a more positive version of grind culture while mastering the mentioned abilities that it teaches us. These skills are taught through experiences, not classes, which is precisely what grind culture provides for students. Despite acting as a stress inducer, Harker’s unique environment enables students to take these fully developed skills and utilize them to excel and thrive in the future as they graduate and enter the workplace. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM
Editors-in-Chief Michelle Liu Emily Tan Managing Editor Mark Hu News Editor Isha Moorjani Assistant News Editor Ananya Sriram Features Editor Sarah Mohammed Assistant Features Editor Edward Huang A&E/ Lifestyle Editor Sally Zhu Assistant A&E/ Lifestyle Editor Alena Suleiman Opinion Editor Muthu Panchanatham Assistant Opinion Editor Margaret Cartee STEM Editor Sabrina Zhu Assistant STEM Editor Arjun Barrett Sports Editor Vishnu Kannan Assistant Sports Editors Desiree Luo Katelyn Zhao Photo/Video Editor Jessica Tang Copy Editors Kinnera Mulam Emma Gao Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editors-in-Chief Nicole Tian Alysa Suleiman Aquila Managing Editors Arely Sun Irene Yuan Lucy Ge Vishnu Kannan Columnists Saurav Tewari Nicholas Wei Arjun Barrett Humans of Harker Editors-in-Chief Esha Gohil Erica Cai Humans of Harker Managing Editor Nicholas Wei Humans of Harker Profilers Olivia Xu Michelle Wei Reporters Tiffany Chang Carter Chadwick Lavanya Subramanian Sydney Ling Trisha Iyer Rachel Ning Anika Maji Ella Yee Catherine Wong Julie Shi Visit The Winged Post online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on Instagram with the handle @harkeraquila The Winged Post is published every four to six weeks except during vacations by the Journalism: Newspaper Concentration and Advanced Journalism: Newspaper Concentration courses at Harker’s upper school, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, California 95129. The Winged Post staff will publish features, editorials, news, sports and STEM articles in an unbiased and professional manner and serve as a public forum for the students of The Harker School. Editorials represent the official opinions of The Winged Post. Opinions and letters represent the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Winged Post. All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Winged Post in no way reflects the official policy of The Harker School. The opinions expressed in this publication reflect those of the student writers and not the Harker board, administration, faculty or adviser. Letters to the Editor may be submitted to Manzanita 70 or emailed to wingedpost2020@gmail.com and must be signed, legible and concise. The staff reserves the right to edit letters to conform to Post style. Baseless accusations, insults, libelous statements, obscenities and letters that call for a disruption of the school day will not be considered for publication. Letters sent to The Winged Post will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff. The Winged Post is the official student newspaper of Harker’s upper school and is distributed free of cost to students. Students hold the copyright to work published in Harker journalism publications. 2021-2022 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2020-2021 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2021 Spring NSPA Best-of-show, Fourth Place 2020 NSPA Best-of-show, First Place 2019-2020 NSPA Best-of-show, First Place 2019-2020 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2018-2019 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2017-2018 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2016-2017 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2022 CSPA Crown 2021 CSPA Silver Crown 2019 CSPA Gold Crown 2018 CSPA Gold Crown 2017 CSPA Silver Crown 2016 CSPA Gold Crown
© 2021 Harker Journalism Publications
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 OPINION VOLUME
IT ISN’T OVER YET: We still need answers Students require greater clarity about school COVID-19 response
ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU
A8 WINGED POST
EDITORIAL: THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST
editorial board
The spread of unsubstantiated rumors surrounding the Omicron variant has died down, but the seriousness of the virus still remains. The steps our administration has taken to administer weekly COVID tests establishes a successful ongoing process to accurately monitor the situation. In total, 48 students and 16 staff members have tested positive since the start of the school year. Even though staying on campus carries a risk of COVID, our editorial board currently recommends remaining with in-person learning, in accordance with guidance from Santa Clara County health officials to avoid the mental strains in transitioning back to remote learning. But maintaining a healthy in-person environment requires commitment to transparency. In order to remain in-person while increasing student and faculty safety, the editorial board also suggests the following steps to restore confidence in our safety at school: Improve communication directly to students The Harker COVID-19 Data Dashboard provides one example of transparency regarding testing statistics and the spread of COVID in our community. Harker’s portal of safety protocols and testing procedures should be communicated in each email from administration. Parents receive weekly updates from the administration, yet this information is not always relayed to students, who are the ones coming into contact at school and should be notified of information pertaining to their own safety. 80.0% of sampled students do not know that the COVID dashboard provides data regarding positive cases at the upper school. The dashboard needs to accurately reflect the number of positive cases across all campuses, and our administration should direct weekly updates about information regarding tests administered and positive cases to students as well as parents. Frequent emails and Schoology posts directly to students reduce the spread of false information and ensure that students have easy access to pertinent data instead of hypothesizing about infection rates.
Keep our faculty and staff safe Our faculty and staff have shown tremendous courage during these times, even though they are statistically more likely to face more serious symptoms than younger people. In an email to parents on Jan. 3, Head of School Brian Yager noted that substitute teachers will fill in on behalf of faculty members who contract COVID, and remote learning remains a possibility if classes and programs are short of the staff needed to operate, which has not yet occurred. Students should remain at home if you think you’ve been exposed and are showing symptoms. Our faculty and staff are facing the pandemic’s challenges right alongside us. By doing all we can to protect our staff as we transition to the second semester, we safeguard the adults who shape our daily experience at school. Make testing and close contact protocols more accessible to students Although the administration only informs parents when a close contact of a student tests positive, students should also receive this notification, especially with information pertaining to personal health. Protocols regarding what steps individuals should take if they test positive, come into close contact with an infected individual or detect symptoms should be released to all students. Current COVID-testing protocol is unclear: 24.5% of students responded that they did not know how to receive a COVID test on campus. Sending defined, accessible instructions to students eliminates uncertainty surrounding what actions students should take if they believe they have interacted with the virus in any way. On an individual level, refrain from treating the omicron variant, more contagious than the SARS-CoV-2 virus, as a “common cold,” a frequent yet inaccurate comparison heard at school. Researchers and the CDC currently lack sufficient data regarding the severity of omicron compared to other variants, and risk of contraction still depends on vaccination status and health conditions. By committing to clearing up misunderstandings about health protocols, we feel safer as a whole.
More quantity at the same quality
michelle liu, emily tan & mark hu As we head into second semester and discovering what 2022 has to offer, we wanted to introduce an exciting change in The Winged Post. You might have noticed that the paper in your hands is a little bit heftier than our last issue
from 2021. That’s because, as we’re very excited to announce, The Winged Post, for this issue, is a 24-page paper in all its full-color-printed glory! We’ve split the paper into two sections: the “A Section” has all our news, opinion and STEM stories, while the “B section” is devoted to features, arts & entertainment and sports. We want our paper to give you all the information you need for everything happening on campus. As we continue facing the pandemic and the omicron surge, we’ve made The Winged Post a place to answer your questions about campus COVID-19 procedures. We’ll continue striving to be an up-to-date source so our community can stay safe and healthy.
Corrections TO ISSUE 3 NEWS 3: “Seniors submit early college applications” brief should have stated Nov. 30, not Oct. 30. NEWS 4: Laura Nicholson photo credit: • should say “Provided by Laura Nicholson”, not “Laura Nicholson” • “Visit harkeraquila.com for full article” is mentioned twice in the same global briefs section A&E/Lifestyle 7: Hasini Namala is a freshman, not a sophomore. DT 10: Laurel Davies is a sophomore. DT 11: Paulina Gicqueau’s last name was spelled incorrectly as Gicqeau. We regret the error. DESIGN BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM
WINGED POST A9
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 STEMVOLUME
Get your head in the game with virtual reality
Applause fills the conference room as the presenter brings an end to the session, thanking everyone for their time. A low murmur arises and attendees begin socializing; they mingle in groups, walking around the room. But while the attendees engage in lively discussion, in reality, they have yet to meet in person — instead, they’ve been conversing with each other’s 3D virtual avatar. The attendees aren’t even in the same room, merely the same simulation, where everything from the chairs they sit in to the lights overhead is the product of a computer program. Virtual conferences are what Dr. Blair MacIntyre, a professor at the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, envisions as an application of virtual reality. But how does it work? And what exactly is virtual reality? Virtual reality refers to a 3D computer generated environment that simulates the
real world. By wearing a head mounted display (HMD), or a virtual reality headset, equipped with head-motion-tracking sensors and sometimes eye-tracking sensors, users immerse themselves into the virtual environment. For Dr. MacIntyre, virtual reality represents the latest technology in the succession of “reality media,” the re-creation of reality through different mean. “[For] people who have a propensity to get addicted to games or escape into other kinds of escapist literature, [such as] TV or movies, VR could have the same attraction,” Dr. MacIntyre said. A popular option among consumers, Oculus VR’s Oculus Quest 2 allows users to play 3D games, explore new places around the world and watch movies, among other activities; the PlayStation VR and Valve Index Headset offer other options. April Sun (12), who owns an Oculus Quest 2, appreciates the immersive experience that virtual reality provides yet also acknowledges the possibility of addiction.
TRISHA VARIYAR (11) APPLIED TECHNOLOGY CLUB PRESIDENT
was $21.8 billion, whereas the revenue in 2015 was $917 million. Applied Technology Club president Trisha Variyar (11) agrees that virtual reality will continue to leave a social impact, whether good or bad. “I’m at this conflict where [VR] sounds really cool, that technology has advanced where you can see a concert that's in New York when you're at home in California,” Trisha said. “But it's going to make people miss the social interactions that they had when they were talking to people face to face.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
6 seniors recognized as Regeneron research scholars
A
Monitoring Pinto Abalone Recruitment in Sitka Sound, Alaska
A BRIN ZHU SA
SUMMARY
Aimee researched the ocean conditions of abalone species, a threatened species.
WHAT WAS CHALLENING?
[The abalone] are underwater, and you need divers to go in the ocean, [which] was very hard."
SASVAT
R IS H A B
LLY ZHU
E E WA N G
R A M AC H
Phylogenetic Analyses and Genomic Reconstruction of Cycloclasticus
SUMMARY
Sasvath conducted genomic analyses on the hydrocarbon-degrading microbes of oil spills.
WHAT WAS YOUR MAIN GOAL?
"[My goals] were figuring out what the organisms were and piecing together evolutionary history." MI
E
SA
IM
H
S
WHAT INSPIRED YOUR RESEARCH?
"I was thinking about how I could use [bioninformatics] to yield unexpected benefits.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED?
"[Regeneron] helps you reflect on what you’ve done and grow to become a better researcher."
DRAN
SUMMARY
Rishab applied CS to track cancer progressionand recommend drugs for malignant mutations.
SUMMARY
AN
NLP and Pathway Analysis to Predict Oncogenic Mutation Progression
Improved Graph Formalism for Quantum Circuit Simulation
Alex studied quantum code written for error correction and stabilizer states.
LY Z H O U
LLY ZHU
LLY ZHU
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS TOPIC?
“I chose this [topic] to research about because I have always been really interested in genetics."
X HU
SA
SA
SUMMARY
Alice examined interactions between proteins and RNA by using genetic bioinformatics.
RT H ASA PA
A LE
Deep Learning Models of Protein and RNA Levels Relationship
RINA ZHU AB
IC E F E N G
THY RA
Seniors Alice Feng, Alex Hu, Rishab Parthasarathy, Sasvath Ramachandran, Aimee Wang and Emily Zhou have been named Regeneron Scholars for the 2022 Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) Competition. On Jan. 6, the Society for Science awarded 300 high school seniors who have conducted exceptional research and written detailed papers as semifinalists in STS, which is the nation’s oldest science and math competition. STS chose scholars from 185 schools and multiple states and nations, and each of the scholars and their schools received a cash prize of $2,000. Nearly 1,900 students participate in the Science Talent Search (STS) every year, making it one of the most competitive research contests. The Society for Science then awarded Rishab, along with 39 other scholars, as finalists in STS on Jan. 20. All finalists received at least an additional $25,000 and will compete for more awards. The finalists will present their research at the virtual Public Exhibition of Projects later this year on March 13. Harker has research resources that can help students explore their interests, including the Research Methods and Honors Advanced Research courses. Harker sends student researchers to the Synopsys Championship science fair, every year. In the spring, the Women in STEM Club organizes the annual Symposium, where students have another opportunity to share their results Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
AL
LLY ZHU SA
claire bauschlicher & sabrina zhu
Detection of Aneurysms Using a Transformer Neural Network
SUMMARY
Emily created a neural network capable of detecting aneurysms within 3D medical images.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO THIS FIELD?
"I did a project on aneurysms, and that was when my whole bioengineering passion started."
MENTORING MEMBERS Robotics members Tanay Sharma (11), Gary Ding (11), Will Lee (11), Nolan Dagum (9) and Agastya Ravuri (9) consider potential features for the robot. At the kickoff, groups brainstormed design ideas for competition.
Robotics team holds kickoff for spring competition season margaret cartee & sabrina zhu Harker Robotics hosted a kickoff marking the beginning of the build season in the Nichols atrium. on Jan. 8. To start the kickoff, members watched a livestream announcing the game and began devising strategies for build season, which is the 10-week time period when the team (FRC 1072) focuses on building the robot. This year’s game, which will be used at upcoming competitions in March and April, is called “Rapid React,” featuring three different sections and multiple challenges that robots will have to overcome in order to amass points. After watching the livestream, members split up into smaller groups to draft ideas for the robot, including the required features and any additional designs they could implement with extra time.
“These are people you’re developing alongside and their passion is really infectious. It really makes you more excited to be a part of the team" PROVIDED BY ANGELA JIA
olivia xu & julie shi
“I’m at this conflict where [VR] sounds really cool, but it's going to make people miss the social interactions they had when they were talking to people face to face” PROVIDED BY TRISHA VARIYAR
WONDROUS WORLDS Eighth grader Tiffany Zhu uses a virtual reality (VR) headset and handheld devices. VR lets consumers play immersive games and visit fictional spaces.
SABRINA ZHU
“[VR] is another tool you can use to engage with digital mediums,” April said. “It’s different from traditional viewing forms in terms of how immersive it is, and that's a benefit and a con at the same time: if you spend too much time in virtual reality, you're not going to spend enough time in the actual reality.” Since Sutherland created the first virtual reality headset, the technology’s rise in popularity has been significant. According to Statista, the global virtual reality hardware and content revenue in 2020
ANGELA JIA (12) ROBOTICS EXECUTIVE PRESIDENT AND TEAM CAPTAIN
“Kickoff is the opportunity for everyone to learn what the game is and we begin devising our strategy for the game,” Design Director Alex Liou (12) said. “Strategy drives design.” Afterwards, members played Kahoot, quizzing each other about robot requirements for competition, such as technical fouls and the maximum length of a robot extension. “The most enjoyable part [of the kickoff ] was being able to talk with my fellow robotics team members because we all have super unique ideas, and it’s interesting to know what other people are thinking,” robotics member Yifan Li (9) said. The team will be building their robot in preparation for the Sacramento Regional and Silicon Valley Regional competitions. FRC 1072 is split up into the mechanical and machining, software, design and electrical sub-teams and plans to meet every day after school for the next 10 weeks. “Our highest priority is developing our robot,” Angela Jia (12), Executive President and team captain, said. “Each sub-team has their own agenda each day, and we have a lot of intercepting communication to make sure everyone’s working cohesively towards that same goal of developing our robot.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY SABRINA ZHU
PROVIDED BY GLORIA ZHU
Users explore new fictional worlds with increasingly popular devices
A10 WINGED POST
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 STEM VOLUME
Climate change heroes
Global Reset covers climate change news relevant to our community
Redwood trees consume carbon at unrivaled rates
HOSA Health Occupations Students of America LEAVES
rachel ning
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BRANCHES
TOWERING TREES A redwood tree grows at the Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve in Los Gatos. These conifers can live for 600 years and reach heights of 300 feet.
Branches provide structural support and transport nutrients from the roots and trunk to the leaves.
sabrina zhu & lavanya subramanian
metric tons of carbon dioxide can be stored Roots suck nutrients from in one hectare of thejust surrounding environmentredwood and anchortrees the large
redwood trees at the upper school campus store over 3800 metric tons of carbon dioxide
of Big Basin Redwood State Park burned in wildfires in August 2020
Data from Forest Ecology and Management
Data from Forest Ecology and Management
Data from Save The Redwoods
Leafy branches, suspended dozens of feet up in the air, cast a gentle shadow on the trodden dirt path below. Small squirrels and birds scurry around the tree, swiftly climbing from its massive, partially exposed roots to its thousands of green needles. This redwood tree, standing at about 300 feet tall, is a hero: not only do its rich nutrients provide ample food for surrounding amphibians and insects, but it also preserves other life on earth by com-
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BARK The red-tinted bark of this tree, which grows on the upper school campus, provides protection and retains moisture. It always grows from the inside.
"If the climate gets too warm or there's not enough rainfall, which is what we're experiencing, the trees have a more difficult time living"
ROOTS MARK HU
Roots suck nutrients from the conifer's surroundings and anchor the large tree to the forest floor. SA BR A IN
tree to the forest floor.
ILLUSTRATION BY SABRINA ZHU
ZHU
Adapted from Colorado State Forest Service
JEFF SUTTON UPPER SCHOOL BIOLOGY TEACHER
ILLUSTRATION BY SABRINA ZHU
bating climate change. The impressive redwood tree is native to Northern California and flourishes in the cool, damp climate of the Pacific coast. Although the tree has humble beginnings as a small seed, don’t be fooled: redwoods can reach a height of around 367 feet and grow a base width of 22 feet. Their 600year life expectancy and fire-resistant, thick bark serve as a stabilizing force in their natural environments. Redwood trees play an important role in mitigating the effects of climate change. Their incredible size means that they consume large volumes of carbon dioxide simply by living. In fact, just one
acre of these trees stores about 1,000 metric tons of carbon. “Since redwood trees capture a lot of carbon dioxide, it's really important to make sure that they are continuing to grow,” Green Team treasurer Thresia Vazhaeparambil (12) said. “Without that, there is going to be a very severe impact on the biodiversity around them and the ecosystem as a whole.” Unfortunately, climate change has detrimentally affected the redwoods. Upper school biology and environmental science teacher Jeff Sutton notes how increasing temperatures could potentially stunt the growth of redwood forests. “Ultimately, those trees are considered to be like the climax organism of that ecosystem: they're the ones that perpetuate the ecosystem,” Sutton said. “If the climate gets too warm or there's not enough rainfall, which is what we're experiencing, then fires are more likely, [and] the trees have a more difficult time living.” Wildfires in northern California over the past few years have decimated forests. In 2021 alone, 2.6 million acres of land were burned. The Big Basin Redwoods State Park, located nearby in Santa Cruz, was forced to close down in August 2020 because of severe wildfire damage. Wildfires swept through 97% of the forest. Although, individually, people may not be able to have the impact a large organization can, together, communities can always change their everyday actions to limit their contributions to climate change. “There are really basic things that everybody can do in their lives,” Green Team secretary Siddhi Jain (10). “For example, we have signs out there that say ‘Don't idle when you're waiting in your car’ because that's contributing to greenhouse gases, which are warming the climate. Just take action to reduce your carbon footprint.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
“If someone can discover a passion they have within healthcare just from this club, that would mean everything” ALIVIA LI (12) HOSA PRESIDENT
“Specifically what we're doing is helping the students prepare for their competitive events, which range from everything to their individual events and team events,” Sasvath Ramachandran (12), HOSA’s director of operations, said. After a year online, the club has slowly been transitioning into in-person events and plans to travel nationally for different conventions. “The state competition is at the end of March in Long Beach, where there are actual competitions, lots of networking, cool displays and booths and [information] about the healthcare industry,” Dr. Harley said. HOSA hopes that they will be able to foster new passions and explorations of unique medical hands-on experiences, and potentially inspire members to carry on learning about healthcare in the future. “If someone can begin to discover a passion they have within healthcare just from this club, that would mean everything,” Alivia said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
EXPLORING MEDICINE Jessica Zhou (11), HOSA Operations officer, explains club details to Nila Dharmaraj (10) and Smrithi Sambamurthy (11) on Jan. 11. The club focuses on medical events and contests. DESIGN BY SABRINA ZHU
SABRINA ZHU
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The Health Occupations Students of America Club, better known as HOSA, aims to help students interested in healthcare explore the diverse possibilities that the medical world has to offer. The club, part of a larger international organization, is advised by upper school biology teacher Dr. Matthew Harley and was founded two years ago. The club hopes to open students' minds to the wide variety of niche parts of medicine. “The field of healthcare itself is actually so diverse and interesting that it definitely merits exploration. Especially in a school like Harker where many people are medically inclined, I think it's definitely a worthwhile venture to do,” Alivia said. The club provides resources for members to help them prepare for events such as textbooks and quizlets, which are intended to let students discover different medical fields, meet professionals and compete with one another.
PROVIDED BY ALIVAI LI
The "needle" leaves photosynthesize and convert carbon dioxide to help the plant grow.
We could fix humanity by programming life Emerging field of bioinformatics turns science fiction into reality
WINGED POST A11 App Development League provides programming education to community
CS FOR COMMUNITY App Development League teaches programming over Zoom.
techniques were first applied in the 1990s and only started receiving mainstream attention following the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003. Yet in
under 30 years, computers have revolutionized the field of biology. Researchers have unlocked the ability to understand protein functions, discover the effects of genetic mutations and create new techniques to combat disease. “Twenty-five years ago, a scientist could crunch through the data they generate in a lab easily on their own with an Excel file,” upper school biology teacher Mike Pistacchi said. “We’re now generating gigabytes, terabytes of data from next-gen sequencers and high-throughput analysis machines, and the only way to make sense of all that and organize it is through a new field of computer science.” Visit harkeraquila.org for full article.
Q: What is bioinformatics?
Q: Why does the field exist?
Q: What about COVID-19?
A: Bioinformatics is a field focused on solving biological problems with computers.
A: Biological data is often so complex that humans can’t understand it without help.
A: Computers were essential for studying and developing a vaccine for the coronavirus.
arjun barrett In recent years, computers have been used to solve previously impossible problems in dozens of fields, including finance, statistics and medicine. The increasingly popular realm of bioinformatics uses computational techniques to explore biological data such as genomic sequences. Unfortunately, bioinformatics is rarely seen as more than a collection of overused buzzwords: big data, machine learning and CRISPR, to name a few. But under the surface, bioinformatics might just hold the secret to engineering life itself. Computational biology, better
known as bioinformatics, generally refers to any application of computers to process or analyze biological data faster and more effectively than a human could. It’s a relatively recent development; bioinformatic
“In under 30 years, computers have revolutionized the field of biology”
INTO THE UNKNOWN The James Webb Space Telescope has a signature array of gold mirrors. It will study the formation of the earliest galaxies in the universe.
edward huang The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) completed its 30-day journey into space on Jan. 24 and now floats 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. From there, it will explore distant galaxies and their pasts to learn about their origins. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) latest telescope launched from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on Dec. 25, 2021. Equipped with infrared cameras and its
signature set of 18 gold mirrors, the James Webb Space Telescope is the largest of its kind that NASA has ever sent into space. “Webb was designed in order to be the successor of NASA’s last telescope, Hubble,” upper school physics teacher Dr. Mark Brada said. “The Hubble space telescope has a [2.4] meter diameter mirror, and Webb is almost [three] times as big as Hubble, so almost [nine] times the light gathering power.” The JWST also traveled much farther than Hubble, ending its journey at the
PROVIDED BY NASA.GOV
James Webb Telescope reaches destination Second Lagrangian Point, or L2, located 1.5 million kilometers behind the Earth as viewed from the Sun. At this point, the JWST can better regulate its temperature and remain stable while observing the universe. “L2 is where the gravitational effects of the Earth and the Sun cancel out,” Astronomy Club officer and Physical Sciences Club co-president Arnav Swaroop (10) said. “It requires very little energy to keep the telescope going once it gets into orbit. Also, because the James Webb Telescope is in the shadow of the Earth, it can keep itself cool without making any adjustments.” According to Arnav, the James Webb Space Telescope needs to maintain a low temperature because it was designed to detect faint heat signatures from distant galaxies with minimal interference from nearby objects like the sun. As a result, its mirrors are protected by a sunshield that deflects any heat coming from the sun. “This telescope is incredibly special because it’s an infrared telescope, and its main focus is to detect small, dim galaxies and exoplanets and their atmospheres from far away,” Arnav said. Heat is one of the biggest factors in [detecting] infrared. This is why you need to get as far away from the sun as possible while still being able to transmit data back to Earth.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
In Silicon Valley, the center of technological start-ups, people can quickly become immersed in a world of fastpaced innovation. But spreading this knowledge and influence to thousands of students in need is no small feat. Through founding the App Development League (ADL), Krish Maniar (11) made it his goal to provide computer science education to underprivileged students through events, programs and mentorship. “Especially living in a community like Harker, where we all have resources at our hand, it’s really important for us to give back to the community,” Krish said. “Helping people who don’t have resources is really meaningful to me.” Krish first envisioned starting ADL in December of 2019. His plan involved six months of extensive organization and communication to prepare ADL for its launch in the summer of 2020. “In the beginning, I had to email hundreds of schools, develop the curriculum and teach five to six hours a week during the summer because it was just me,” Krish said. “Getting students to attend was another obstacle. We were pretty fortunate to have partnerships at local schools to get a lot of their students.”
“Especially living in a community like Harker, it’s really important for us to give back to the community” PROVIDED BY KRISH MANIAR
ILLUSTRATION BY SABRINA ZHU
heidi lu & claire su
KRISH MANIAR (11) PRESIDENT OF ADL
With ADL up and running, the team introduced a number of virtual programs and events to the community. These included STAR, an initiative to connect with underprivileged schools, CAMP, which helped other non-profit organizations make an impact, and MEET, a mentorship program. The team then split into sections with different roles. As the Director of the Mentorship Program, Aniketh Tummala (10) connects ADL officers to mentees based on their specific areas of interest. “Next semester, we’re also looking to expand to different difficulty levels and also an introduction to competitive coding,” Aniketh said. Working behind the scenes, the marketing team, led by Desiree Luo (10), focuses on expanding the influence of ADL online through social media posts, videos and blog write-ups. As the Director of Outreach, she assigns tasks to the team members, including brainstorming social media schedules and designing posts. “I delegate tasks to people, so I create a posting schedule for Instagram because we post about our upcoming events and opportunities that we have to get involved with,” Desiree said. “I sometimes design posts myself, too. I also run the blog page on Medium.” Visit harkeraquila.org for full article. DESIGN BY ARJUN BARRETT
PROVIDED BY APP DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
23 • ISSUE 4 STEM VOLUME FEBRUARY 10, 2022
A12 WINGED POST
BACK PAGE
ROMANCE YOU’LL LOVE arely sun & sydney ling
“The Half of It” Directed by Alice Wu Movie Director Alice Wu’s “The Half Of It” draws from the classic soulmate theory from Plato’s Symposium that humans are always looking for their half to make them whole. Protagonist Ellie Chu acts as a smalltown Cyrano de Bergerac, a closeted 17-year-old Chinese American who helps a dense classmate, Paul, write love letters to a girl they both like. Leaning into rom-com clichés with a refreshing twist, “The Half Of It” intertwines issues of queerness and race with personal portraits of sincere connection.
“Gourmet Hound” By Leehama Webcomic While there are so many romance Webtoons to choose from, most fall into similar tropes. “Gourmet Hound” goes beyond hackneyed storylines and delves into themes of grief and friendships while also providing a diverse array of characters and plenty of gourmet food.
“Roman Holiday” Directed by William Wyler Movie
If you’re in the mood for a classic rom com, “Roman Holiday” hits the spot. It’s a light, carefree story with sweet tender moments and comic romps that have aged well since 1953.
“Felix Ever After” By Kacen Callender Book
Kacen Callender’s “Felix Ever After” follows the story of Felix Love, a Black, queer and transgender teen in New York City who navigates his layered identities as an art student, claiming power through selfportraits. Heartwarming, funny and beautiful, “Felix Ever After” uncovers the intersectionality between race, sexuality and gender through an unabashedly honest narrative.
“Emergency Contact”
By Mary H.K. Choi Book
“Emergency Contact” traces a budding relationship between two deeply damaged, complex people who are trying to navigate their own lives. Unlike most young adult romance fiction, this book has sweet romantic moments without falling into clichés.
Memoir:
Love knows no distance alysa suleiman I was born on Valentine’s Day, a festival of love. As a child, pairing love with good and happy things, in my mind, was an easy task — as easy as two plus two or macaroni and cheese. It was uncomplicated to know, simple to replicate, effortless to say. Love was a first grade poetry project, where we strung together random words for a Mother’s Day gift. It’s hidden, now, in the dusty, cardboard moving boxes rotting in the garage, but I still remember the little frame around the scroll, covered in haphazard stick figures and pink paint and glitter. I love my Mom ‘cause she’s so nice, She feeds me lots and lots of rice. I love Mom, Mom loves me. I love her like she loves peas.” Asynchronous poetic meter aside, I had thoroughly believed in my apparently impressive intellect of comparing the love I had for my mother to her love of peas. “Tai mei le (so beautiful),” my mom gushed, her smile stretched so wide across her face that I could see her gums. Pink, like my Valentine gift. In that moment, I didn’t have a doubt in my mind that my parents and I would ever have to separate. Our love for each other was a haven, captured in that poem, in my birthday celebrations at home, in my childhood.
Fast forward a decade and a bit later, Valentine’s Day once again appears on the horizon, bringing with it my 18th birthday and my official entry into adulthood. In less than a couple of months, I will graduate and begin my own life, flying from the nest that I first found love in. My relationship dynamic with my parents will undoubtely change. I will no longer see them each day, sit down to have dinner with them or even have the opportunity to argue with them. Love will undeniably change from the way I always knew it as I prepare to depart from those who first showed me what it means to love. On this year’s Valentine’s Day, I will become an adult. This may be the last semester that we seniors get to share a close space with our parents, but the way we show our parents love, even if we’re miles apart, doesn’t have to seem more complicated. Happy Valentine’s Day, Mom and Dad. I love you. ALL ILLUSTRATIONS & DESIGN BY EMILY TAN
VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022
Life & Culture VOL. 23 NO.4
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2022
the story of
pg. B2 ‘A CIVIL RECKONING’ RECKONING’
ILLUSTRATION BY ARIANA GOETTING
features
Jan 6. insurrection, a year later
a&e
Afghanistan
MICHELLE LIU
500 SARATOGA AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129
pg. B7 NEW ART, NEW IDEAS
Dickinson Endowment for the Arts invites first Artist-in-Residence
sarah mohammed, lucy ge, olivia xu & isha moorjani History is a body. It heaves us on its back, carrying us through the world, through memory, reminding us of the terrain our ancestors crossed and the terrain left for us to cross. The body holds a set of pulse points — chronological moments that we hold close, that ground us; moments of vulnerability, struggle and loss that remind us of what it took to come here: wars, breaches of trust, falters in peace. Some of humanity’s pulse points of war took place in Afghanistan, a ripe, fertile area of land nestled at the crescent of the Indus River Valley, first conquered in 500 B.C.E. whose disputed nature continues today. Part of the millenia of war that Afghanistan has faced is the United States’ invasions, which began in 2001 and ended two decades later in August of 2021 with the withdrawal of U.S. forces. Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist group based in Afghanistan, on Aug. 15, 2021 after the Afghan government collapsed as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.
Six months after the Taliban’s seizing of the territory — with yet another ruler planting his flag on Afghan soil — where has history arrived? What tired valleys has the body of history traveled? After deciding to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan in April 2021, President Biden defended his choice in a statement on Aug. 16, saying that the withdrawal would de-escalate the war and limit American casualties. In the crowd of voices, historians debate what the exit from Afghanistan means. Upper school economics and modern international affairs teacher Matthew McCorkle, who identifies as white, focuses on the internal machinations of how the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. He believes that the Taliban’s ability to gain control is the culmination of a political process that has been in play for “a very long time” in terms of American interest in Afghanistan waning. Seeing what happened in Afghanistan in the greater context of the world stage, upper school history teacher Byron Stevens feels that in order to encourage the Taliban to be more cognizant of human rights and protections, international
powers need to step into the situation by isolating the Taliban when they refuse to provide basic human rights and protections to the people of Afghanistan. “Even though the United States has withdrawn, we need to stay engaged in the region and, with our allies, continue to put pressure on the Taliban to govern according to international norms and universal human rights,” Stevens said. The Taliban takeover has left many Afghan refugees worried about the future of their country. The voices of Afghanistan are old, the voices are young, but they are speaking. Marjan Naderi, 19, is an Afghan American literary artist with Pashtun and Tajik heritage and the 2020 D.C. Youth Poet Laureate. She has been supporting a group of orphans in the city of Herat in Afghanistan with groceries for the past 18 years. As the Taliban moved into her family’s area, they sent her and her mother voice messages in early September about the situation that indicated the Taliban had already started engaging in violence in the territory. Continued on page B3.
ALYSA SULEIMAN
Instrumentals and vocals galore
sports
pg. B10 BOUNCING BACK
ARIANA GOETTING
speaking.
pg. B8 WINTER CONCERTS
Student-athletes’’ journey to recovery Student-athletes
pg. B12 FREEZE FRAME
Monthly picks of sports photos DESIGN BY EMILY TAN
VISHNU KANNAN
The voices of Afghanistan are old, the voices are young, but they are
ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN
From a land of conflict, refugees flee to rebuild their lives.
‘A civil reckoning’
Campus Compass HARKER’S NEW EAGLE STORE michelle wei
Emmett Chung (11) was watching the electoral vote count on C-SPAN in upper school history teacher Byron Stevens’ class on Jan. 6, 2021, thinking it would be a day of standard electoral procedure. He remembers the moment the image switched to the 2,000-strong mob of Trump supporters preparing to breach a police barricade and enter the Capitol. “I was very angry,” Emmett said. “Not only because I was seeing American citizens attacking their own seat of government with the hopes of overturning a free and fair election, but we also, on the flip side, saw the completely opposite response from law enforcement, to the point that later investigations showed that the police officers were almost letting the rioters in.” Earlier that day, at noon, then-president Donald Trump held a “Save America” rally in front of the White House where he fed false claims of election fraud and called Biden an “illegitimate” president.
PROVIDED BY ELLEN AUSTIN
with AP Photo Editor Jon Elswick
IN STYLE Associated Press (AP) Photo Editor Jon Elswick presents the AP Stylebook to Harker journalism on their 2019 Washington D.C. trip.
ILLUSTRATION BY ARIANA GOETTING
isha moorjani, trisha iyer & emma gao
On the anniversary of the attack, lawmakers in Washington, D.C., held a vigil on the steps of the Capitol and other memorials. In a commemorative speech, President Biden condemned Trump’s role in the riot. “I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today, but I will not shrink from it either,” Biden said in his speech. “I will defend this nation. And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of our democracy.” A counter-narrative persists in right-wing media. On the anniversary of Jan. 6, Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) appeared on former White House Chief
Associated Press (AP) Photo Editor Jon Elswick visited the Advanced Journalism and Journalism classes at noon on Jan. 10 through Zoom to talk about AP News’ coverage of Jan. 6. Elswick has worked at AP for over 32 years.
Q: What struck you about the photos? A: Working in Washington D.C. since 9/11, we’re used to seeing Secret Service and the military, but here were police with their weapons pointing at protesters, at this face in a broken window leading into the House.
Q: What was your role in covering the riot on Jan. 6? A: As an editor, I’m cropping the picture, I’m toning the picture, I’m adding caption information. The cameras weren’t on in the House of Representatives; they’re controlled by the government, so these were images that nobody else had seen. It’s important to get those moved right away.
Q: How did you select the published photos? A: It was hard to pick a bad photo because there were so many good photos that came out of this horrific day. We have this front seat for those who aren’t there, and it’s our job to tell that story without bias.
‘It was a reality check’ sarah mohammed & isha moorjani
From the solitude of remote learning to the positive cases at school, COVID-19 has severely impacted the upper school community for the past three years— for students, contracting COVID-19 has meant having to isolate in their homes and reckon with uncertainty. Isabella Lo (9) remembers feeling surprised by the unexpected news that she had contracted COVID-19, and the long, boring days that followed where her mother would bring clothes and food up to her room while she stayed in isolation in her room. Robert Zhang (11) felt similarly jolted when he had to return back to quarantine, remembering the past semesters of online learning and feeling isolated again. Isabella, who contracted COVID-19 on Dec. 31 and returned to school on Jan. 10, also found the experience of returning back to school and staying caught up on assignments to be jolting—especially for classes like math where the class covered a lot of material every day. She felt that it was difficult to catch up on schoolwork, after days where she stayed in her room
Strategist Steve Bannon’s podcast “Bannon’s War Room” to claim police and leftist politicians orchestrated the riot in order to oust Trump. “Nancy Pelosi, I’d like to see her phone and banking records,” Greene said in the podcast. “Who was she talking to?” Trisha Variyar (11) reflected afterward on what the riot meant for the United States’ democracy. “I think that America is going to have a future,” Trisha said. “We’re just going through maybe not a civil war, but some sort of a civil reckoning is definitely going to happen in the future.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
Visit harkeraquila.com for full Q&A.
In the wake of COVID-19, students share their experiences with quarantine
and in her backyard, quarantining so that she did not spread COVID-19 to her family. To keep up with the lessons in some of her classes, she received permission from the teachers to attend classes on Zoom. “Hybrid learning is difficult,” Isabella said. “I found it difficult to continue learning because there’s no teacher to explain stuff for you. And teachers have different ways to handle this: in physics, I got to Zoom into class and keep learning but, in other classes, teachers just told me the work I had to do, which was hard because I was confused [on the new material].” Nageena Singh (12) tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 27 after her eldest sister tested positive, and she quarantined over the winter break.
Tucked away behind a set of doors on the second floor of Nichols Hall, the Harker Eagle Store overlooks the Rotunda study area. Open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. every school day, the store sells Harkerbranded merchandise from schoolwear such as hoodies and T-shirts to accessories such as water bottles, pencil pouches and key chains. Some of the most popular items include a Harker-branded pajama set, an eagle stuffed animal and various beanies, according to store manager Vanessa Rios, who manages the store. The store also sells Harker-branded athletic wear, as well as P.E. gear for the Harker lower and middle school. “What you guys like and buy from us is how we make our decisions on what we’ll order next,” Rios said. “Mostly we order from Proforma, but we do use other vendors.”
“What you guys like and buy from us is how we make our decisions on what we’ll order next” EMILY TAN
One year ago, rioters attacked the Capitol to challenge the 2020 election results. In this issue, we commemorate the anniversary of Jan. 6 and how our community’s emotions over the event and attitudes toward the U.S. political climate have changed.
A year after Jan. 6 insurrection on Capitol, political fractures widen throughout U.S.
Afterwards, her middle sister tested positive, but her parents both tested negative, creating the need for the sisters to quarantine from their parents, an experience that Nageena describes as “weird.” “It was a reality check,” Nageena said. “Even with all three vaccines and masks, and if your friends are vaccinated, you just feel instantly safer, but especially with omicron, breakthrough cases are much, much more common.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
ILLUSTRATION BY ANGELINA HU
OF THE PEOPLE
Q&A
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 FEATURES VOLUME
VANESSA RIOS EAGLE STORE MANAGER
Cindy Su (12), who bought a pair of Harker pajama pants from the store, enjoys sporting the white and green plaid pants together with her friends. “There are a lot of items I didn’t realize they had,” Cindy said. “I went with my friends, and it was fun to look around. It’s nice that they go through all the effort to make all that stuff available to us.” Additionally, the Eagle Store assists clubs with manufacturing club merchandise, working with vendors to select materials and turn students’ designs into a reality, according to Eric Kallbrier, the upper school spirit advisor and Director of Student Organizations. Kallbrier looks to the Eagle Store as a place that can bring the Harker community together by enabling all members to display their school pride. “When you have people walking around with Harker sweatshirts or Tshirts, or even maybe a mug that has Harker on it, it shows the pride that we have for the place we have come to love, and that’s Harker,” Kallbrier said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
MICHELLE WEI
B2 WINGED POST
SCHOOL SPIRIT An assortment of Harkerbranded merchandise from clothing to water bottles sits on display in the Eagle Store, located on the second floor of Nichols Hall. DESIGN BY TRISHA IYER & EMILY TAN
WINGED POST B3
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 FEATURES VOLUME
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OHAD PARAN UPPER SCHOOL LITERATURE OF THE HOLOCAUST TEACHER, JEWISH
“[International Holocaust Day] brings me back to that first realization I had as a young person of not only the atrocities that happened, but also realizing that we have not only a right but an obligation to protect ourselves” O
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Email the Biden administration to call for humanitarian aid for Afghans
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Donate to assist Afghan refugees in the Bay Area with food, clothing and shelter
“Over the years, my ‘Literature of the Holocaust’ class has shifted to using the Holocaust as a vehicle for understanding what can happen to people at any time in any belief system when one group oppresses and attempts to destroy another group” FI
to support FREMONT INTERNATIONAL Donate refugees across AFGHAN REFUGEE the world at ASSISTANCE refugeerights.org REFUGEE HELP FUND PROJECT
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KAREN HALEY UPPER SCHOOL WORLD HISTORY TEACHER
JOSH FIELD (12) STUDENT, JEWISH
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MATT MCCORKLE UPPER SCHOOL HONORS MODERN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS TEACHER
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“The Taliban does a disservice to Islam. Most people who practice the Islamic faith are pretty moderate, but all you hear about on the news is the extreme version”
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EMMETT CHUNG (11) HISTORY STUDENT
“American support for foreign intervention in general and Afghanistan wasn’t particularly strong. Biden was responding to what he perceived as the will of the American people”
“It is a day to remember the atrocities of the Holocaust — why it’s important to fight against genocide and to fight for stability in nations where [genocide] is a possibility. It’s important to understand both the concept of history in the past but also to understand the cultural [significance] as well” RA
“In the 90s, part of Afghanistan was controlled by an opposition organization. This time, the Taliban has complete control. There is no one who is really going to be able to challenge them”
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Reflecting on Afghanistan
UMA IYER (12) STUDENT DIVERSITY COALITION PRESIDENT
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ridges of Afghanistan, means to be aware of the country where we stand: to see what America has done to the history of a nation across the world from ours. By understanding, we can begin to reach out our arms across this body of history and walk, across the lands together. Additional reporting by Edward Huang. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
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ties and protests peacefully for the U.S. to bring in more Afghan refugees. Attending multiple protests in the Bay Area, she has engaged with the Afghan diaspora community in the area firsthand. She feels that the U.S. as a whole holds a sense of complacency towards the way it approaches and intervenes in international conflicts, especially with regards
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DR. MEJGAN MASSOUMI STANFORD TEACHING FELLOW WHO FLED AFGHANISTAN AS A CHILD IN THE ‘80s
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“We live in a very extreme bubble of privilege in the U.S. We have to acknowledge this as the first step towards understanding our relationships with other nations and how we wish to engage with them”
“I think it’s really important to support the Jewish community and what they’ve been through and to educate yourself and take an interest in reading about the history”
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to atrocities. “We live in a very extreme bubble of privilege in the U.S.,” Dr. Massoumi said. “We have to acknowledge this as the first step towards understanding our relationships with other nations and how we wish to engage with them.” To understand the complexity of Afghan refugees’ stories means to trace the
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wave of refugees fleeing the country during the Cold War when Afghanistan was under Russian occupation. She is currently helping Afghans evacuate from Afghanistan, aiding them in applying for visas and getting on state department evaluation lists. Raising awareness for her people, Dr. Massoumi holds speaking engagements at universi-
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, also known as the International Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust, took place on Jan. 27. The day commemorates the survivors of the Holocaust, a mass genocide of six million Jewish people by Nazi Germany during World War II. The date is in remembrance of Jan. 27, 1945, when the Red Army of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ended the Auschwitz concentration camp in which Nazi Germans had kept Jewish people and prisoners of war, killing over one million people. On this day, seven thousand Jewish prisoners were freed from Auschwitz, and another 15 thousand were eventually liberated from other prison camps in the following months.
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Continued from page B1. “They were hiding inside of a wall, and they were sharing over the phone that they didn’t have any food or water, and the Taliban was attacking nearby,” Naderi said. “We could hear the bullets through the phone, and in their voice, there was no sense of pity. There was just this relentless acceptance, they are nearing their death.” She has felt the uncertainty flooding her parents’ home country, Afghanistan, and is currently working on providing donations and support. Hearing about the stories and current situations from families and friends she has stayed in touch with, she has seen how people, in the face of violence, find ways to hold one another. “[The Taliban is] a very oppressive regime, very violent,” Naderi said. “Yet people are finding ways to remember they are human, to find their love of one another. Even if it is across the world, opening a door for an Afghan refugee or starting the conversation about the beauty of the country, without political knowledge or context, is how [this love] becomes timeless.” Dr. Mejgan Massoumi, an Afghan American teaching fellow at the Stanford Civic, Liberal and Global Education Program, left Afghanistan at a young age with her parents in the early 1980s as part of a
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FAMILY MIGRATIONS (Starting clockwise from top left) The women in Marjan Naderi’s family pose for a picture in their home country, Afghanistan. Naderi’s mother and her classmates take a group photo outside their school building in Afghanistan. Naderi’s mother and her friend dine together one evening. Naderi’s mother and her classmates learn from their teacher while studying at school in Afghanistan.
WEIGHING IN ON INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY (JAN. 27)
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PHOTOS PROVIDED BY MARJAN NADERI, ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU
After Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, refugees find homes, connections and a voice in the U.S.
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MICHAEL ACHEATEL UPPER SCHOOL BUSINESS TEACHER, JEWISH DESIGN BY SARAH MOHAMMED
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FEATURES FEBRUARY 10, 2022
VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 4
Excavating Latin teacher’s world The little joys
of campus life
Upper school Latin and world history teacher preserves the past
A look into our smallest classes
Fun Facts
irene yuan & esha gohil
HOME OF HISTORY Upper school Latin and world history teacher Clifford Hull examines an artifact that he has collected and stores in his room, Main 1. Hull is passionate about archaeology, collecting and the past, as evinced by objects atop his classroom cabinet.
Pink, yellow and orange squeezers; tea pots from Finland from the 50s and 60s and mid 19th century Victorian; age relics of urinals: an unlikely combination of objects. That is, except in upper school Latin and world history teacher Clifford Hull’s home. Entering Main Room 1, your eye is drawn to the vibrant red “no smoking” signs that playfully pepper the edges of the whiteboard. A closer inspection reveals that each sign originates from a different part of the world, ranging from Korea to Greece. Language suffuses his classroom; language hangs in the classroom, literally. These objects that Hull has collected over the years — from his upbringing in South Africa, time spent in the military and journey across the United States — all fascinate him. “In South Africa, I moved from town to town, and then I moved to the United States and also moved from town to town,” Hull said. “I’ve been thinking about this quite a lot: what makes someone a collector? I think it’s that I have an emotional connection with the things
I collect. I can remember the objects I bought; I can remember where they are from.” These artifacts serve as a time capsule, documenting unforgettable moments in Hull’s life. They allow him to capture the minute details, such as the antique store at which he purchased the
“I have an emotional connection with the things I collect. I can remember the objects I bought; I can remember where they are from” TIFFANY CHANG
sarah mohammed & tiffany chang
CLIFFORD HULL LATIN AND WORLD HISTORY TEACHER
object. For Hull, every object tells a story and holds a place in his heart. Hull’s students feel his unwavering passion for education, history and language. Angela Jia (12) had Hull for AP Lat-
Do you recall your smallest class? Perhaps you don’t remember the exact number of students, but chances are, you remember the rapport built over the course of the year — the inside jokes, the intense debates, the late-night study sessions. For Harshil Garg (12), his six-person Advanced • Hull enjoys making Placement (AP) Spanish Literature class caramel from scratch, boiling cultivated this sort of community. Clustered in small groups, these six students condensed milk over water rapidly and animatedly discuss everything and letting it cool down from plays to novels. through the night, a skill he With an average class size of 14 stupicked up from his childhood dents, the upper school’s classes are less in South Africa. than half the size of the California average of 29.3 students. But some classes are even smaller. Harker’s diverse course selection • Hull’s favorite artifact — with 195 electives and almost 400 coursthat he has collected is a es available to take — makes it possible for handle of a pot where one students with niche academic interests to can see the thumbprint of the take classes that are not typically offered person who made it. in the high school setting. In fact, out of the approximately 400 juniors and seniors each year, only two to four students each in and has taken all of Hull’s post-AP Latin year have the same set of classes. courses. She ascribes her enthusiasm for the classics to Hull. “Mr. Hull amazes me with his unbelievably infectious passion for Latin and his vast knowledge of etymology,” Angela said. “He’s an upstanding, amazing human being and someone I can talk to easily. He’s the kind of teacher that makes you want to keep studying a topic forever.” Upper school history and social ISABEL GARCIA science teacher Jonathan Rim started UPPER SCHOOL teaching full-time in 2019 after substituting for Hull’s world history classes. SPANISH TEACHER Through his transition, Hull mentored and supported him, striking Rim with his kindness, intelligence and accomplishUpper school Spanish teacher Isabel ments. Garcia, who teaches several sections of “He’s very warm hearted and Spanish 3 alongside AP Spanish Literature, funny,” Rim said. “He has so much en- highlights the distinct differences between ergy and passion for teaching, and he’s the communities within the two classes. very diligent, doing the legwork of laying Her largest class, a section of regular Spanout [our department’s] lesson plans and ish 3, has 16 students — a stark contrast to study guides. He’s our rock, our founda- the six in AP Spanish Literature. “Even when you teach 16 students, tion. [Upper school history teacher Karen everyone has plenty of opportunities to Haley] and I always joke that we’re going practice and learn, but my literature class to retire when he retires.” is not practicing the language because Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. they already speak the language, so they’re doing the analysis and the understanding,” Garcia said. “I think the small settings help students feel like they are in a family setting, and I can really tell the improvement there.”
“My literature class is doing the analysis and the understanding. The small setting helps students feel like they are in a family setting” OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION
TIFFANY CHANG
• A collection of artifacts Hull dug up in Israel and the trusty shovel he used for his excavations, which he nicknamed “Susie,” lies in his classroom.
If you’ve spent time browsing the Internet, you’ve likely encountered videos so absurd that they evoke a chuckle. From a clip of Adam Driver slurping from a spoon and proclaiming “good soup” with gusto to melodramatic soap-opera-like episodes portrayed by tiny animal dolls to constant references to the words “gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss,” users — especially Generation Z, defined as individuals born from 1997 onward, who often propel the popularity of trending jokes — relish the comedy of the arbitrary. These seemingly random sensations have taken the Internet by storm, becoming universallyknown bits spreading across social media platforms such as TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and now defunct Vine and making their way into day-to-day conversations. These social media platforms have guided the evolution of Generation Z’s sense of humor by allowing widespread access to topics people find funny. Economics and history teacher Matthew McCorkle views faster cycles of trending jokes and creation of new comedy as a result of the ability for media to spread quickly. “When it comes to a joke, people imitate the joke,” McCorkle said. “Eventually, the joke is a little over done, and then you
move on to the next one. The cycle of humor is much faster, and the drive to innovate is also faster, which I think is a good thing…[In the era before social media,] you could get away with reusing jokes and joke formats because everyone hadn’t already seen it.” As a result of universal access to trending jokes, interactions often involve referential humor, where a statement such as quoting a video has comedic effect because it references a format or a meme deemed funny despite not having inherent humor in and of itself when referenced in speech. James Blenko (10) appreciates how referential humor plays a large role in creating common cultural knowledge within a generation. “There [are] these widespread ‘inside jokes’ like quoting Vines, where [they] really mean anything, but people
around you will laugh because they understand them,” James said. “When you quote a TikTok or a Vine or even say ‘Spider-Man pointing meme,’ it’s very funny, and it signifies the connection of a generation that grew up with this kind of stuff.” While familiar topics in general offer a sense of comfort, finding patterns that reference a certain piece of content in unexpected places have hilarity, even without an apparent punchline. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
SHARING TOGETHER Simone Merani (12) refers to her notes as Alysa Suleiman (12) discusses a text in their AP Spanish Literature class. The six students enrolled in this year’s course spoke exclusively in Spanish throughout the lesson.
DESIGN BY SARAH MOHAMMED
TRISHA IYER
arely sun
ILLUSTRATION BY ARELY SUN
‘One big inside joke’: Generation Z uses humor to bond over adversity
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Grammy-winning jazz drummer? Drummer, composer and bandleader draws joy from jazz
This recurring profile series features stories and experiences of individuals with unique professions
Jared Schonig grew up surrounded by music. His mother, a classical piano teacher and pianist, his father, a drummer and percussionist. He seemed destined to pursue music — he began playing the piano before the age of five and started with the oboe during middle school; in high school, he picked up the drums, often practicing by himself in his father’s studio. Upper school director of instrumental music Dr. David Hart invited Schonig and his quintet, the Jared Schonig Quintet, to perform for the first installment of the 2021-2022 Concert Series on Nov. 5 last year in the Patil Theater. The stage illuminated with a yellow glow as the quintet took the stage, applause rippling through the audience. With a drumstick in each hand, Schonig struck the drum in the first note of his tune “Sabotage,” shutting his eyes and swaying with the beat of his music as intense emotion and concentration washed over his face. “The joy I get from being able to play music for people is more of a joy than just being in a recording studio,” Schonig said. “I love performing live and seeing people’s reactions and [making] them feel the joy that I feel playing music. I connect with an audience like that in a special way.” Jazz drummer, composer and bandleader Schonig, who grew up in Los Angeles, has toured, played and led groups around the world — he served as drum chair for the Broadway revival of the musical “The Color Purple,” winning a Tony award in 2016 and Grammy and Emmy awards in 2017. Schonig’s early musical career of the piano, oboe and drums in high school blossomed as his parents surprised him by sending him to a high school for students dedicated to arts in 10th grade. There, Schonig began nourish-
JAZZING IT UP Grammy award-winning drummer and composer Jared Schonig performs at the Harker Concert Series on Nov. 5.
ing his ambition to become a professional musician. “All these incredible young musicians were around me — actors and dancers and singers,” Schonig said. “I was really amazed by how dedicated people were to their craft at such a young age. I really knew that I was going to be a musician.”
“Inspiration can come in a myriad of different places, and that’s the beauty about being an artist” Schonig’s professional career began to grow further at the age of 16 as he started playing the drums in jazz gigs and parties, later attending the Eastman School of Music in New York, where he received his bachelor’s degree. After graduating from Eastman, Schonig moved to New York City, where he not only involved himself
in more professional gigs but also saw his own skill and style as a drummer develop. “[There’s] this rivalry of West Coast versus East Coast musicians, and the West Coast musicians have a more relaxed sense,” he said. “People compare [Los Angeles] to New York, and New York is hyper all the time. I enjoyed that style of music and life better than where I grew up, so it totally affected the way I grew as a musician.” Through his initial start with playing and performing, Schonig grew his passions and felt a desire to improve, perform more and continue his search in learning through music. “No professional musician is ever complacent or feels that they are finished learning,” Schonig said. “That’s the great thing about playing music: there’s always room to get better.” At the quintet’s Concert Series performance, the musicians opened with “Sabotage” and “Eight Twenty,” two pieces composed by Schonig. These pieces draw
KINNERA MULAM
olivia xu
inspiration from nature and the outdoors, especially “Tig Mack,” a composition inspired by the Pacific Ocean. “I love the ocean and the beach and hiking and the different sounds you can hear out in nature,” Schonig said. “I think inspiration can come in a myriad of different places, and that’s the beauty about being an artist: taking inspiration from places you may least expect it.” Ultimately, Schonig credits his parents for being a major source of inspiration since he began his musical journey as a child. He advises students interested in music to listen to as much live music as they can and to take advantage of the time they have while still young. “[Doing] as much as possible when you’re young is really important because that will shape the kind of musician and person you become later in life,” Schonig said. “If you’re truly serious about being a musician, then now’s the time to get to it and figure it out.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
COMING-OF-AGE “Moonlight” (2016) Oscar winner for Best Picture (2017)
Oscar-winning movie “Moonlight” tells the breathtaking child-to- adulthood story of a Black man in Miami. The 2016 release “Moonlight” made history as the first all-Black cast and LGBTQ+-related film to win an Oscar for Best Picture in 2017. The story follows Chiron, a young Black man growing up in Miami, through three stages of his life as he grapples with sexuality and identity. Dipped in quiet intimacy, “Moonlight” is a poetic painting of masculinity in a modern age, captivating viewers who become submerged in a breathtaking narrative that reshapes grief and numbness with glowing frames of light.
ACTS OF POWER “Pariah” (2011) Excellence in Cinematography, Sundance Film Festival (2011)
This 2011 Sundance Film Festival awardee follows Alike and her discovery of identity across Brooklyn. Written and directed by Dee Rees, a Black lesbian screenwriter and director, and awarded the Excellence in Cinematography Award at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, “Pariah” follows 17-year-old Alike in the city of Brooklyn, New York as she wrestles and struggles with her lesbian identity despite her mother’s disapproval. A poignant portrait of a coming-of-age, “Pariah” highlights quiet acts of power, with the movie ending in a final scene of poetry being read, an act of sincerity and tenderness.
ILLUSTRATION BY ANGELINA HU
The dichotomy between Black trauma and joy has arisen as a discussion of forms of resistance within Black representation. Stories of slavery, segregation and struggle sometimes overshadow the nuanced aspects of beauty and joy within Black communities across the country. The following three films, “Moonlight,” “Pariah” and “Tangerine” highlight the complexities of the queer, Black experience in light of February’s Black History Month, a period to recognize and honor the contributions and achievements the Black community has made throughout history. These three films each have unique and outstanding aspects, whether it’s winning Oscar and Sundance Film Festival awards or being fully shot on an iPhone 5S, as they follow the portraits and journeys of characters understanding their identities and interpreting their emotions. Rendering nuanced and dynamic perspectives, each film acts as an entry point to educating yourself about the Black experience and committing to uplifting Black voices not just during this month, but the 11 other months as well. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
ILLUSTRATION BY ANGELINA HU
sydney ling
ILLUSTRATION BY SALLY ZHU
Recommended films for Black History Month DARING STORY “Tangerine” (2015) True story, shot on an iPhone 5S
Two Black transgender sex workers set out to find a cheating boyfriend on Christmas Eve in Hollywood. Although it’s been a month since the holiday season, it’s never the wrong time to watch a Christmas movie. Famously shot on an iPhone 5S and based on a true story, “Tangerine” is not your classic holiday Hallmark movie. The film follows two Black, transgender sex workers as they venture out to hunt down a cheating boyfriend on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles. Gritty, vivid and raw, the film bonds sharp humor with tender emotion in characters full of both vulnerability and strength. DESIGN BY SALLY ZHU
B6 WINGED POST
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 A&E / LIFESTYLE VOLUME
Working Title DYSTOPIAN MOVIES: When our futures collide with film with Rachel Rachel shares her thoughts, opinions and impressions of films in this new column rachel ning ILLU
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A FUTURE REALITY A burning meteor approaches Earth from space, a scene in recent dystopian film “Don’t Look Up.” Dystopian movies have gained popularity as a genre that reflects and warns about the current issues, such as climate change, in our world.
alena suleiman Dust-packed ochre skies loom over a fire-ravaged suburban landscape, as screams and wails of agony echo throughout the valley. One survivor emerges from the rubble, taking in his surroundings, and slowly, the movie screen fades to black. While this is a typical scene in post-apocalyptic dystopian films, fiction transforms into reality for the thousands of compromised California residents during winter months, as fires burn through their homes and millions of acres of land. With wildfires foreshadowing a possible dystopia in the real world, people look to the media for inspiration. Dystopia, a genre that takes place in frightening future societies, is now more than ever, with annual wildfires and the pandemic, present in all corners of popular culture, from video games to books to films. Just over one month ago on Dec. 22, the fourth film of dystopian blockbuster franchise “The Matrix” debuted and received immense popularity, despite the first film of the series being released two decades ago. Another equally anticipated
dystopian movie initially released on Dec. 5, “Don’t Look Up,” directed by Adam McKay garnered the second most views of any film debut through Netflix. In literature, the critically acclaimed dystopian
“The general concept of a dystopian society really challenges us to consider the real and current issues in our world” ALENA SULEIMAN
CAROL SONG (10) FAN OF DYSTOPIAN MOVIES
novel “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury sold over 10 million copies and often holds a place in school curriculum, with Harker’s middle school being no exception. Upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine specifically enjoys the zombie apocalypse subgenre of dystopia, which
he credits to watching “Night of the Living Dead” in third grade. In his first year of participating in the annual Recreate Reading event, Irvine chose to host the 2006 zombie apocalyptic horror novel “World War Z” by Max Brooks, which was later turned into a film of the same name. “I certainly think the media and humans are fascinated with death,” Irvine said. “That translates also to the end of civilization. One of my first Recreate Reading books was ‘World War Z.’ I always thought we’re on this precipice of civilization moving forward, and it’s great, but things happen, and there’s always a chance of a pandemic.” Dystopian fan Carol Song (10) also noted how the literal setting of dystopian media in general, although fictional, urges viewers to confront impending problems in the real world. “The general concept of a dystopian society really challenges us to consider the real and current issues in our world,” Carol said. “It serves as a form of motivation for us, as members of a community, to make changes for the better.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
“Maus”: Banning what challenges you doesn’t change you Tennessee school ban of graphic novel “Maus” hides the truth of the Holocaust sally zhu & michelle liu A Tennessee school district board unanimously voted to ban the Pulitzer-winning graphic novel “Maus” by Art Spiegelman for its images and words that depict the Holocaust. The Jan. 10 unanimous 10-0 vote in McMinn County, Tennessee, banned the book from the district’s eighth grade curriculum, with board members citing inappropriate language and drawings of a naked character. The graphic novel, with its first volume published in 1986 and second volume published in 1991, received a special Pulitzer Prize in 1992, the only graphic novel so far to do so. This ban is wrong. It’s wrong because it erases the true reality of Holocaust history, glossing over horrific events to make them seem more agreeable to audiences. Spiegelman uses “Maus” to convey an honest portrayal of the Holocaust, not shying away from the gruesome truth. In an interview with The New York Times on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Spiegelman revealed he was confused about the ban and believed that the school board wanted to “teach a nicer Holocaust.” “This is disturbing imagery,” said Spiegelman in the interview. “But you
know what? It’s disturbing history.” With its depictions of Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, “Maus” conveys complex layers of meaning using the blackand-white illustrations of a graphic novel. Spiegelman characterizes each mouse as an individual, whether it be the author mouse, his mother or his father — while simultaneously depicting how they were perceived as a nameless mob slaughtered ruthlessly by the Nazi cats. Using visceral drawings, Spiegelman brings life and reality to the experiences of his own family who went through the Holocaust. The novel takes the Holocaust beyond a horrifying list of statistics by depicting characters as three-dimensional individuals with feelings. It is crucial to continue Holocaust education in the United States. A study conducted by the Claims Conference found that 48% of U.S. Millennial and Generation Z could not name a single one of the more than 40,000 concentration camps or ghettos established during World War II. The Holocaust may seem like a far-off historical event to some readers, especially younger ones. “Maus” helps make it real. In order to portray the Holocaust authentically, Spiegelman also does not shy away from the raw horror, profanity or nudity of it either. “Maus” is not easy to read. But by banning an “uncomfortable” read
SALLY ZHU
Today I’m going to be talking about one of my top movie watches from the past winter break. Every single break that we have from school, I try to watch as many movies as I can, and this winter break, I managed to watch 37, an all-time high for me. Though so many of the films amazed and astonished me, “West Side Story,” directed by Steven Spielberg, stands at the top of my list. This film was supposed to come out in December of 2020, but because of pandemic restrictions and lockdowns, it was delayed a year and came out on Dec. 10. This 2021 version is the Steven Spielberg adaptation, or reimagination, if you will, of the 1958 Broadway version and 1961 film. A quick summary of the plot: we’re essentially following this modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet, as we watch these two rival gangs in the 1950s and ‘60s in New York City. The first gang is the Jets, who are white, and then there are the Sharks, who are Puerto Rican. Conflicts arise when two people from each of the gangs fall in love. We’re essentially following the two characters, Maria and Tony, and the forbidden love that they have, and I’ve absolutely fallen in love with this movie. I watched it two times in theaters within four days! In addition, the acting in this movie was absolutely phenomenal. There were a lot of standout performances, specifically Rachel Zegler, who played Maria, the main character, since this was her first big acting gig ever, and she did such an amazing job. I’ve personally been following her since around 2017 via her YouTube channel, and it was amazing to see her thrive on the big screen. She made me cry, she made me laugh, she made me feel everything that she was feeling. Furthermore, Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kaminski teamed up for this film, and they have been longtime partners in lots of films like “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan.” You can tell that they mesh well together, and the results are absolutely stunning. You’re absolutely immersed in the movie from all the fight scenes to all the fun scenes like the dancing in the gym. My personal favorite production moment was the scene where Tony and Maria met — the way that the camera was moving and giving you an aerial view but also giving you close-ups with the people. All of these aspects show how amazingly iconic this piece of work is, in all of the 1958, 1961 and 2021 versions. The ability that “West Side Story” has to still have a presence in today’s culture and media is a telltale sign of the importance of the story and how it’ll continue to influence and impress the film world and audiences today.
BANNED BOOK Michelle Liu (12) reads “Maus,” a graphic novel by Art Spiegelman. A Tennessee school board banned the book in January, a move that threatens to erase the real history of the Holocaust.
like this one, the Holocaust is reduced to a simple sheet of statistics — just numbers, not accounts of real human beings. Teaching the Holocaust in an easyto-digest way might allow students to take a superficial glance at it, but in order to actually study the Holocaust, one has to learn about the horror of it. To truly be educated, and changed, by knowledge of the Holocaust, students must be thrown from the comfort of their own lives and forced to confront the true gravity of its cruelty. “Maus” has the rare ability to convey the experience in its true, humanized form — so it belongs in all places where young minds are on their journey to learn about the world. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY SALLY ZHU
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NEW ART, NEW IDEAS
ART PERFORMANCE:
‘TIGERFEAST’
BRANDON ZAU
Dickinson Endowment for the Arts invites first Artist-in-Residence to campus
TALK OF THE TOWN Upper school visual arts teacher Pilar Agüero-Esparza discusses different ideas during the event on Jan. 25.
Art Club and ASB hosts second Quad mural town hall
ART SPEAKS Artist-in-Residence Britta Clausnitzer gives a talk about her work on Jan. 18 in Nichols Auditorium.
anika maji & catherine wong Wearing brightly-colored decorative masks fashioned out of paper shapes, a cohort of students strides out of the art building. As they make their way across campus, stopping occasionally to pose for pictures as a group, upbeat music floats through the air from a small speaker held by the upper school’s first artist-in-residence, Britta Clausnitzer, whose works are currently displayed in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) to kick off the newly-created Dickinson Visual Arts Endowment. Director of the Office of Communication Pam Dickinson established the Dickinson Visual Arts Endowment, announced by the school on Dec. 9, to support the visual arts department. Students who attended the two art workshops held on Jan. 7 and Jan. 11 in the art room created painted paper masks with the guidance of Clausnitzer, who offered them advice via Zoom. On Jan. 19, students participated in a performance called “Tiger on the Loose”
DISCOVERING
MICHELLE LIU
FEAST OF TIGERS Harker art students pose with their own handmade masks at Nichols Hall.
in which they donned their masks and tain sculptures from that period. walked from the art room to the Nichols “I go all over the canvas, and patchauditorium, where Clausnitzer gave a talk es and patterns appear,” Clausnitzer said. about her artwork and creative process. “Some come from my imagination, but “I think it’s great to have someone a lot of imagination is always a pool of come from outside of Harker to talk with things I see, and a lot of what I see comes us about her own experience,” sophomore from nature. The separation of human life Sania Gupta, who attended the work- from nature is always a theme for me, and shops, said. “And I liked seeing her art trying to merge figures and creatures with and how her ideas are incorporated in her nature, but juxtaposed by very surreal elown art and what she’s teaching us.” ements.” After the “Tiger on the Loose” perStudents and faculty can view the formance, the students settled into their “Tigerfeast” exhibit displaying Clausseats as the lights dimmed and a paint- nitzer’s works in the downstairs RPAC uning was projected onto the screen. Ti- til April 29. tled “Pack,” the artwork depicts multiple Visit harkeraquila.com for full article wolves seemingly bursting from a central figure, a woman, surrounded by a riot of colors. Britta talked about using “collective imagery,” connections to events or objects that people make when looking at a certain image, such as the “Renaissance pose,” ART FROM THE HEART Paintings from “Tigerfeast,” Clausnitzer’s exemplified by cer- artwork exhibition, are currently displayed in the RPAC hallway.
MICHELLE LIU
MICHELLE LIU
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POETRY CONTEST PERFORMERS
POETRY OUT LOUD
Art Club hosted their second town hall on Jan. 25 during long lunch to discuss visuals for the mural they plan to paint in the Quad and give feedback on sketches during long lunch in the art building. Designs revolved around the theme of school life, presenting a diverse array of student activities and interests. Art Club hosted their first town hall on Nov. 16 where they discussed ideas, symbols and potential themes. The Associated Student Body (ASB) Community Service Committee is also collaborating on the mural project with Art Club. Art Club will finalize the design ideas soon and send them out to the upper school community for voting, which will be open from Feb. 28 to March 4. Preparations for community painting of the mural will take place after students and faculty vote on the final design.
Realizing the value of self-care The Final Stretch is a new column by a senior recounting lessons learned through the ups and downs of high school. emily tan
SELINA XU
I finished off a rocky first semester Ada Praun-Petrovic (11) with a comment from one of my (favorite) teachers: “Emily needs to practice Alex Fu (10) self-care.” Though humorous to me at the Alexa Lowe (12) moment, the more I reflected on my high school and middle school experience, the Austina Xu (11) more I realized that true self-care, activiCatherine Feng (12) ties I did purely for my own physical and emotional well-being, virtually did not exJason Shim (9) ist for me — and I lived a cycle of intense Ruby Johnson (10) burnout and recovery because of it. Rupert Chen (11) With the countless hours of schoolwork and extracurricular commitments, I Savya Agarwal (9) feel I’ve lost a part of myself. I miss feeling Tanisha Singh (10) the weight of piano keys as I press onto Trisha Iyer (10) them, the scraping of pencil graphite on RECITE WITH HEART Austina Xu (11), Jason Shim (9) and Ada Praun-Petrovic (11) perform oral recitations of their sketchbook pages and the satisfying sting chosen poems inside Nichols auditorium during Harker’s annual Poetry Out Loud competition on Jan. 25. of a volleyball ricocheting off my foresisting of upper school English teachers respect all of the choices they were mak- arms. I miss living life just for the enjoyselina xu and upper school theater teacher Jeffrey ing, and I was grateful for those who made ment of it. As we continue this next semester, I Draper assessed the performances using sizable choices that were full of commitwant to make my personal well-being a “I am not resigned to the shutting a 41-point rubric. ment.” priority. To underclassmen, hold on tightaway of loving hearts in the hard ground,” Upper school theater teacher Jeffrey The Poetry Out Loud competition ly to your hobbies and personal time. For Ada Praun-Petrovic (11) says. Draper, who was one of the competition was created by the National Endowment This is the beginning of Ada’s per- judges, appreciated the performers’ com- of Arts and the Poetry Foundation in 2006. our juniors, make a mental note of the formance at Harker’s first annual Poetry mitment to their choices. According to the Poetry Out Loud web- activities you can turn to when the going Out Loud competition held in the Nichols “Seeing them be physically invested site, the competition has spread to over gets rough, especially in the next 10 or so Auditorium on Jan. 25, where 11 students and seeing them use their gestures and 17,000 schools and organizations — and months of the college application process. showcased their interpretations of great their movement, even facial expressions this year, the Harker School joins the ex- And for the senior class, let’s make the most of our last semester, taking care of poetry with topics ranging from sorrow to behind their masks, they were commu- citement. witty satire. A committee of judges con- nicating at a high level,” Draper said. “I Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. ourselves and each other along the way. DESIGN BY MICHELLE LIU
B8 WINGED POST
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 A&E / LIFESTYLE VOLUME
Conservatory ensembles host winter concerts
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Upper school instrumental and vocal groups kick off 2022’s first performing arts concerts
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CHORAL CONDUCTING Upper school vocal teacher Susan Nace conducts Camerata during the winter choral concert in Patil Theater.
ALYSA SULEIMAN
ella yee & julie shi
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1. CONDUCTING TECHNIQUE Upper school Director of Instrumental Music Dr. David Hart conducts Jazz Band at the instrumental concert on Jan. 14. 2. ‘MUSIC ALONE SHALL LIVE’ Upper school vocal teacher Jennifer Sandusky leads Bel Canto during the winter choral concert. 3. CANTILENA MELODIES Cantilena member Ava Arasan (11) sings at the winter choral concert. 4. ALUMNI HARMONIES Cantilena alumni and current middle school Science Department Chair Kathy Peng and upper school Introduction to Journalism teacher Whitney Huang perform during the winter choral concert. 5. ORCHESTRAL TUNES Cellists Abby Tcheng (11) and Sophia Bronder-Chang (11) perform with Harker Orchestra during the winter instrumental concert.
Fjellheim’s “Eatnemen Vuelie,” then sang “Truth” by Andrea Ramsey as a trio. Cantilena closed the show with Gustav Holst’s “Hymn to Vena.” All members were required to wear masks while practicing and performing together. On Friday, Lab Band opened the instrumental concert with Miles Davis’ “Four” and Freddie Hubbard’s “Sky Dive.” They then moved on to “Round Midnight” by Thelonius Monk and finished with “Cold Duck Time” by Eddie Harris. Jazz Band took the stage next — Aaron Tran (12) and Camilla Lindh (12) performed solos on the saxophone, while Kai Burich (12) played lead trumpet with Malar Bala (12) on vocals. Pieces included Oscar Pettiford’s “Blues in the Closet,” Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Chega de Saudade,” Erroll Garner’s “Misty” and Thelonious Monk’s “Well You Needn’t.” Orchestra rounded out the concert with Gioachino Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville,” which was followed by a solo performed by principal cellist Lucas Chen (12) and conducted by upper school orchestra co-conductor, Jaco Wong. “The Shostakovich [concerto] is very powerful and musical,” Lucas said. “Performing is where you [get to] show the style that the composer wanted.” Finally, Jazz Band members Varun Fuloria (10), Jack Yang (10), Will Lee
Upper school choral and instrumental ensemble members performed in the annual winter choral and instrumental concerts, which took place in the Patil Theater at 7 p.m. on Jan. 13 and Jan. 14, respectively. Bel Canto began with David M. Kellermeyer’s “Music Alone Shall Live” before performing Claudio Monteverdi’s “Pur ti miro” from L’incoronazione di Poppea and Ken Berg’s “Galop” from Solfege Suite. “The meaning behind [‘Music Alone Shall Live’] really resonated with us: with COVID-19 and us being online, the only thing that did stay with us the whole time was music,” Bel Canto soprano vocalist Maryam Zehra (10) said. Camerata joined Bel Canto for their performance of Michael Isaacson and Susan Nurenberg’s “Light the Legend.” Then, Camerata performed Orazio Vecchi’s “Fa Una Canzona” and Amy Feldman Bernon’s “Alleluia, Alleluia!” Cantilena’s section of the concert featured three Cantilena alumni who now teach at Harker: upper school English teacher Bridget Nixon, middle school Science Department Chair Kathy Peng and upper school Introduction to Journalism teacher Whitney Huang. The three joined Cantilena in a performance of Frode
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(11), Kai Burich (12) and Aaron Tran (12) joined Orchestra to play Leornard Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances from West Side Story.” “‘Symphonic Dances’ takes every single person on that stage playing different parts together to make it work,” upper school Director of Instrumental Music Dr. David Hart said. The performers’ hard work after quarantine ensured successful shows. “There was a parent who commented, ‘I didn’t realize how much I missed live music until I came to the concert last night,’” Nace said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
UPCOMING CONSERVATORY EVENTS Feb. 17-19 ACDA All State Honor Choir conference Feb. 18-21 Upper school instrumental trip to Disneyland Feb. 25 Downbeat Varsity Vocals performance in Burbank, CA March 24-26 Spring Musical: “The Drowsy Chaperone”
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS Members of Downbeat bring some holiday cheer to the audience in the RPAC after their successful annual tour around the North Bay on Dec. 3.
katelyn zhao Big Assembly Day on Dec. 10 marked Downbeat’s return to in-person shows at the upper school after last year’s plethora of online performances. A few weeks earlier in November, the acapella ensemble qualified for the Varsity Vocals International Championship of High School A cappella (ICHSA) Western region quarterfinals. Previously, Downbeat participated in the competition during the 20182019 school year as well as the 2019-2020 school year, when they progressed to the
semifinals, but the performance was cancelled due to COVID-19. The group recorded and submitted the songs “Landslide” by Stevie Nicks and arranged by Daniel Wu (12), Lucy Feng (11) and upper school music coach Paul Woodruff along with a jazzy version of “Deck the Halls” for their fall audition. Downbeat member Shayla He (10) stressed the importance of attention to the song itself and its lyrics and balancing that thoughtfully with singing it. “‘Landslide’ is a song that is about the people around us,” Shayla said. “It’s about how when everything goes down, we tell
ANANYA SRIRAM
the people around us to guide and help us. When we’re singing it, we have to show a lot of angst. It’s not just about the vocal technique, but also about showing emotion through our voices and also through our movements in the choreography.” After confirming that they would be advancing to the quarterfinals, the ensemble started preparing two new songs for the competition, which will be held in Burbank on Feb. 25: “All For Us” arranged by Hirsh Sisodia, Eliot Min, Carly Tiras and Eric Tarlin and “Walking on Sunshine” composed by Kimberley Rew and arranged by film score composer Matthew Hodge and Paul Woodruff. Sandusky explained the incentive for entering the group in the competition. “It’s a great opportunity for the kids to work on so many musicianship skills, and, at the same time, we get adjudicated feedback from four professional judges,” Sandusky said. From the start of the year, Sandusky and Director of Performing Arts Laura Lang-Ree focused on developing the collective group sound. “The number one skill that everybody had to learn was how to sing together in real time again,” Sandusky said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
KATELYN ZHAO
Downbeat qualifies for Varsity Vocals Championship SQUAD GOALS Basketball player Miley, (Avayna Glass (9)), leads the team in “Squad Goals,” directed by Richie Amarillas (12).
Annual SDS productions entertain audiences sally zhu & kinnera mulam The Student Directed Showcase (SDS) plays took place at the Rothschild Performing Arts Center on Jan. 7-8. The production consisted of “Squad Goals” directed by Richie Amarillas (12); “Removing the Glove” directed by Ysabel Chen (12); “Governing Alice” directed by Saumi Mehta (12); and “The Complete History of America (abridged)” directed by Josh Field (12). “A big part of it is leadership and balancing fun and seriousness,” Richie said. “Just being able to find the fine line between being serious and getting things done as well as making the process fun and a good learning experience.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI
B9 WINGED POST
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 SPORTS VOLUME
Winter sports teams dominate on path to CCS
Soccer and girls basketball teams maintain top two spots in league
Jimmy G throws it away, setting up a Bengals vs. Rams Super Bowl
KINNERA MULAM
saurav tewari
EFFORT PLAY Kalyn Su (12) jostles an Eastside College Prep defender for the ball during the varsity girls soccer team match on Jan. 21. The team is currently in first place out of six teams in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) Skyline Division #1 with a record of 12-0.
The varsity girls soccer team remains undefeated at 13-0, maintaining their first place spot in the WBAL Skyline league. The senior ceremony was held on Tuesday prior to their 5-1 victory against Crystal Springs Uplands.
The varsity boys basketball team defeated Eastside College Prep 4945 on Tuesday to improve their record to 10-9. The team still has five games left to play and will compete in CCS starting Feb. 18.
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ANYA CHAUHAN (10) MEMBER OF VARSITY GIRLS SOCCER TEAM
Feb. 8 - Varsity Girls Basketball vs. Sacred Heart at 6:30 p.m. in the Athletics Center Feb. 10 - Varsity Girls Basketball vs. Castilleja School at 6:30 p.m. in the Athletics Center Feb. 11 - JV Boys Soccer vs. Sacred Heart at 3 p.m. on Davis Field Feb. 11 - JV Boys Basketball vs. King’s Academy at 4 p.m. in the Athletics Center
“Our team’s strength has mostly lied in our defense and defensive intensity. That’s really been one of our main focuses throughout the season, and I’m very proud of the way we work”
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“I think we have been doing really well so far, but at the same time, I think we are escaping with a bunch of mistakes that we’re making. Nothing too major, but just mistakes that could really cost us in closer games”
Winter Sports Home Game Calendar
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Varsity Boys Basketball
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Varsity Girls Soccer
Feb. 11 - Varsity Boys Basketball vs. King’s Academy at 5:30 p.m. in the Athletics Center Feb. 15 - Varsity Boys Soccer vs. Menlo School at 3:30 p.m. on Davis Field
CHARLES DING (12) MEMBER OF VARSITY BOYS BASKETBALL TEAM
Feb. 15 - JV Boys Basketball vs. Pinewood School at 5 p.m. in the Athletics Center
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“Our team is really competitive, and we are really bonding together. We support each other well, even through our first loss last Friday. It’s been a super fun experience for me as a new member on the team”
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Feb. 15 - Varsity Boys Basketball vs. Pinewood School at 6:30 p.m. in the Athletics Center Feb. 16 - Varsity Boys Soccer vs. Eastside College Prep at 3:30 p.m. on Davis Field
ALYSA SULEIMAN
Kicks Against Cancer Schedule
“We have had a lot of chances to do team bonding and get closer as a team. And obviously that has translated to success on the court. I hope that further on in the season, we’ll continue that success” D
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The varsity girls basketball team currently has an overall record of 17-1, with their sole loss coming against Menlo last week. The team is second place in league and has five games left to play on their schedule before CCS, which begins on Feb. 18.
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The varsity boys soccer team has a record of 10-1-1, having scored 38 goals while conceding seven. They are second in league and have six regular season games left. The senior ceremony was held on Friday before their match against King’s Academy.
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Varsity Boys Varsity Girls Soccer Basketball
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When: Friday Feb. 11 When: Where: Davis Field
Varsity Girls Soccer vs. Eastside College Prep at 4:30 p.m. Varsity Boys Soccer vs. Sacred Heart Prep School at 7 p.m.
Scan this QR code to watch Harker Aquila’s latest sports photo slideshow!
20-10, and 24 months later, 17-7 — the 49ers’ third quarter leads in the 2020 Super Bowl and this year’s National Football Conference (NFC) Championship, respectively. For 49ers fans, these two score lines sting. In both games, the 49ers seemed to have the game closed away safely, just to choke it away in the fourth quarter in heartbreaking fashion. Jimmy Garoppolo performed underwhelmingly in last Sunday’s game, going 16/30 for 232 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. The real kicker was he went 1 for 6 for negative yardage and an interception in the final two drives. Garoppolo looked panicked, chased by the Rams’ defensive line as he dropped back to pass. It’s fair to say the Jimmy G era is now over in San Francisco. There’s just too many liabilities with the injuries and dangerous plays. Luckily for the 49ers, backup Trey Lance has looked promising. The headline is set for Super Bowl 56. The Cincinnati Bengals will face off against the Los Angeles Rams at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Feb. 13. The Bengals need their secondary to show up on Sunday night against an elite Rams receiving core led by Cooper Kupp (who has been practically impossible to guard all season) and Odell Beckham Jr., who caught nine passes for over 100 yards last week.
While the Rams’ talent is hard to deny here, it’s hard not to jump on the Cincinnati bandwagon. I predict the Bengals will finish their Cinderella season and take home the Lombardi Trophy The Rams are poised for a Super Bowl victory here with their star-studded lineup, but this game will test them following a narrow victory over the 49ers. Last week, Burrow worked magic in the pocket. He was sacked only once, escaping defensive pressure in critical moments. This isn’t the Garoppolo that the Rams defensive line, led by Aaron Donald, exploited last week. There is good news for the Rams, however. Burrow was sacked a league-leading 51 times in the regular season, so an offensive line collapse is highly possible. While the Rams’ talent is hard to deny here, it’s hard not to jump on the Cincinnati bandwagon. I predict the Bengals will finish their Cinderella season and take home the Lombardi Trophy. Burrow has been the better quarterback throughout the postseason, and he will need to get rid of the ball quickly and efficiently. On the defensive side, look for the Mike Hilton and Cooper Kupp matchup. Kupp had eleven receptions for 142 yards against the 49ers, so Hilton and the Bengals defense need to make sure he doesn’t have the same opportunities this game.
Tom Brady announces retirement after storied 22-year NFL career saurav tewari Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady announced his retirement on Tuesday in an Instagram post following the Buccaneers’ 30-27 playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Brady, who is a seven-time Super Bowl Champion and considered the greatest quaterback of all time, cited wanting to spend more time with his family as a major reason for the decision. DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN
WINGED POST B10
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2020 SPORTS VOLUME
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Harker Athletic Hall of Fame inductee reflects on volleyball career The girls volleyball NorCals semi-final match between Harker and Saint Mary’s College High School on Nov. 24, 2008, kept the audience on the edge of their seats, heads swiveling from side to side in order to track the ball. For the players below, it was all or nothing, with the fifth set hanging in the balance and Harker just a point behind. Two kills and a block by the Eagles gave the team a breath of air, but St. Mary’s came roaring back with a powerful swing from the middle. But libero Candace Silva-Martin (‘09) wasn’t about to let the ball hit the floor — she stepped in and dug the ball perfectly with her face, a last-ditch effort with the game on the line. The Eagles would win that point and the three following it to secure a nailbiting five-set victory and a berth in the NorCal finals. “The ball came at her so hard she didn’t have time to react and so she ended up literally digging the ball with her face,” her coach Theresa Smith said. “She saved the ball though, and we won the point. Most people would’ve been knocked out, but Candace just brushed it off.” Graduating from Harker in 2009, Candace played volleyball throughout high school and was eventually named a Super Eagle as a senior for playing soccer, basketball and volleyball in one year. 11 years later, Candace was inducted into Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame. “I was really excited to be one of the Hall of Fame inductees,” Candace said. “It was interesting doing it all virtually. What was nice about that was we were all able to partake in that while being across the country. I knew a couple of the other inductees, so it was cool to see them again.” Looking back, some of Candace’s favorite times of every volleyball season were the days before the season started where the players gathered to practice. Though it was grueling, she enjoyed the opportunity to train with her team. “Coach Smitty had great training programs for us,” Candace said. “I loved that
part, when you can really just focus and do what you love to do as essentially your job. There’s no greater feeling than playing with people you enjoy playing with.” Smith recalls Candace’s toughness, her dedication to the sport and how she often spent extra time practicing. “She would go into the gym with any coaches that stayed later and then ask if they could help her work on her serve, or if they could hit some balls at her so she could dig them,” Smith said. “She always worked to get better, she never felt she was
court when we faced other teams,” Candace said. “It was just a competition between me and the other libero who probably didn’t care or wasn’t competing, but that’s just the way my mentality was.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
“I wanted to be the best libero on the court when we faced other teams. It was just a competition between me and the other libero who probably didn’t care, but that’s just the way my mentality was. good enough, not in a bad way, but she just never stopped working to be better.” Candace believed that college was the logical next step to take her volleyball career. Playing volleyball at George Washington University, she found playing at the collegiate level to be starkly different. “It’s definitely more fast paced in college,” Candace said. “The best players in high school are every single player in the teams that you’re playing against. You would also do a ton of scouting and reviewing the game film of the other teams. You didn’t really do that in high school, but in college you had an entire game plan for that team you were facing.” Candace was named Atlantic 10 Conference defensive player of the week, Atlantic 10 rookie of the week and co-defensive player of the week in her freshman season. Though she did not aim for these awards, she believes she received them as a result of her competitive mindset. “I wanted to be the best libero on the
PROVIDED BY OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION
katie wang & carter chadwick
The ‘Where are they now?’ repeater profiles alumni who continue their athletic careers at the collegiate level. This installment features Candace Silva Martin’s (‘09) experiences playing volleyball for both Harker and George Washington University.
PERFECT PASS Candace Silva-Martin (‘09) receives a serve as the libero for George Washington University. Silva-Martin was named a Super Eagle during her senior season and was inducted into the Harker Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.
2007 Silva-Martin helped lead the Eagles to a NorCal D4 Championship in her junior season.
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Silva-Martin was Silva-Martin named team MVP recorded 2,126 and recorded a digs during her league-leading four-year career 500 digs in her at George Washsenior season. ington University.
2020 Silva-Martin was inducted into the Harker Athletics Hall of Fame for her athletic achievements.
From Harker QB to football head coach
Rhythmic thuds of football players’ steps fill the air as the students perform ladder agility drills on Davis Field during lunch on Monday before tossing a football to head coach Sidhart “Sid” Krishnamurthi (‘15), who gives words of feedback and encouragement to each player.
“I’m here for the players, the student-athletes at Harker. I realize how special they are, and my goal even before I became head coach was to leverage that innate competitiveness that Harker students have and see that translate on the field” Krishnamurthi, who played football in middle school and during his time at the Harker upper school, went on to study economics and play football as a wide receiver at Stanford, graduating in 2019. In May 2021, he began to miss the game and reached out to former Harker football head coach Loren Powers on LinkedIn, who offered him a spot on the coaching staff as an offensive coordinator, a position Krishnamurthi took in June 2021.
“I’m here for the players, the student-athletes at Harker,” Krishnamurthi said. “I realize how special they are, and my goal even before I became head coach was to leverage that innate driving competitiveness that Harker students have and see that translate on the football field.” His experience as offensive coordinator solidified his drive to continue working with the players and, after passing through Harker’s hiring process, officially entered his current position. “I was very impressed with how much he’s matured and how he’s grown into the young adult he’s become,” upper school athletics director Dan Molin said. “As an alumni, he knows the community very well, and it’s a good fit.” Wide receiver Zeke Weng (11) elaborates on Coach Sid’s qualities as a coach. “During the season, Coach Sid call[ed] the plays and worked hard to come up with new plays and specialize it for each player,” Zeke said. “He has started a lot of initiatives to improve our culture and paint a new image for the team.” Krishnamurthi is very passionate about his work and discusses his favorite parts about the coaching experience. “I teach these kids a lot, but they teach me a lot too,” Krishnamurthi said. “I understand these kids. I come from the same background as them. Learning how to motivate and lead them are things that I could use in my everyday life”. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
PERFECT PLAYCALL Quarterback Rohan Gorti (11) speaks with Coach Sid Krishnamurthi on the sideline during the varsity football team’s match against Crystal Springs last year.
EMILY TAN
emily tan & medha yarlagadda
ALYSA SULEIMAN
A decade later, alumnus returns to lead from the sidelines
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT Coach Sid Krishnamurthi catches the ball from running back Dylan Parikh (11) during the football team’s lunchtime practice on Davis Field on Jan. 31. DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN
B11 WINGED POST
21 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 SPORTS VOLUME
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Upper school head and varsity boys basketball head coach Butch Keller will coach his last home game prior to retirement next Tuesday, Feb. 15, at 6:30 p.m. According to assistant varsity boys basketball coach and assistant to the academic dean Eric Lee, the team regularly trained from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. during the pre-season under Keller, whose coaching style Lee describes as “focused on character and player development.” “He focuses on the moment and on the ‘now’,” varsity boys basketball team co-captain Abhi Namala (11) said. “I really like that because a lot of people tend to go
back to the past, but he’s like, what can we do now? What can we control? Let’s not complain and let’s just do what we can do; and then the rest is not in our hands.” Assistant varsity boys basketball coach and assistant to upper school athletic director Alfredo Alves, who has coached alongside Keller since 2016, admires Keller’s “calm and collected” approach to the game that helped Alves “see the game in a different way.” “I learned from Coach Keller that the team will only be able to remember a few things, which is why as coaches we pick the top three things that we feel are the most important,” Alves said. “Those three things will stick with the kids. Early on, I used to write a million things on the board. Now, I just write three things.”
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desiree luo & katelyn zhao
before coming to Harker
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EAGLES ON THREE Coach Butch Keller lays out a strategy to to his team during a timeout during the varsity boys basketball team’s game against University Prep Academy on Nov. 30.
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“I realized from breaking my wrist I was just pushing myself way too hard and over exercising to the point where I was gonna get hurt. Now I have a new outlook on how much I and my body can handle and that there’s only so much I can do” KYRA HAWK (11) MEMBER OF GIRLS A WATER POLO TEAM HA W Y ED B Y K
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“The doctor recommended I play goalie instead of forward to limit the collisions. I tried to make the most of the situation and keep myself in a consistent physical therapy routine to strengthen specific muscle groups. This injury turned out to have a positive effect on me — not only have I kept these routines strong but I also flourished in the net” LAZSLO BOLLYKY (12) MEMBER OF VARSITY O BOYS SOCCER TEAM LL Y
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An untimely misstep on the field. A prolonged period of physical exhaustion. An uncontrollable health circumstance. Any one of these scenarios can result in an athlete missing multiple months of precious playing time. According to a 2006 study, an estimated 1, 442 ,533 out of eight million high school student athletes suffer from injuries every year nationally. The process of recovery is anything but easy, but after overcoming their injuries, these Harker student-athletes have emerged with changed perspectives. Adi Jain (10) overworked his elbow playing both football and baseball in the fall, and a tackle on the football field delivered the decisive break to [the ulnar collateral ligament in] his elbow weeks before the Homecoming dance and game. He recalls the disappointment he felt knowing that the injury would force him to miss such significant events. “I remember thinking, ‘God, this is going to be so hard,’” Adi said.“I thought I would have so much fun, with Homecoming and the dance and whatnot. But it was just all gone now. It was really sad. I
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sport within a shorter time period. “We’re able to use therapeutic exercise or other therapeutic modalities that we have access to here for rehabilitation,” Olson said. “This could be just movement, could be exercise, could be hands-on physical interventions or our hydrotherapy pools. We try to be there during that whole process until someone’s able to safely return back to sport.” Yet, athletes may find maintaining their motivation during the recovery period difficult. After suffering a concussion while playing water polo in 2019, Riyaa Randhawa (12) could not practice for five months, impeding her preparation for the highly-anticipated Junior Olympics. Although she tried to retain her physicality through exercises such as jogging, missing such a pivotal competition dismayed her. “It was super hard to keep myself motivated,” Riyaa said. “Especially at that young of an age, water polo was my number one priority; water polo was my entire life. Knowing that I couldn’t work on myself and that I had to miss everything I’ve been training for, it just took away all the motivation I had previously had.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.
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felt like I couldn’t do anything– not being with my baseball teammates, my football teammates or anything.” When Kyra Hawk (11) broke her wrist while playing lacrosse during water polo season freshman year, she experienced similar feelings of loss and distress. A devoted athlete for most of her life, she discovered that a year away from participating in sports, from which she gains both physical well-being and social interaction, significantly impacted her psyche. “It’s isolating; a lot of my identity is centered around playing sports,” Kyra said. “When I don’t have sports, I don’t know what to do with myself, and I don’t have as much confidence in who I am. Because a lot of my confidence and personality is centered around being an athlete, and sports are honestly what makes me happy and what I want to do in college too, not being able to do that is very weird.” While injured, athletes can undergo therapy and complete strength-building exercises to expedite the recovery process and keep themselves active. Upper school athletic trainer Jaron Olson oversees the recovery of Harker athletes, which includes providing facilities and advice that can help injured athletes return to their
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emma gao & brandon zau
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SPRINT TO HOME Adi Jain (10) runs home during a varsity baseball game last season. He tore the ulnar colateral ligament in his eblow during a football game this fall after overworking it while playing both sports.
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TOSS IT OVER Kyra Hawk (11) passes a water polo ball to her teammate on the varsity girls water polo team. She broke her wrist in her freshman year while playing lacrosse during the water polo season.
“We use therapeutic exercise or other therapeutic modalities that we have access to here for rehab. This could be just movement or hands-on physical interventions or our hydrotherapy pools. We try to be there during that whole process until someone’s able to safely return to their sport” JARON OLSON UPPER SCHOOL ATHLETIC TRAINER AT O
ON THE MOVE Laszlo Bollyky (12) runs toward a soccer ball as goalie for the varsity boys soccer team. He fractured his back in seventh grade and had to switch from the forward postion to goalie.
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an estimated 1, 442 ,533 out of eight million high school athletes suffer from injuries every year nationally
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Athletes around the world lace up for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games desiree luo Harker senior and competitive figure skater Alice Feng, who began skating over 10 years ago is eager to watch Team USA in figure skating, especially skaters whom she shared rinks with such as California natives Karen Chen and Alysa Liu, who both qualified for the womens’ singles. “It’s so exciting to be able to see how much they have advanced their skating careers over the years from when I first started skating to now,” Alice said. “I’ve always looked up to Karen because she was already really successful when I first started skating, so I’ve been able to see her practice and admire her over the years.” Top athletes from all around the world have traveled to Beijing, China, to contend for international titles and national glory at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, which will feature competition across 15 sports, from Feb. 4 to Feb. 20. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Beijing Organizing Committee did not permit the sale of tickets to the Chinese and international public. Just as they did for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, audiences in all seven continents switched on their televisions to watch the opening Flame Lighting Ceremony on Feb. 4. Although the ceremony marked the official start of the games, curlers and lugers began competing on Feb. 2. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN
B12 WINGED POST
PHOTOS OF THE MONTH, CURATED BY OUR SPORTS TEAM
ISHA MOORJANI
FREEZE FRAME
23 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 10, 2022 BACK PAGE VOLUME
VISHNU KANNAN
FIGHT FOR SPACE Caden Lin (12) bodies a Del Mar High School defender to gain control of the ball. The team, which won the match 3-0, is currently 4-1 in league play and 9-1-1 overall.
TRISHA IYER
DEEP IN DISCUSSION Varsity girls soccer coach Iman Siadat talks to the girls soccer team on Jan. 14 against King’s Academy. The team won the game 5-1 and improved their record to 9-0.
ALENA SULEIMAN
DRIVING Grace Hoang (11) dribbles down the court, eyes trained on her opponent from Lincoln High School.
MARGARET CARTEE
ALYSA SULEIMAN
SPRINT Justin Fung (12) sprints past a Woodside Priory High School defender with Jeremy Ko (11) following. The team won their league match 3-0 and are currently third place in league.
TAKE A PAUSE Liam Jeffers (9) rests while waiting for the referee’s call as a teammate gestures to indicate the Eagles’ possession.
SPRINTS AND STRIDES Megha Salvi (12) dribbles the ball in the varsity girls soccer game against Mercy High School on Jan. 18.
REACHING OUT Alexa Lowe (12), one of four seniors on the varsity girls basketball team, reaches out to maneuver past a screen.
ELLA YEE
ANIKA MAJI
ALYSA SULEIMAN
SWEET SWISH KJ Williams (11) goes for a basket during the varsity boys basketball game against Priory High School on Jan. 13.
JOSTLING FOR THE BALL Layla McClure (9) edges out an Eastside College Prep player on Jan. 21. The varsity girls soccer team dominated the game with its defense to triumph 6-0. DESIGN BY MARK HU