Winged Post Volume 23, Issue 2

WINGED POST

THE HARKER SCHOOL

Nonprofit Org. US Postage PAID San Jose, CA Permit No. 2296

500 SARATOGA AVE.

SAN JOSE, CA 95129

THE UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE HARKER SCHOOL

500 SARATOGA AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129

A LOOK AHEAD AT HOMECOMING HOMECOMING WEEK OCT. 4 - OCT. 8

Oct. 4: Eagle painting judging Oct. 5: Dodgeball & Tug-of-War preliminary rounds Oct. 6: Trivia Day Oct. 7: Rally Day Oct. 8: Scavenger Hunt Oct. 9: Harker Day, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m.

Oct. 9: Homecoming game vs.

Marina, 6 p.m.

Oct. 15 Homecoming dance

VOL. 23 NO.2

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2021

‘WHAT DO HONESTY, RESPECT & ACCOUNTABILITY MEAN TO YOU?’ Honor Council hosts annual Honor Week activities in person

anika maji & alena suleiman Over 100 upperclassmen and faculty attended Harker’s third annual Challenge Day event, which took place at the Blackford campus from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m on Sept. 17. Throughout the day, two facilitators from the Challenge Day organization led activities to on foster empathy and help find common ground.

“Even though everyone here is so different, there’s probably something that will make you realize that [you’re] not alone,” Samvita Gautham (11), who attended Challenge Day, said.

See pg. 3 for more on Challenge Day.

Voters reject recall attempt, California Gov. Gavin Newsom to remain in office

HONING IN ON HONESTY Honor Council member Gary Ding (11) adds a note to the board in Manzanita Hall as part of an activity during Honor Week on Sept. 21. The interactive bulletin board featured questions asking students to reflect on honesty and respect.

isha moorjani

Honor Council hosted Honor Week the week of Sept. 20, providing students with the opportunity to participate in related activities and reflection.

After Monday, which focused on sustainability and the environment, each day promoted the revised honor code’s three themes, respectively: honesty, respect and accountability.

Honor Week is an annual event in which the upper school community dedicates each day of the week to an aspect of honor. Last year’s Honor Week took place virtually, which led to the Honor Council adapting some activities, but the in-person format of Honor Week this year allowed for more variety in the activities.

“What does respect sound like?”

“What does respect feel like?” “What does respect look like?”

Amid the hustle and bustle of lunch time in Manzanita Hall, students wrote their answers to prompts about Thursday’s daily theme of respect on brightly colored post-it notes during Honor Week, creating a sea of answers on a bulletin board for the upper school community to see.

Honor Council adviser and upper school mathematics department chair Anthony Silk thanked participants in conclusion of Honor Week last week in a Schoology post.

On Monday Sept. 20, students signed the revised honor code and spent time outside with their advisories. The Green Team also put up an EcoChallenge bulletin board in the Main building to encourage sustainability.

The next day, in light of the theme of honesty, Honor Council provided a box of sticky notes for students to write responses to the questions, “In a few words, what does honesty mean to you?” and “Who is someone you admire for their honesty?”

The notes were then pasted onto a bulletin board at the entrance to Manzanita Hall, and TV monitors around campus also displayed quotes about honor.

Continued on page 2.

Community expectations for dress spark controversy among students

nicole tian, isha moorjani & alysa suleiman Gov. Gavin Newsom will remain in office after winning the recall effort on Sept. 15, defeating a Republican-backed attempt to oust him. With over eight million votes reported, in which 63.9% of Californians voted against while 36.1% voted in favor of the recall, Newsom led with a 2-to-1 margin. In Santa Clara County alone, almost 76% also voted against the recall, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. Polls closed at 8 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

FALL FASHION Sophomores Emi Fujimura and Medha Yarlagadda pass Dobbins Hall after school meeting on Wednesday. Students voiced concerns about expectations for dress after Williamson’s school meeting announcement on Aug. 31.

ESHA GOHIL

emily tan & isha moorjani

STAY UPDATED! Follow us @harkeraquila on IG, Twitter, Facebook and Tiktok

ARELY SUNN

Upperclassmen, faculty attend in-person Challenge Day event

In response to controversy among students surrounding the Community Expectations from the Student Handbook and its enforcement, Associated Student Body (ASB) formed the Dress Expectations Task Force on Sept. 20, an initiative focused on addressing student concerns and writing a revised dress code.

“First off, we’re considering how the student body feels,” sophomore Task Force representative Cynthia Wang said.

“We think safety is very important, and right now, some people feel like the dress code may be biased or targeted toward certain groups. We want to eliminate all those parts of the dress code and rewrite it so it helps students feel more empowered and [uplifted].”

After Dean of Students Kevin Williamson gave an announcement at the school meeting on Aug. 31 about the Community Expectations in the Student Handbook, students received warnings throughout the week, voicing concerns about the enforcement of community expectations through petitions on social media and emails to administration; individuals and interest groups also met with Williamson to express concerns.

The Task Force consists of two ASB members, one class council member from each grade, two FEM Club members, two GSA Members, two SDC representatives and two Honor Council representatives.

The Task Force is currently discussing ideas for the drafting of a revised dress code and plans to begin the writing process in around one week.

DESIGN BY EMILY TAN

Student-led organizations, clubs welcome prospective members in annual Club Fair

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 NEWS VOLUME

ALYSA SULEIMAN

2 WINGED POST

76 clubs host booths, poster boards and activities

CAST CHEMISTRY Namrata Karra (11), Saumi Mehta (12) and Paulina Gicqueau (11) rehearse lines at the callback auditions.

Fall play “Much Ado About Nothing” auditions conclude; 2 casts announced

WARM WELCOME International Outlook Foundation (IOF) officers Jessica Zhou (11) and Jessica Tang (11) explain the club initiatives.

difficult to bond with fellow club members over Zoom last year, club officers made it a priority to emphasize face-to-face interac-

FUN FOOD HSLT Outreach Director Elvis Han (12) gives Aditya Tagore (12) pizza.

TIFFANY CHANG

Harker Spirit Leadership Team hosts annual spirit kickoff event kinnera mulam A crowd of students conversed while enjoying the snacks and drinks provided by the Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT). They wore radiant smiles as they waited to participate in activities such as the prize wheel, drawing contest and bean bag tossing competition during Spirit Kickoff on Friday.

Over 100 people attended the event, held between the Rothschild Performing Arts Center and the Athletic Center.

This year’s kickoff was the introduction to Harker’s high school spirit for both freshmen and sophomores. Selina Xu (10) enjoyed socializing with students at the event.

“I really liked the environment,” Selina said. “I liked seeing everyone come together and actually be able to have fun and be spirited for the first time in so long because as a tenth grader, I haven’t experienced high school spirit before.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

“The clubs are all their own creations, [and] that’s really cool [that] they want to share that” ISHA MOORJANI

The annual Club Fair, which took place during the long lunch period on Sept. 8 allowed students to connect with their passions by visiting club booths located at the donor plaza and RPAC lobby and signing up for those that piqued their interest.

After almost a year and a half of virtual learning, Director of Student Organizations Eric Kallbrier noticed the overall excitement and positive energy that students brought to the event. “[I enjoyed] the enthusiasm that club leaders brought to their booths, the creativity with how they presented their clubs and programs, and then just the engagement and excitement from potential members as they perused the different offerings,” Kallbrier said.

Since upper school students found it

HARRISS MILLER (9) CLUB FAIR ATTENDEE

tions and communication with prospective club members at the fair.

“Last year, it was completely video editing and it was hard to mimic that human interaction,” Multicultural Club officer Andrea Thia (12) said. “This year, we

worked together to put together a board, provide food and really interact with people who have questions and were actually interested.”

Freshman Harriss Miller was especially surprised at the level of engagement that club officers displayed to students who were examining their booths.

“I was expecting the trifolds. I was expecting it to be a huge open area where you can walk around,” Harriss said. “But I wasn’t expecting everybody to be there introducing things and being very kind.

The clubs are all their own creations, [and] that’s really cool [that] they want to share that.”

This year, 76 organizations had booths at Club Fair, including newly formed ones such as Music Creation Club and Biodiversity Club. On Sept. 10, Kallbrier sent an email with the Club Fair recap video and club registration form.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Dozens of students entered the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) to audition for a role in the Fall Play, Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” and auditions took place on the afternoons of Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

After the initial auditions, callback auditions took place on Thursday afternoon, and directors released the final casts for both the lowerclassmen and upperclassmen plays by Thursday evening.

“Much Ado About Nothing” will be performed on Oct. 30 and 31. “[I like to see them] reaching out for the ends of where the characters are, as opposed to playing the center of the character, to really express more of the characters than they even know, to be inspired themselves to try new things in the audition that they have never done before,” Jeffrey Draper, upper school theater teacher said. “That’s why it feels a little risky—because you’re taking risks, you’re doing things that are not prepared, but you’re just hoping for the best.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

PERFORMANCE DATES SWING CAST: 2:00 p.m. on Oct. 30

EVENING CAST: 7:00 p.m. on Oct. 28, 29, 30

Honor Week emphasizes environment, honesty, respect, accountability through daily activities Continued from page 1.

“I [was] really excited to see everyone’s [sticky note] responses when they [came] in,” Alexa Lowe (12), one of the Honor Council Senior Chairs, said. “Every once in a while, it’s important to reflect about honor and the role it plays in our community, so Honor week is just a good time for everyone to reflect on it.”

Wednesday emphasized respect, and students could once more share their thoughts on sticky notes and display them in Manzanita Hall in response to a prompt on what respect sounds like, feels like and looks like. Christopher Hurshman, upper school English teacher and senior class dean, also spoke during the school meeting about the vulnerability associated with honor and the importance of living in an honorable community.

“I want to challenge you to try to live in a community where we share in each other’s authority and vulnerability in a way that we all get to flourish,” Hurshman said in his speech.

On Thursday, the last day of Honor Week, Honor Council emphasized accountability. Honor Council hosted an activity around the campus in the style of a scavenger hunt with QR codes, which led to reflective questions about accountability. The Honor Council also encouraged

ALYSA SULEIMAN

lavanya subramanian & ariana goetting & katelyn zhao

LAVANYA SUBRAMANIAN

emma gao & smrithi sambamurthy

REMEMBERING HONOR Pranav Gupta (12) signs the honor code during advisory. Honor Week, an annual event, dedicates each day to an aspect of honor.

interactions between underclassmen and upperclassmen throughout the week, rewarding spirit points to underclassmen and upperclassmen who spoke about what they have in common and submitted a selfie. As of Wednesday, the senior and freshman classes are in the lead.

“I think [Honor Week is] important so you can emphasize it, because some people might not know about it or they

might have just forgotten, so periodically reminding them and emphasizing the values and everything can help the community,” Anandita Arun (9) said.

Additional reporting by Michelle Liu and Muthu Panchanatham.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI

WINGED POST 3

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 NEWS VOLUME

Upperclassmen, faculty attend Challenge Day event with return to in-person format

“You really see that your classmates do care about other people and that your classmates are really amazing. We can really do a lot if we just put ourselves forward.”

PROVIDED BY ZUBIN KHERA

Activities strengthen community and embrace growth

ZUBIN KHERA (11) STUDENT ATTENDEE

“Listen to what others are saying. Try to lean in and share a little because I think you end up learning a lot about yourself.”

PROVIDED BY MALAR BALA

MALAR BALA (12) STUDENT ATTENDEE

POWERFUL PARTICIPATION Anika Pandey (11) and Natalie Gergov (11) raise their hands in response to icebreaker prompts.

“This was my first challenge day ever, but I’d heard about it from friends, and it was a lot more impactful than I thought it was going to be.”

PROVIDED BY SAMVITA GAUTHAM

CHALLENGE DAY NORMS

1

be INCLUSIVE

COMPLIMENTS and LOVE encouraged

BROOKLYN CICERO (12) SDC REPRESENTATIVE

EMILY TAN

2 4

“The main takeaway is the importance of empathy and open mindedness in all situations and with all people.”

ISHA MOORJANI

LISTEN with your ears and heart

5

be OPEN MINDED

drop the waterline - GET REAL

7

SAMVITA GAUTHAM (11) STUDENT ATTENDEE

“[The cross the line activity] was one of my favorites because it definitely showed how much of a diverse community we have within our school.”

no putting down others or teasing

3

AMY PELMAN UPPER SCHOOL LIBRARIAN

6

BE THE CHANGE you wish to see in the world

JENNIFER SIRAGANIAN UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER

“You’re face to face with the people who did cross the line, and there’s a hand signal that we all used to show support.”

PROVIDED BY RAYMOND XU

Over 100 upperclassmen and faculty attended Harker’s third annual Challenge Day event, which took place at the Blackford campus from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m on Sept. 17 and focused on building empathy and compassion.

Challenge Day is a program designed around fostering a school environment where “everyone is included and thrives,” according to their website. Throughout the day, two facilitators from the Challenge Day organization led various activities focused on fostering empathy and finding common ground — students and faculty shared personal experiences in small groups, engaged in various bonding games, learned about differences between a growth and a fixed mindset, wrote down reflections and practiced moments of mindfulness.

“It surprised me how really, really good the facilitators were, how excellent they are at their job and what they’ve done and just how effective the different activities and games were in creating this environment where people can start to acknowledge the need to celebrate yourself more and your accomplishments, or the need to practice kindness,” upper school librarian Amy Pelman, who attended the event, said.

The Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) introduced this year’s event via a presentation to the upperclassmen at

the beginning of September. SDC officer Brooklyn Cicero (12), who had also attended Challenge Day as a sophomore, enjoyed the “cross the line if…” exercise, in which one of the facilitators read out a scenario or experience and attendees would cross the line if it applied to them.

“As similar Harker students are, we’re also all super duper different and we have our own stories, and I think that we should definitely try to get to know people more before you use stereotypes or rumors that you hear about them,” Brooklyn said.

For other attendees like Samvita Gautham (11), crossing the line with her peers represented their interconnectedness despite the fact that students may have separate social groups.

“I think at Harker, we don’t really look past the surface level, maybe because we’re struggling with so much on our own ends,” Samvita said. “Even though everyone here is so different, there’s probably something that connects you and this other person, probably something that will make you realize that [you’re] not alone.”

Pelman recognized the significance of the supportive environment Challenge Day created and encouraged those interested to participate.

“There’s something for everybody,” Pelman said. “I think that it would be surprising if somebody didn’t get something positive out of it.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

ILLUSTRATION BY TIFFANY CHANG

anika maji & alena suleiman

PROVIDED BY AMY PELMAN

LUCY GE

“I felt like [the small group activity] created an opportunity for us to bond and speak freely and openly and be supportive of one another.”

RAYMOND XU (12) STUDENT ATTENDEE

SMILE FOR THE CAMERA Kaden Kapadia (12) poses in a dress shirt and tie.

Class of 2022 suits up to take senior portraits muthu panchanatham The Class of 2022 took senior portraits at the upper school on Sept. 18 with Prestige Portraits.

Students who were unable to register for an on-campus slot can fill out a form to schedule an appointment at a Prestige studio. All portraits need to be taken by Oct. 16. Prestige provided seniors with either tuxedos or drapes as a set outfit option.

“The photographer was very fast, and he knew what he was doing,” Rohan Rashingkar (12) said.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

selina xu & dilsher dhaliwal Around 30 middle and upper school students attended the Harker Model UN Kickoff on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Shah Hall, organized by the Model UN leadership team and upper school civics teacher Carol Green.

During the event, students took on roles with specific perspectives and attempted to solve international issues. The Kickoff was held to both educate members about Model UN and simulate a real Model UN conference.

“I think the kickoff went great,” Deputy Secretary-General Krish Maniar (11) said. “We had lots of students turn out, we had 100% attendance based on our signups, which is awesome. I think the students were all engaged and it was amazing how everyone was always communicating with each other.”

Sessions were a combination of moderated caucuses, short speeches addressing all members, and unmoderated caucuses, where delegates discussed res-

SELINA XU

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

Diplomatic debate: Model UN inspires collaboration with kickoff Middle and upper school students attend Model UN launch

HOLDING A VOTE The QAnon disinformation committee votes to hold a discussion. The Kickoff was held to educate members about Model UN and stimulate a real conference.

olutions. At the end of the sessions, members presented their resolutions.

“One thing I liked was the topic because it’s more imaginative,” said Saahira Dayal (9), who represented the Martian Language Department in the fictional committee. “I know the real Model UN topics would be more related to countries, but in general, it’s really interesting to play a role that you would never have thought

of before and look in that perspective.”

This year, Model UN is planning on expanding its membership through conferences held by other schools in the area, such as BearMUN at Berkeley and the Stanford MUN Conference, as well as more casual and fun events like mini-conferences and discussions held after school.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 NEWS VOLUME

4 WINGED POST

Voters reject recall attempt, California Gov. Gavin Newsom to remain in office

LEGAL UPDATES lucy ge & katie wang & michelle wei & sriya batchu

63.9% of voters against recall, 36.1% in favor

Huawei executive reaches agreement with DOJ, flies home to China

COUNTING POLLS A polling center for the Gov. Newsom recall election in the West Valley Branch San Jose Public Library on Sept. 14.

NMSQT SEMIFINALISTS Malar Bala

Muthiah Panchanatham

Laszlo Bollyky

Vienna Parnell

Erica Cai

Rishab Parthasarathy

Teresa Cai

Anishka Raina

Cady Chen

Sasvath Ramachandran

Charles Ding

Bodhisatta Saha

Alice Feng

Dhruv Saoji

Adheet Ganesh

Yejin Song

Yvan Grinspan

Cindy Su

Arnav Gupta

Aditya Tagore

Elvis Han

Emily Tan

Victoria Han

Keshiv Tandon

Catherine He

Zeel Thakkar

Mark Hu

Rohan Thakur

Anzhelina Iuzifovich Nicole Tian Sinaya Joshi

Michael Tran

Vishnu Kannan

Pranav Varmaraja

Saahas Kohli

Austin Wang

Anirudh Kotamraju

Daniel Wu

Aidan Lincke

Esther Wu

Alexander Liou

Alina Yuan

Michelle Liu

Irene Yuan

Aaron Lo

April Zhang

Kavita Murthy

William Zhao

Kate Olsen

Emily Zhou

Sujith Pakala

Gloria Zhu

“While I don’t love Newsom, I think that his policies, especially with COVID, have been good with the state” TRISTAN GOODWIN (12) VOTED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN RECALL ELECTION

ident Joe Biden and other Democratic politicians such as Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-M.A.). At a rally in Long Beach on Sept.

13, Biden joined Newsom to encourage Californians to turn out for the election according to AP News.

“Newsom winning by such a large margin just tells us so much about how the electorate is feeling,” said Youth Ac-

tivism Club Vice President Kris Estrada (11), minutes after Newsom’s victory. “The recall election was a referendum of Newsom’s performance as our governor, and it looks like the California population approves of his performance.”

Beginning in August, ballots were mailed out to all voters according to ca.gov. Those voting by mail were required to have their ballot postmarked by Sept.

14, and the voter’s county registrar must have received the ballot by Sept. 21 in order to be counted. Voters were asked to vote on recalling the governor, and the second question asked for a replacement candidate in the case of Newsom’s defeat.

“I pre-registered to vote when I got my driver’s license. I just got a ballot in the mail, so [voting] was super easy,” Tristan Goodwin (12), who voted in the election, said. “I’m glad that Newsom’s staying, and while I don’t love Newsom, I think that his policies, especially with COVID, have been good with the state.”

Newsom plans to run for reelection next year in the June 2022 primary elections, in which all candidates from all parties are placed on one ballot.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

NYCDOE to reduce emissions, pay 51 million in costs under Clean Air Act lawsuit New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) will spend approximately 50 million dollars to switch seven oil boilers to natural gas boilers, maintain consistent boiler tune-ups and pay 1 million dollars to the U.S. government as a result of a civil lawsuit filed under the Clean Air Act (CAA). According to a DOJ press release, NYCDOE had allegedly not met standards under the CAA for boiler maintenance.

Texas signs SB8 into law, banning abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy An unprecedented Texas law banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy went into effect on Sept. 1; the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state despite the law’s decided unconstitutionality. Known as Senate Bill 8 (SB8) or The Heartbeat Act, this law is one of the most restrictive abortion bans in U.S. history because it prohibits abortions after cardiac activity is detected, which occurs at around six weeks into a pregnancy.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

52 Harker seniors recognized as National Merit semifinalists Students scored in the top 1% of the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) emma gao & julie shi Fifty-two Harker seniors from the class of 2022 received the honor of National Merit semifinalist on Sept. 15 after scoring in the top 1% on the Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test (PSAT) they had taken the previous school year.

Each year, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation hosts the National Merit Scholarship Program, a national high school competition meant to acknowledge academically gifted students across the country. Beginning in 1995, the program requires high schoolers to take the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (NMSQT) as juniors in order to enter the competition.

“What College Board says the point of [the PSAT] is, is to see how well you will do on the SAT,” semifinalist April Zhang (12) said. “But then when you take it in junior year, it’s also the qualifying test for National Merit.”

Students from each state with a PSAT/ NMSQT score above a qualifying number become National Merit semifinalists and enter the next round of the competition.

While 1.5 million highschoolers take the tests each year, only around 16,000 top scoring students will become semifinalists according to nationalmerit.org.

“[Preparation is] just a lot of practice test and then going over what you did wrong.

It’s mostly figuring out timing and how you’re doing” PROVIDED BY MALAR BALA

Gov. Gavin Newsom will remain in office after winning the recall effort on Sept. 14 according to Associated Press (AP), defeating a Republican-backed attempt to oust him. With over eight million votes reported according to the New York Times, in which 63.9% of Californians voted against while 36.1% voted in favor of the recall, Newsom led with a 2-to-1 margin. In Santa Clara County alone, almost 76% also voted against the recall, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters. Polls closed at 8 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Newsom’s recall petition began in Feb. 2020 and escalated after the state’s public health mandates during the pandemic. Petitioners listed reasons for the recall on recallgavin2020.com. The governor’s mask-free appearance at a restaurant dinner gathering during a statewide stayat-home order in Nov. 2020 also sparked controversy according to AP News.

Data from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that, during the pandemic, the majority of Californians have

supported Newsom’s methods.

“Tonight, California voted ‘NO’ on the recall,” Newsom tweeted shortly after news of his victory. “We rejected cynicism and bigotry and chose hope and progress.”

Newsom received support from Pres-

ALYSA SULEIMAN

nicole tian & alysa suleiman & isha moorjani

ALYSA SULEIMAN

Huawei Technologies executive Wanzhou Meng returned to China from Canada on Saturday according to Associated Press (AP) News after entering into a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), ending an almost three-year dispute between the U.S., China and Canada. Under the agreement, Meng’s charges will be dropped next year given she admits to misrepresenting the company’s business activities in Iran and commits no further crimes.

MALAR BALA (12) NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALIST

Semifinalist Malar Bala (12) began to prepare for the competition around a month before the test was held on October 13, 2020, although she focused her studying on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). “[Preparation is] just a lot of practice tests and then going over what you did

wrong,” Malar said. “It’s mostly figuring out timing and how you’re doing.”

Malar is proud of her achievements, and acknowledges the hard work behind her PSAT results. However, she also recognizes other more fulfilling accomplishments that exist beyond the exam.

“I’m proud that I did well on the test, and I’m proud of the practice and preparation that I did,” Malar said. “But it is a standardized test. The word standardized kind of takes the fun out of it. I think I’m more proud of [myself ] when I do well in a class that I’m struggling in.”

Once the semifinalists have been announced, they may advance to the next round of the competition and choose to apply to be a National Merit Finalist.

To apply to be a National Merit Finalist, semifinalists must submit an essay, consistently meet high academic expectations and provide information about their SAT or ACT score in order to affirm their PSAT score. Each year, approximately 90% of the semifinalists are recognized as finalists and awarded with a Certificate of Merit.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 FEATURES VOLUME

WINGED POST 5

“NEVER FORGET, NEVER AGAIN” Upper school community reflects on Holocaust and its aftermath

Pulse of the People covers timely social justice stories relevant to our community.

To commemorate Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, in this issue we honor the memory of the Holocaust and its survivors. emily tan & alysa suleiman

LLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

Holcoaust Remembrance Day occurs on Apr. 8. It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and is a memorialization of the six million Jews murdered during the Holocaust.

Despite the impact of the Holocaust on the history and culture of Jewish populations, Holocaust education is startingly low. In a nationwide conducted survey by The Claims Conference on millenials and Gen Z-ers, 63 percent of all respondents do not know that six million Jews were murdered.

“What that says is that there are schools in the country that either don’t cover it at all, or it’s not sinking in for whatever reason,” Literature of the Holocaust teacher Ohad Paran said.

Despite the its overall lack of emphasis in the American education system, the Holocaust still haunts those whose families experienced its horrors.

“Sometimes, late at night, I’m up thinking or I’m having a nightmare. The fact that there are people in this world that say it didn’t happen doesn’t sit well with me,” Julia Yusupov (‘21) said. “It impacts my life every day.”

Julia, who identifies as Jewish and whose grandparents are Holocaust survivors, is currently pursuing the Manovill Holocaust History Fellowship at the Jewish Family and Children’s Services Holocaust Center after learning of her family’s history through her grandparents’ stories.

“It’s not ingrained into our school system to educate people about the Holocaust. In a perfect world, Holocaust and all genocide education would be brought to every single person on the planet,” Julia said. “I really hope it does, because it’ll actually make ‘never forget’ and ‘never

that while Jews are white passing, they still recieve heavy discrimination.”

“To me, the Holocaust is a historical symbol of hate towards the Jewish community and how people were able to weaponize that hate to commit mass genocide,” Michelle said.

Upper school History of the Holocaust and Genocide teacher Roxana Pianko, whose family originates from Romania, notes that even though anti-semitism

“The Holocaust is a historical symbol of hate towards the Jewish community and how people were able to weaponize that hate to commit mass genocide” MICHELLE DORFMAN (11) JEWISH, DESCENDANT OF HOLOCAUST VICTIM

dice against that,” Michelle Dorfman (11), whose great-grandfather passed away in the Holocaust, said.

After looking at the survey results of Holocaust education and comparing it to widespread anti-semitism today, Michelle says that it is “important to acknowledge

has and will continue to persist, steps can be taken to mitigate its spread.

“Education, engaging with people, understanding this cycle, it’s the only way that people will truly believe that we have a problem and that we need to break this cycle,” Pianko said.

“A culture of openness around trauma and mental health”

PROVIDED BY OHAD PARAN

emily tan & alysa suleiman

OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE Literature of the Holocaust teacher Ohad Paran celebrates his 15th birthday with his grandparents. Paran’s grandfather passed in 2015.

“To forget would be not only dangerous but offensive; to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”

These words, penned by Holocaust surivor Elie Wiesel, are part of his internationally acclaimed memoir Night, a text studied in upper school English teacher Ohad Paran’s Literature of the Holocaust semester elective class.

But long before he even began teaching, Paran spent his childhood years with a grandfather who he did not know was a Holocaust survivor until the age of 11, only beginning to connect his grandfather to the storyline when he put into perspective his grandfather’s age during World War II.

“Only when I asked [my grandfather] did he tell me that he was [in the camps] since he never really shared the details until very, very late in his life” OHAD PARAN JEWISH, LITERATURE OF THE HOLOCAUST TEACHER

Paran’s grandfather spent the majority of his life twenties in the three of the “worst and most notorious” Nazi work camps: Treblinka, Auschwitz and Dachau.

“He survived, and he built an incredible life for himself and my grandmother and my father in Israel after,” Paran said.

“But only when I asked him did he tell me that he was [in the camps] since he never really shared the details until very, very late in his life.”

From this first survivor story, Paran began reading the stories of others, determined to connect the past with the present. Through his class and its texts, Paran hopes his students can begin to understand the Holocaust’s effects on the mental health of survivors after the war.

“That silence also led to a lot of people really not being able to be as successful as they could have been if there had been a culture of openness around trauma and mental health,” Paran said. “Over the years, my class has evolved to not only talk about the concrete events of the Holocaust, but also to look at the mental health aspect that the authors explore and to talk about how we cope with any kind of trauma that we have in our lives.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

A LIVING REMINDER

Holocaust survivor speaks to upper school community emily tan & alysa suleiman

Holocaust survivor Leon spoke to upper school students and faculty via Zoom on Apr. 29, 2021, recounting his experiences in the Holocaust as a member of the JFCS Holocaust Center’s William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau.

The Student Diversity Coalition, upper school English teacher Ohad Paran and Julia Yusupov (‘21) organized the speaker event. Born in Czernowitz, Romania in 1931, Leon was 10 years old when the Nazis invaded. After being forced to leave his hometown in Sept. 1941, he and his family were sent to the Mogilev-Podolsk Camp in Ukraine, which they successfully escaped from. They stayed in the Djurin Ghetto in Transnistria for two years until the ghetto was liberated in March 1944.

“There were only 18 apartment building[s]: 14 were previously occupied by Jewish families. We were the only ones to return,” Leon said of returning to his apartment complex in his hometown.

EMILY TAN

PROVIDED BY MICHELLE DORFMAN

again’ manifest properly.”

California, as of 2017, holds a Jewish population of approximately 1,230,540.

In 2019, California accounted for 330 anti-Semitic acts, placing it among the states with highest numbers of incidents, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

“No one is born with hate. It’s something that you’re taught. So the more we become educated about a topic, the [smaller] the possibility of having preju-

REMEMBERING THE PAST Leon, a Holocaust survivor, speaks to the Harker community via Zoom on Apr. 29, 2021 about his experience, describing the day in 1939 when Germany invaded his home.

DESIGN BY SARAH MOHAMMED

6 WINGED POST

FEATURES OCTOBER 5, 2021

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2

BACK TO SCHOOL (13 YEARS LATER)

MEET YOUR TEACHER FEATURE

Alumna returns to Harker to teach, embracing journalism program

“Coming to Journalism feels like coming home to a home that you didn’t know you had”

A HAPPY HOMECOMING Harker alumna Whitney Huang (‘08) smiles outside of Dobbins Hall and Graduates’ Grove, back on the campus where she spent her high school years.

PROVIDED BY KERRY ENZENSPERGER

“During our five minute breaks, she actually talks to us and goes outside with us,” Gemma Chan (9) said. “It definitely means a lot because outside of her class she wants to actually get to know us.”

Upper school Director of Journalism Ellen Austin has seen the generosity Huang gives to her teaching. On one occasion, she saw Huang poring over First Amendment cases to discuss with her students, giving them deep context and background for their journalistic work.

“She prioritizes care, and she prioritizes her students,” Austin said. “I’ve just been so impressed by her, her commitment to this content area. She is a scholar in the way she approaches what she’s doing in the classroom.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

ESHA GOHIL

WHITNEY HUANG (‘08) INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISM TEACHER

EMILY TAN

Thumbing a photograph from 2000, new upper school journalism teacher and Harker alumna Whitney Huang (‘08) laughs with upper school activities director Kerry Enzensperger, recalling fondly each of their young faces when they had posed outside of Dobbins for that group picture over two decades ago. Huang, who studied at Harker since kindergarten, returned to the upper school this year to teach journalism. She feels connected to the school’s culture and environment after spending so much of her lifetime here.

Ever since her time at Harker, Huang has been involved in music, joining vocal group Cantilena in high school. Huang, who majored in biology after graduating high schoool, has found herself coming back to the Bay Area, which she considers home, and coming back to her interests in music by teaching at Crystal Children’s Choir.

“I pursued [the medicine route] and then afterwards started helping back at my community choir, which I also grew up in, which is interesting because now I’m coming back—this is where my loyalties are,” Huang said.

Huang’s loyalties also lie in engaging in service, practicing kindness and giving back to the community in which she grew up.

“One of the things that is always at the forefront of whatever I’m doing is thinking how can I help other people,’’ Huang said. “A lot of times we can’t touch the big scale [of service], but little things that you do, between you and friends, or holding the door open for a stranger, it starts there.”

Huang has always had an investigative mindset, asking her parents “Why?” as a child and exploring her questions through research as a biologist. She has found that Journalism has been a wel-

coming space for her to lean in to her curiosities and questions.

“Being curious and skeptical allowed me to really move into the world of journalism pretty smoothly,” Huang said.

“Coming to Journalism feels like coming to a home that you didn’t know you had.”

As a new teacher this year teaching the Introduction to Journalism course, Huang hopes to share the breadth of possibilities in the activities they can engage in through journalism. In the classroom and with her students, Huang continues to hold her generosity close.

MICHELLE LIU

sarah mohammed

PUT YOUR HANDS UP Huang asks her Period 6 Introduction to Journalism class for a vote on the next classtime activity.

BACK TO THE BEGINNING Huang (center) in 2000 posing outside of Dobbins Hall with her classmates during her time at Harker

‘It’s about the culture, it’s about all we bring to this country’ Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month with color, joy and community

TALK AROUND CAMPUS “You could count on one hand probably how many Latinx students we have in the school, and for faculty, I could probably name them” PR

O

VI DE D BY ABEL

O

O

D B Y M EL O

DY

LU

O

MELODY LUO (12) MULTICULTURAL CLUB CO-PRESIDENT

“Since there’s such a small community [of Latinx students and faculty], there’s not really enough people to talk to and relate to about it” I

C

HE

LLE

LI U

EMMA GAO

Along with Tejada and the bulletin board she created, teachers from the upper school’s Spanish department are integrating the celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month into their curricula.

Upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss, who identifies as Hispanic, designed an annual project in which her students will exchange short videos with students at El Colegio San Ignacio de la Ssalle in Quillota, Chile. Moss’ students filmed recordings featuring their own family traditions which were then sent out last Friday to the students in Chile, who will respond back in a similar manner in a few weeks’ time.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DE

“Sí, se puede!” several student-made posters, affixed to a board in Main, exclaim in eye-catching red and black ink. The slogan, which translates to “yes, you can” in Spanish, draws viewers in to learn more about César Chávez, a civil rights activist who, along with the also-depicted activist Dolores Huerta, used the three-word motto as a rallying cry to create a labor union for farm workers in the United States. Other vibrantly-colored posters chronicle the lives of individuals like Sonia Sotomayor, the first woman of color to sit on the Su-

preme Court and Julia Alvarez, Dominican-American poet, novelist and essayist.

The board, assembled by Hispanic upper school Spanish teacher Carmela Tejada, will remain in the hallway until Oct. 15 in celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, or as the board proclaims in a bold black header, “el Mes de la Herencia Hispana.”

“It’s important to recognize the contributions of minorities,” Tejada said.

“Their presence here adds color and beauty to this country. It adds to the diversity of this country, and I think that’s beautiful. It’s not just about the language: it’s about the culture, and all we bring to this country.”

VI

emma gao & trisha iyer & kinnera mulam

ALL TOGETHER Faculty leaders of the Latinx affinity group Kristina Alaniz and Jeanette Fernandez speak at the group’s first meeting of the year, held in Ms. Alaniz’s room.

“By being open-minded [and] open to listening to other people’s problems, when it comes to their difficulty of being a specific race or heritage, then we can be a more embracing student community”

M

CELEBRATING IN COLOR A poster of flags from Spanish-speaking and Latin American countries hangs outside Ms. Alaniz’s room.

S

PR

TRISHA IYERT

LI

VA

ABEL OLIVAS MODERN AND CLASSICAL LANGUAGES DEPARTMENT CHAIR

JESSIE MOREL (10) STUDENT WHO IDENTIFIES AS HISPANIC DESIGN BY SARAH MOHAMMED

A&E / LIFESTYLE

WINGED POST 7

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021

In “Solar Power,” Lorde cradles fallen fruit

DENIM for DAYS

trisha iyer

As one of the most versatile types of pants, jeans come in an abundance of styles ranging in fit, color, stretch and more. Though traditionally made with stiff denim fabric, many jeans now incorporate cotton and other softer materials for maximal comfort for students to wear during the school day. Jean styles also evolve with fashion and fads, as seen by the rise of bell bottoms during the 70s, skinny jeans during the late 2000s and currently, mom and straight-cut jeans. Explore the variety of jean styles that students love and wear around campus!

sarah mohammed

Fans held their breath. They spoke about the last album, “Melodrama,” four years old and still beating, slick with guttural choruses and confessions. They posted about their anticipation to hold new songs. In the center of “Melodrama’s” album cover lays a girl, between bed sheets, slathered in blue dusk. They waited for her to come out, to come back.

And there she was, on Aug. 20, 24 -year-old New Zealand singer-songwriter and 2-time Grammy award winner Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor, known professionally as Lorde, coming back towards us. The release of her third album, “Solar Power,” sparked a fresh sensory space for Lorde’s music making: a space of openness, breath and tenderness towards the world as it is. And fans were drawn to this space—at the beginning of September, the album reached No. 5 on Billboard’s 200 Albums Chart and No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart.

Throughout “Solar Power,” Lorde kneels down to press her palms flat against the ground, becoming one with the earth.

Mixing gentle tunes reminiscent of chirping with breathy lyrics and lengthened chords, Lorde submits herself to her surroundings, arms open and unafraid.

Scan the QR code to view our video featuring jean styles on harkeraquila.com

Jackson Lara (10) BAGGY NAVY JEANS

PROVIDED BY CLAIRE SU

TRISHA IYER

Jackson Lara (10) sports dark blue baggy stonewashed jeans, paired with an eye-catching T-shirt.

PROVIDED BY MELODY YIN

Claire Su (10) pairs her cuffed high-waisted black skinny jeans with her also black pair of Converse.

The fifth song of the album, “Fallen Fruit,” introduces a world with “psychedelic garlands in our hair,” taking us through “the halls of splendor where the apple trees all grew.” There is this place of so much beauty that is here waiting for us, Lorde is saying. There is a place where you can “leave us dancing on the fallen fruit.”

Lorde can bring us into this world because she has taken the time to feel the beauty around her, with four-year breaks from social media, finding the time and space to live and write with risk. And she does not just tell us about the beauty of the world—she lets us feel it through the 12 songs of “Solar Power,” which feel sacred and gentle, like sitting in a forest and touching all the trees, their wet bark, the deep roots and warm soil. All throughout, “Solar Power” teaches us how to look deeply, how to listen, how to grow and love and care and see.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Claire Su (10)

BLACK SKINNY JEANS

Melody Yin (9) dons gray mom jeans, whose loose fit and high waist have become popular recently.

Melody Yin (9)

TRISHA IYER

GRAY MOM JEANS

Anjali Yamasani (12) walks in relaxed fit cargo jeans, with embroidery on the seams and signature side pockets.

Anjali Yamasani (12)

TRISHA IYER

WHITE CARGO JEANS

Alexa Lowe (12) jazzes up a pair of faded blue skinny jeans with tattered hems and embroidered designs of cacti.

“‘Solar Power’ sparked a fresh sensory space for Lorde’s music making: a space of openness, breath and tenderness towards the world as it is”

Sarah’s ranking 5/5 eagles

Alexa Lowe (12)

LOOSE-FIT, STRAIGHTCUT NAVY JEANS

SALLY ZHU

Alan Jiang (11)

TRISHA IYER

Alan Jiang (11) stands in relaxed fit jeans, whose navy wash and straight cut style can be paired with a variety of outfits.

KJ Williams (11) LIGHT BLUE SLIM FIT JEANS

KJ Williams (11) dons light blue slim fit jeans, in between a relaxed and skinny fit, and white shoes.

LONG-AWAITED An illustration of Lorde beside the title of her new album “Solar Power.” The album reached No. 5 on Billboard’s 200 Albums Chart and No. 1 on Billboard’s Alternative Albums chart.

DESIGN BY SALLY ZHU

ILLUSTRATION BY TIFFANY CHANG

FADED BLUE SKINNY JEANS

8 WINGED POST

A&E / LIFESTYLE

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021

ANIMAL SHELTER WORKER

Humane Society manager finds reward through caring for animals

This recurring profile series features stories and experiences of individuals with unique professions

Arely’s ranking 5/5 eagles

Sapiens forces you to think about the question of how humans have come to be so powerful and where this power is taking us

on the adoption floor had to go into foster care, because we didn’t have enough staff

“You’re helping to save lives, and I don’t think there is a better thing that you can do that pays you as much as you pay for it” DR. SUE MCNEILL-BINDON ANIMAL SHELTER MANAGER

on site to provide round-the-clock care for a whole shelter full of animals,” Dr. McNeill-Bindon said. “[We focused on] how

many foster families we could bring on to care for all of the animals coming in.”

Along with the increase in pace surrounding animal fostering, the shelter experienced a lack of volunteers after shelter-in-place mandates. The strict building capacities, as well as volunteers uncomfortable with working in person, led to a decrease in volunteer participation.

In response, Dr. McNeill-Bindon and her team worked to adapt the Humane Society and its programs for offsite success, such as through increasing the accessibility of the pet pantry. According to Dr. McNeill-Bindon, the pet pantry grew from around 40 clients to around 400 during the pandemic. A new delivery service largely contributed to this expansion, ensuring that families could still provide care for their pets without coming onsite.

And as the Humane Society Silicon Valley and other shelters faced numerous difficulties due to the pandemic, dedicated volunteers and workers such as Dr. McNeill-Bindon worked tirelessly to help as many animals as possible. Recently, the shelter cared for bottle babies whose mom had fallen sick, and she recounts the rewarding feeling as the pups matured, transitioning from bottle feeding to solid food. This feeling is what keeps her going.

“Every day you feel like you’ve done something good; even if you’ve had a super [bad] day, you’re part of a network of people who care about other people and other animals,” Dr. McNeill-Bindon said.

“You’re helping to save lives, and I don’t think there is a better thing that you can do that pays you as much as you pay for it.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

“Sapiens”: Investigating the rise and history of humankind

Book Corner reviews various nonfictions, biographies and memoirs

Yuval Noah Harari traces human narrative from past, in present and into future arely sun

GOODREADS

THE STORY OF HUMANS “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” is a 390-page nonfiction written by Yuval Noah Harari that was first published in 2011.

LOVER OF ANIMALS Dr. Sue McNeill-Bindon, manager at the Humane Society Silicon Valley, walks her rescue dog Honey at the shelter.

PROVIDED BY DR. SUE MCNEILL-BINDON

When Dr. Sue McNeill-Bindon first found her dog at the dump, the dog was sick and unfamiliar with humans. It took months before anyone could touch her, making treating her difficult, and she was still struggling physically. Dr. McNeill-Bindon mentions that now, 12 years later, her dog made it out of her harsh living conditions into a new home.

Similar life changing encounters with animals like this have motivated Dr. McNeill-Bindon to join the Humane Society Silicon Valley as an animal shelter worker to dedicate time and energy towards caring for them and honoring the Humane Society’s mission. Established in 1929, the organization holds a variety of programs to save and enhance the lives of domesticated animals. One of their more recent programs, Community Development, involves initiatives such as a pet pantry, allowing people suffering from homelessness or food insecurity to provide nutritious food for their pets. In addition, they host monthly clinics that provide free healthcare to the pets of families dealing with financial insecurity to maximize the number of healthy and safe animals.

Moreover, the Humane Society organizes exchanges with shelter partners around the community and takes in animals that otherwise would have been euthanized due to a lack of space in other shelters.

Yet when the coronavirus pandemic hit the Humane Society hard last year, current systems in place to uphold their mission statement needed to be completely changed in a short period of time.

“When shelter in place started, all of the animals who were currently available

PROVIDED BY DR. SUE MCNEILL-BINDON

medha yarlagadda

Ever wondered why your body allows you to down an entire tub of ice cream in one sitting? Or how money, the root of modern tribulations, came into existence?

I never put much thought into such simple questions until I read “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” which tackles each of these questions with satisfying answers and gave me a new perspective on mundane habits and activities.

In just over 400 pages, author Yuval Noah Harari masterfully crafts the story of humankind from the advent of walking monkeys to the vast power we as a species hold today. “Sapiens” explores how ordinary mammals became the most dominant species in the world and are even beginning to rewrite nature. The novel unfolds in several stages, illustrating a series of vast changes humans have undergone over thousands of years.

Despite its human-centric title, this book also explores the severe impact of humans on the world around us. With the domestication of animals, we humans began to see ourselves as superior, and with the Industrial Revolution, we began to harness any “cheap and abundant” energy available to increase productivity, oblivious to the consequences until recently.

Upon selecting the book, I did not ex-

pect to emerge from its pages enlightened, yet I ended up learning a plethora of new information. For example, did you know that the farming of cereals such as grain was humanity’s biggest fraud? According to Harari in Chapter 5, wheat “domesticated” us, forcing us to labor long, hard hours for a food lower in nutrition than easily available forest plants. However, cereal farming also allowed humans to sustain larger populations albeit with a worsened quality of life.

Beyond physical developments, Harari investigates abstract changes such as religion, how Sapiens’ social skills set us above Neanderthals and the development of currency, which was one of my main takeaways from the book.

The ending of “Sapiens” left me in shock: Harari lays out a series of novel scientific developments and modern technological advancements that could have immense implications for the future of science as well as society. These advancements would have seemed godlike to our ancestors as humans are beginning to rewrite the fundamentals of nature and human desire, a terrifying concept to imagine, and something that is already crafting a drastically different world. Now that humans can bioengineer organisms from their appearance to their mental state, where will technology lead us?

“The only thing we can try to do is to influence the direction scientists are taking,” Harari wrote. “But since we might soon be able to engineer our desires too, the real question facing us is not ‘What do we want to become?’, but ‘What do we want?’ Those who are not spooked by the question probably haven’t given it enough thought.”

I, who was first recommended the book by my sister, would definitely recommend this book to any student or any person in general. Harari’s incredible storytelling abilities, witty writing style and engaging anecdotes make “Sapiens” a far cry from your average dry history textbook, so don’t be turned away by its hefty length or its historical basis.

As residents of Silicon Valley, the home of several forerunning tech companies, we must recognize the potentially ominous outcomes of unlimited scientific advancements as well as the importance of equity in this new progress. “Sapiens” evaluates social issues that play large roles in our world and uses biological reasoning as proof for equality. Harari debunks racism, homophobia and other forms of discrimination with sounding proof, making “Sapiens” effective not only for learning facts but also real-world education we can apply to improve our futures.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY SALLY ZHU

WINGED POST 9

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 PERSPECTIVES VOLUME

Cats DOGGO DOMINATION: FELINE SUPREMACY:

Allow me to purr-suade you

A bone to pick with cats

Grumpy Cat. Lil BUB. And, the latest meme sensation, salad-hating Smudge.

If an alien browsed the Internet’s cornucopia of cat content, they would surely think the average human loves cats. And yet, cats seemingly have a worse reputation than their canine counterparts. Mistaken for being aloof, insensitive and apathetic, cats are woefully misunderstood.

This nonsensical contempt toward our feline friends stems from a place of deeply rooted ignorance and inability to

Whenever my dog looks up at me, head tilted and eyes shining, I feel as though she can understand every word I say. Would a cat do that?

No. A cat would ignore you. Or hiss at you. Or scratch you.

Not only are cats as social as dogs, but they also have the potential to improve the health of their humans outside of the health benefits observed in any person who owns a pet. That’s right, cats have magical healing powers.

ERICA CAI

It has come to my attention that some misinformed students believe that cats are better than dogs. I will not stand for such an erroneous opinion. I will not roll over.

There’s a reason why dogs are called man’s best friend. When I come home from a long day of school, dreading the mountain of homework and college app essays I have to finish before I feel the sweet embrace of sleep, guess who’s waiting at the door, wagging her tail. It’s my goldendoodle / personal therapist Pixie.

Whenever my dog looks up at me, head tilted and eyes shining, I feel as though she can understand every word I say. Would a cat do that? No. A cat would ignore you. Or hiss at you. Or scratch you.

As such, in the past, our school employed therapeutic dogs and not therapeutic cats before finals week to ease the stress felt by students before taking exams. A 2019 study investigated therapy dogs and their effects on university students’ mood and anxiety. Not only did the researchers find that directly interacting with dogs reduced anxiety, but even just watching videos of dogs improved students’ moods.

Be honest. Do cats do anything other than laze around all day? From going on walks to playing frisbee in the backyard, dogs are content with all forms of exercise and entertainment that are fun for their owners as well (not to mention healthy). While it is true that cats are capable at performing athletic feats such as climbing trees and landing on their feet, they rarely present the energy to do so and would rather sleep or groom themselves.

On the other hand, dogs are enthusiastic about physical activity and can execute sports skills such as setting a volleyball or surfing. Side note: Pixie actually can climb trees, so cats’ athleticism is irrelevant.

From a broader perspective, dogs have unique talents that make them invaluable, especially with regards to crime-fighting. Due to their sense of smell and aptitude for learning, dogs make great companions for police officers. The San Francisco Police Department K-9 unit utilizes dogs to aid in sniffing out bombs, finding missing persons and hunting down criminals. Don’t worry, these dogs aren’t tools for the police. They still enjoy normal pet life while living with their

erica cai

respective handlers. The relationship between the K-9 unit and its hounds epitomizes the trust humans place in dogs and the loyalty dogs show in return.

While it’s true that both dogs and cats rightfully reside on top of the Animals Appreciated by Humans hierarchy, dogs deserve to be slotted at a higher tier than cats for their loving demeanor and general usefulness.

In case you think I’m biased, I made sure to get a second opinion. When asked if dogs were better than cats, Pixie responded with a resounding “Woof!”. There you go, undeniable proof.

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

muthu panchanatham

widen one’s perspectives. For one, the common belief that cats are antisocial animals has been disproved in many cases.

Though he would never admit it, my own little furball Taro loves to spend time with people. From ceaselessly trotting over my keyboard during Zoom classes to now dashing out of the bushes to surprise me upon my return from school, Taro never fails to rejuvenate me even after the most exhausting of days.

Friendships between cats and humans are also more genuine and profound than those between dogs and humans. A 2017 study showed that, unlike dogs, who are very easily motivated by food and toys, cats preferred to interact with humans over interaction with food, scent or toys.

My personal experience affirms these results—while Taro is not one to pass on a juicy chunk of chicken, he also refuses to eat unless in the presence of a human and will meow incessantly until someone accompanies him to his food bowl.

Okay, so cats love their owners as much as dogs. But a dog lover who hates cats may argue that cats are not friendly toward strangers, which makes them less appealing than dogs, right?

Wrong. In a 2019 study of the effects human attention and familiarity had on cat sociability, researchers found that cats whose humans gave them more attention would, as a result, spend more time with the person. This result was true not only when cats were paired with their caretakers, but also when cats were paired with strangers. Yes, cats are as sociable as dogs no matter who they are interacting with.

Not only are cats as social as dogs, but they also have the potential to improve the health of their humans outside of the health benefits observed in any person who owns a pet. That’s right, cats have magical healing powers. In a 2001 study of the purpose of cats’ purring, researchers found that the frequencies at which domestic cats purred overlapped with the frequencies of vibrations that can promote bone growth or tissue repair.

So, not only can cats heal themselves, but they can also heal their humans with their purring. Can dogs that? I believe not.

Friendships between cats and humans can be just as rewarding, if not more, than those with dogs. Understanding cats, through their habits and needs, will lead to more gratifying relationships. As they say, dogs drool, and cats rule.

DESIGN BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

ILLUSTRATION BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

Dogs

10 WINGED POST

DOUBLETRUCK

20

REMEMBERING

9/

US CASUALTIES:

TWO DECADES LATER ananya sriram & nicole tian & alysa suleiman “Some things you just remember, [and] they stop you in your tracks,” upper school history teacher Karen Haley said.

On a couch in her home in Dallas, Texas, Haley, a retired U.S. army captain, sat frozen as her television displayed dozens of images of the chaos that ensued following the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The 9/11 attacks were a series of planned airplane hijacking attacks that struck the South and North Twin towers of the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nineteen terrorists associated with al-Qaeda, an Islamist extremist group, seized four commerical planes originally intended to arrive in California.

Two crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, leading to their collapse, and another flew into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense. Civilians aboard the fourth plane, which was headed toward Washington, D.C., fought back against hijackers to crash the plane in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Leaving 2,977 individuals dead, 441 of whom were first responders, 9/11 marked the greatest single cause of death from foreign attackers on American soil.

“No one thought that would be their last flight,” Haley said. “You’ve got to recognize that life is precious. Count those small moments because they could easily evaporate, and then just actually appreciate what you have.”

In response to the attacks, the government founded the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) two months after 9/11. Following subsequent attempted hijacking such as the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot, the TSA established stricter guidelines regarding aerial travel. Airport security now limits the amount of liquid allowed in a carryon bag, requires individuals older than 12 and under 75 to remove shoes when passing through security and scans carry-ons for weapons.

On top of structural overhauls in security and the origins of the War on Terror, 9/11 inflicted a deep wound on the American psyche. English teacher Elizabeth Schimenti, who grew up in a sub-

HOW TO HELP

AFGHAN COALITION

2,461 KILLED

urb of New York City, a 45 minute train ride away from Grand Central Station, recalls the panic and uncertainty following the attacks. At age seven, Schimenti remembers her mother packing the family station wagon with crackers and water and teaching her fourteen-year-old brother how to drive.

“She said, ‘If anything happens, I want you to take your brother, your two sisters, and I want you to drive them.

I want you guys to drive to Canada,’” Schimenti said. “Several of my classmates’ parents, and my brother and sisters’ friends’ parents worked at the Trade Center or in New York City. Some of them died. And I just remember the days following that tragedy just being so full of sorrow and questioning.”

The attacks also spurred xenophobia and Islamophobia toward individuals of Middle Eastern descent. The name Osama and the indication of being a Muslim became triggers of discrimination when applying for job positions, even for the most qualified of candidates for a job.

Even at the Harker community, deemed a “hyper liberal community” by Harker alum Simar Bajaj (‘20), undertones of xenophobia continued to radiate within the school community. In his TedxHarkerSchool talk titled “Breaking the Locks: Why I Cut My Hair After 17 Years,” Bajaj recalls feeling confused after receiving an outpour of “happy birthday” wishes from classmates, despite his birthday not being due for another couple of months in late December. Apparently, an anonymous user had created a fake Facebook profile under Bajaj’s name, listing his birthday as Sept. 11.

“In the aftermath of 9/11, Sikh Americans were regularly targeted and attacked, falsely assumed to be the perpetrators of this horrific act of terorism,” Bajaj said during his talk. “While horrific, this anecdote does no justice in conveying the prejudice I felt on a daily basis.”

During the school meeting on Friday, upper school history teacher Dr. Charles Witschorik asked students and faculty to take a moment of silence in remembrance of 9/11.

“We honor the memory of those who died that day,” Dr. Witschorik said during the meeting. “We recommit ourselves to strive for peace, justice, and inclusivity for the nation in the world.”

Provides support to Afghan American families in the Bay Area afghancoalition.org

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021

20,691 WOUNDED

AFGHAN

CASUALITIES

47,245 CIVILIANS

COST:

$1.6 $1.

6

TRILLION TRIL LION

66,000

NATIONAL MILITAR & POLICE

ON WAGING WAGING WAR

$2.3

TRILLI TRIL LION ON INCLUDING VETERANS VETERANS CARE, INTEREST ON DEBT & OTHER COSTS

POLARIZATION THROUGH THE AGES ananya sriram & nicole tian & alysa suleiman The U.S. responded to the 9/11 attacks with military force, invading Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001.

“I really hope civilians will understand that everything is fine until it’s not,” Haley said. “Somebody else saying, ‘I’ve actually got to retaliate with greater magnitude,’ and then you’re in the midst of an international conflict, which usually means that lives will be lost. It’s really tragic.”

Twenty years after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and following the longest war in American history, the Taliban took over the country on Aug. 15. According to the Pew Research Center, though the

INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE North California

Relocates Afghan Special Immigrant Visa applicants with resettlement services rescue.org

majority of the American public supports Biden’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from Afghanistan, only 26% say the administration has done an excellent or good job, and fewer than half of Democrats remain positive about Biden’s decision.

“It’s an easy punching bag to attack Biden right now, but when you look at the choice to withdraw, that’s really the culmination of a series of political decisions and really American public interest,” said History and Social Science teacher Matthew McCorkle, who teaches “The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11” in his Modern International Affairs (MIA) elective. “It’s just that everyone now in hindsight criticizes the nature of the withdrawal, and of course, it was the wrong choice, but not unreasonable.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

EMAIL THE WHITE HOUSE:

Urge the Biden administration for action to protect at-risk Afghans act.rescue.org/yRqHe9p

WINGED POST 11

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021

YEARS

October 7, 2001August 20, 2021

in the shadow of war

4,831 DAYS

of combat

‘IT FELT LIKE A FUNERAL FOR MY COUNTRY’

K A B U L

5

Taliban takes over Afghanistan after U.S. withdraws its troops

RY

APRIL 14, 2021 President Joe Biden announces all US and NATO forces will be withdrawn by Sept. 11

JULY 8, 2021 President Joe Biden announces Aug. 31 as official conclusion to war in Afghanistan

JULY 21, 2021 Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, reports half of all districts in Afghanistan are under Taliban control .

AUG 15, 2021 Taliban enters Kabul, US evacuates diplomats from its embassy by helicopter

WOMEN FOR AFGHAN WOMEN

Protects rights of disenfranchised Afghan women; the largest women’s right organization in Afghanistan womenforafghanwomen.org

LUTHERAN IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE SERVICE

“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” MARJAN NADERI AFGHAN ARTIST

“Sadly, it was to be expected, because when you leave a huge power vacuum like that in a country that’s been ravaged by war for 20 years, the Taliban is going to regain control,” Kailash Ranganathan (12) said. “I think the thing that shocked most people, and surprised me too, was the speed and efficacy of which the Taliban was able to regain control of the country.”

The Taliban has restricted women’s rights in the past during their previous rule from 1996 to 2001. According to a 2001 Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor report, girls above the age of eight were not allowed to attend school, and women were required to wear a burqa at all times with no exceptions, including for

Seeking volunteers to help refugees with airport transportation, housing & meals https://lirsconnect.org/ get_involved/action_center/siv

medical care.

This time around, the Taliban has already seized the women’s ministry, removing the building, erasing some of the artwork of women on its walls, and putting in its place a set of offices for religious police, who have suppressed women’s rights in the name of the Islamic religion in their previous rule. The set of offices is called the “Ministry of Invitation, Guidance and Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” and aims to police and control the actions of the area. The Taliban has not yet commented on whether the women’s ministry will still be allowed to operate elsewhere.

The official figures of the Taliban’s government who are currently representing their rule are all men.

Pelin Unsal (11), who is from Turkey and has been keeping up with the news around Middle Eastern foreign policy, is concerned about how the Taliban’s rule will affect human rights, especially for minorities, and how the U.S. will respond to this suppression of liberties.

“The current rule under the Taliban is really going to affect women’s rights, really going to affect the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals,” Pelin said. “It’s going to be terrible, and I’m really nervous to see like how the U.S. is going to respond, if they’re going to be genuinely willing to help, or if they’re going to try to make some economic moves to benefit themselves, or whether they’re even really going to care about the human lives that are going to be lost.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

100,000

Afghan people evacuated

600,000

Refugees fled Afghanistan

65,000 Afghans Biden hopes to resettle in September

AFGHAN FRIENDS

Supports women, girls, and educators through building schools in Afghanistan afghanfriends.net

DESIGN BY MICHELLE LIU AND SARAH MOHAMMED

ALL DATA FROM UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

0

Marjan Naderi, an Afghan-American literary artist and the 2020 D.C. Youth Poet Laureate, remembered anticipating turmoil as the U.S. began to remove troops from Afghanistan. She kept her distance from the media and the news until her mother started watching the current events on television.

“We kind of had this unspoken tension in the home, where I had seen my mother and her depression calling back in, but I didn’t know what to say because I had known the reason why, but no words that would leave my mouth would be enough to comfort her, other than saying, ‘We’re here now,’” Naderi said.

In remembrance of their home country, Naderi and her mother reached for the albums of photographs they had taken in Afghanistan. They spent the day looking through 20 albums.

“It felt like a funeral for my country,” Naderi said.

Afghanistan fell to the Taliban on Aug. 15 after the Afghan government fell as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. The United Kingdom has completed their evacuations and withdrew from Afghanistan, although Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced that he will try to help more Afghans leave, and the United States is set to meet its deadline of leaving Afghanistan by Aug. 31. Many Afghan people have gone to the Kabul airport in hopes of leaving, some clinging to the wings of planes in hopes of being able to leave. As of Sep. 2, over 100,000 people have been evacuated.

Gunmen and two suicide bombers affiliated with ISIS-K attacked the Kabul airport on Aug. 26, killing at least 60 Afghans and 13 members of U.S. troops.

Since then, the identities of the Americans who died in the airport attack have been released, and the United States held an airstrike that killed an Islamic State member.

“I’m deeply, deeply saddened by the number of servicemen and women who lost their lives in the bombing outside the airport,” upper school history teacher Byron Stevens said. “Wars are ugly, and ending wars are just as chaotic as starting them can be sometimes.”

President Biden gave a statement on Aug. 28 about the attack at the Kabul airport. According to the statement, the US evacuated 6800 more people on Aug. 27, and Biden also spoke about the U.S. troops that died in the attack.

“The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others,” Biden said in the statement. “Their bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety thus far. May God protect our troops and all those standing watch in these dangerous days.”

Since deciding to withdraw US troops from Afghanistan in April of 2021, President Biden has defended his choice.

“I stand squarely behind my decision,” Biden said in a statement on Aug. 16. “After 20 years, I’ve learned the hard way that there was never a good time to withdraw U.S. forces.”

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MICHELLE LIU

sarah mohammed & olivia xu isha moorjani & lucy ge

PROVIDED BY MARJAN NADERI

S:

DOUBLETRUCK

12 WINGED POST Editors-in-Chief Michelle Liu Emily Tan

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 OPINION VOLUME

Dress code: Trust in transparency

Open communication needed to mend fractured community trust

Managing Editor Mark Hu News Editor Isha Moorjani Features Editor Sarah Mohammed A&E/ Lifestyle Editor Sally Zhu Opinion Editor Muthu Panchanatham STEM Editor Sabrina Zhu Assistant STEM Editor Arjun Barrett

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

Photo/Video Editor Esha Gohil Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editors-in-Chief Nicole Tian Alysa Suleiman Aquila Managing Editors Arely Sun Lucy Ge Irene Yuan 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 Reporters Sriya Batchu Shinjan Ghosh Smrithi Sambamurthy Jasleen Hansra Rachel Ning Ritika Rajamani Lakshmi Mulgund Carter Chadwick Tina Xu 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.

2020-2021 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2019-2020 NSPA Best-in-show, First Place 2019-2020 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2018-2019 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2017-2018 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2016-2017 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2021 CSPA Silver Crown 2019 CSPA Gold Crown 2018 CSPA Gold Crown 2017 CSPA Silver Crown 2016 CSPA Gold Crown

© 2021 Harker Journalism Publications

EDITORIAL: THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST

editorial board Over the past three weeks, discussions of the enforcement of dress code have spilled over to lunch tables, taken over Instagram posts and generated polarizing conversations in class.

At the school meeting on Aug. 30, Dean of Students Kevin Williamson delivered an announcement informing students of acceptable attire.

Williamson followed up with emails on Aug. 31 and Sept. 3, asking students to review the guidelines in the Student Handbook and noting that student organizations such as Associated Student Body (ASB), Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) and Honor Council would act as moderators in the process of examining the frustrated sentiments stemming from the strict enforcement of the dress code after Williamson’s initial announcement.

On behalf of the student community, we noticed that the contention wasn’t caused by the existence of the dress code.

It was catalyzed by phrasing the administration used, stating that dress defined “respect for the many ethnicities and religious backgrounds that are a part of our rich and culturally diverse community, our teachers in the classrooms, as well as the many visitors that we host on campus each day.” Furthermore, the immediate enforcement of the guidelines after Mr.

Williamson’s initial email did not provide students with enough time to obtain appropriate clothing.

On the other hand, students’ scathing remarks on social media and in conversations with their peers have not worked toward a resolution. Instead, they only fuel the fire. While dress is the topic of contention, the root of the issue lies in the lack of trust between members of our community, stemming from our time apart.

Although our community may encounter disagreements of a similar scale in the future, learn from the process we have endured, so that we can prevent this erosion of trust moving forward Sudden and strict enforcement of vague guidelines for dress does not contribute to a positive learning environment, but neither do charged conversations. Students and administration must work together to create a set of mutually agreed upon rules.

The town hall on Sept. 8, which saw attendance of 70 to 100 students and 27

Our first month back together

michelle liu, emily tan & mark hu We hope the first month of school has been going well for you all!

Here at Winged Post Headquarters, we’ve kept our eye on both big international stories and local feature pieces.

As our school lives ramp up, we want to continue being the first line of Harker history by documenting the story of our campus, and we hope you enjoy seeing your first month at school represented in paper and ink.

You may have noticed some recurring titles with logos in the paper: “Global Reset,” “Pulse of the People” and more.

These are our repeaters: broad topics that we feel are necessary to cover in every

speakers, was a step in the right direction as it provided a platform for students to be heard by the administration and express their opinions without fear of retribution, facilitating civilized conversations between students and administrators to settle the issue. Instead of expressing frustrations in private, build trust by communicating with the administration in the following ways: participate in future town hall discussions, email members of administration politely or send your opinions to Harker Aquila so that we can include your voice in our coverage.

Follow up conversation with transparency. Members of ASB, Honor Council, SDC, Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA), and FEM club will represent student interests in an effort to continue conversations with the administration regarding dress code. Updates from these meetings should be distributed to the upper school community.

Even after resolving the contention around the dress code, anticipate that future events will cause the same erosion of trust between students and administration. By rebuilding trust, we also create a blueprint for the future.

For more about the history of Harker’s dress code, read Muthu’s commentary and context about this topic on “Dress code: the past, the present, and the possible future” on Aquila

Corrections TO ISSUE 1 FEATURES 5: “‘Changes: Redefining who we are’”: • Captions for photos should be switched.

issue of the paper. We wanted to dedicate a section of our STEM pages to climate change, a pressing issue affecting the world, hence the creation of our repeater “Global Reset”—so you can expect to see its blue and green globe at the top of a STEM page in each issue. With every iteration of a repeater, we deepen our coverage of the topic at hand.

FEATURES 6: “Art Club murals for empowerment”: • In “Meet the Artists,” Claire Su (10) was misidentified as a freshman.

We would love to hear from you—yes you!—about your thoughts on the paper

DOUBLETRUCK 10/11: ”A Campus of many homes”: • Juhi Madala’s last name is misspelled as “Mandala” • Photos of Zhang Gymnasium and Shah Hall should be switched.

• “Gymnasium” is misspelled as “gynmasium.”

• “Pendulum” is misspelled as “pedulum.”

But at the end of the day, as always, we create this paper for you guys, the Harker community— not ourselves. We welcome reader input, so please feel free to reach out to us at harkeraq@gmail.com with either a Letter to the Editor or with a request to write a guest column that may be featured in the Winged Post, on Harker Aquila, or both. We would love to hear from you—yes you!—about your thoughts on the paper. Can’t wait to hear what you think!

OPINION 13: ”Space travel enters the final frontier”: • Third sentence of first paragraph is cut off. The sentence should read, “In a video from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Perseverance Rover touches down on Mars’ Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021.”

OPINION 9: ”Talk around campus: Back to school”: • Vika Gautham’s attribution is missing a parenthesis.

SPORTS: • Pg 17: “Freeball” photo was taken by Tiffany Chang, and “To the point” photo was taken by Jessica Tang.

• Pg 18: Photo of junior Deeya Kumar was taken during practice, not during a game as the caption states.

DESIGN BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

WINGED POST 13

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 OPINION VOLUME

First Asian Marvel superhero movie makes waves Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings sets new records arely sun

4/5 Eagles

I never thought I would see the quintessential Marvel theme song fade into a shot full of Chinese characters Rotten Tomatoes, bringing it to fifth place out of all 25 Marvel movies according to the Tomatometer, and fans took to social media to praise the movie, deeming it the best solo Marvel movie yet.

And I wholeheartedly agree with all the accolades given to the movie. It beautifully traces the titular character’s (played by Simu Liu) reconciliation with his past as a trained assassin working for his father Wenwu’s (played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai) criminal organization as well as the family’s shared grief over Shang-Chi’s mother Ying Li’s (played by Fala Chen) untimely death.

In contrast to the 2020 live action rendition of “Mulan,” which Disney touted as a celebration of Chinese culture but ultimately fell short with historical inaccuracies and westernization, “Shang-Chi” accurately depicts multiple facets of Chi-

$363.3 Million box office

92% Rotten Tomatoes

PG-13 Rating

$94 Million opening

18 Song track

Cast members

51

ILLUSTRATION BY TIFFANY CHANG

Minute run time

Date released

Dialogue in

2 languages

On Disney+

Nov. 12 DATA FROM IMDB

nese culture from mythological creatures to different traditional martial arts styles.

Not to mention, about half of the film’s dialogue was spoken in Mandarin, and the repeat-worthy soundtrack featured Asian and Pacific Islander artists.

Nonetheless, I particularly loved the stunning martial arts fight scenes: the elegant kung fu of Wenwu and Ying Li in a bamboo forest; Shang-Chi’s expert kicks on a moving bus; the fast-paced conflict between Shang-Chi and Ten Rings soldiers on scaffolding above Macau. Fight choreographers excellently established clean pacing and rhythm, and the creative camerawork, which involved the camera

following the characters and shaking upon the impact of a blow, really added tension and dynamic motion. I loved the contrast between Chinese-boxing-inspired and Tai-chi-based fight styles to differentiate separate groups.

While the film was laden with CGI during the scenes in the mythical village of Ta Lo, especially during the final battle featuring Chinese mythological creatures, these effects did not distract me because of their magical execution. In comparison to other fairytale-esque Marvel movies such as “Thor: The Dark World,” “ShangChi” incorporates elements of fantasy effortlessly into the fictional universe, mak-

ing the cinematic experience sublime.

For the cast, renowned Hong Kong movie star Tony Leung carried out most of the emotional scenes. An actor best known for his ability to convey subtle nuances in a character, Leung brings humanity to cold-blooded killer Wenwu, communicating his grief for his wife and love for his children despite his power and deplorable actions. I (and others) consider him the best and possibly the most complex Marvel villain to date. I somewhat enjoyed the sprinkling of humor throughout the movie by Awkwafina (Katy Chen, Shang-Chi’s friend) and Ben Kingsley (Trevor Slattery, pseudo villain from “Iron Man 2” who makes a cameo), which felt far less artificial than the out-of-place jokes in “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Widow”—seriously, I love Yelena Belova, but is it realistic to be spewing snark when your life’s on the line?

At the same time, unfortunately, Leung’s caliber eclipses the acting of other cast members, even overshadowing the titular protagonist. Liu incontestably is an excellent martial artist, but his limited range of facial expressions in comparison to Leung’s throughout the film paint Shang-Chi as flat. The writing and placement of their jokes still felt formulaic in Marvel blockbuster fashion.

PROVIDED BY AUSTNA XU

Heart of Harker is our guest column where a member of our community takes the mic and expresses their opinion on a topic

For as long as I remember, my childhood has been filled with tokens of my heritage and ancestry: for nine years I attended a local Chinese-run art studio, like most Chinese kids I took those dreaded language courses, and every school I’ve attended has had a predominant Asian demographic. Yet despite all these reminders, I often find myself struggling to make sense of the culture I was raised in.

After all, I quit my language classes after a few years, my sister and I have only been to China twice, and my family rarely celebrates traditional festivals. Knowing this and the fact that many members of the Harker community come from various backgrounds, I’ve often wondered how many other students or faculty have felt the same way, the desire to feel connected to a culture while it seems to slip further and further away from grasp.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full poem

Eight years ago, I witnessed my first marriage.

One of two cities, Two lives, Two cultures, One family.

My grandma left the bustling streets of Shanghai For the quiet suburbs of Milpitas– Not out of choice

And like love, Unyielding and infinitely stubborn, That day marked the back end barrage Of things out of my control Like turning our living room into a gallery for newspaper scraps, With nothing but a thin veil separating us from her Like watching her spill deep black ink onto herself, You can still spot the stain if you look hard enough It was during that time I learned that, In China, the person in the passenger seat does not need a seatbelt And that, In China, dinner tables are a place for lobster shells and fish bones And that, In China…

In China…

In China…

There are no equals in this marriage.

GOLDEN MEMORIES Austina’s grandmother Yingquan Wang moved from Shanghai to Milpitas eight years ago. She turned 91 years old this year.

PROVIDED BY AUSTNA XU

OF HARKER

Zhao Shen, I smear your lips with lotus cake Not so that only sweet honey may pour from your tongue But so you may spare some time to listen To a girl whose hearth burns not as strong And whose family’s flame too weak to make you proud, In hopes that you will open her eyes As did your lover when she casted aside Heaven’s curse.

And so, Great God of Hearth and all that I desire, Listen, And let me be consumed by your fire

PROVIDED BY AUSTNA XU

Ode to the kitchen god: a poem

EART

guest writer

132

Aug. 16

Although I have some minor gripes with “Shang-Chi,” it stands as a wonderful celebration of Chinese culture as well as what I would consider the best Marvel origin movie.

ILLUSTRATION BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

As a Chinese American accustomed to seeing Asian faces excluded from blockbuster movies, I never thought I would see the quintessential Marvel theme song fade into a shot full of Chinese characters; I never thought I would see an American superhero sit with his friend’s family eating congee or partake in tomb-sweeping at the Qingming Festival, but it’s finally happened.

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” opened in theaters on Sept. 3 and instantly began to break records: first Marvel movie released exclusively in theaters since 2019, highest Labor Day box office opening, first Marvel movie to feature an Asian lead hero. It received 92% on

austina xu

Arely’s Ranking

CULTURE CONNECTION Yingquan Wang works in a lab while studying organic chemistry during her time in university.

DESIGN BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

14 WINGED POST

STEM

STEM Spotlight is a repeater that features Harker clubs. This issue dives into HarkerDEV, which creates new software to help the Harker community. mark hu & ethan liu HarkerDev, the Harker School’s official student software development organization, was founded in 2016 by Neeraj Aggarwall (‘18), David Melisso (‘19), Rithvik Panchapakesan (‘19), Joel Manning (‘19) and Ryan Adolf (‘19) for a coding challenge sponsored by the upper school administration to create a planner website for the school. The team won with their website planner.harker.org and has since released nine different projects since its inception in 2016, including the Bell Schedule and Harker Pay. Led by adviser Dr. Eric Nelson, upper school computer science department chair, the organization is dedicated to making Harker student and faculty life easier through software development. The club is run by two administrators, who set up meetings and general timelines for projects and represent the club when talking with school administration and Information Technology (IT) staff, and nine active members who work on the projects.

In the past year, HarkerDev updated its Bell Schedule to accommodate online classes, adding an alarm to notify students when classes started. The app can be customized based on a student’s class schedule and includes the lunch menu for every day.

About 1/5 of adults living in the US have suffered from chronic pain in their life, with about 7% of adults having high-impact chronic pain that limits their everyday activities. Additionally, chronic pain is more likely to affect women and elderly people. In 2010, the total costs of chronic pain treatment for adults in the US alone was estimated to be up to $635 billion.

The current way we receive healthcare in America has been flawed for decades, from the lack of insured Americans to the exorbitantly high prices, but Andrew Jin (‘15) has been working on a startup to create new solutions for musculoskeletal and chronic pain conditions and to treat those afflicted by chronic pain quickly and effectively.

When Jin was a senior in 2015, he received the top prize of the Intel Science Talent Search (STS). His research studied mutations in the human genome associated with the immune system and brain functions. The STS selected Jin out of 1,844 applicants across the nation and awarded him the Medal of Distinction for Global Good.

After graduating from Harker, Jin pursued computer science at Harvard University, but he first began his STEM journey at Harker’s middle school, taking up an interest in programming after joining Harker in seventh grade. At the upper school, he took more courses and extracurriculars to further explore science.

Jin continued to learn about computer science throughout high school by attending Harker’s Annual Research Symposium, where students can showcase their projects and listen to the other student presentations and Stanford lectures.

He also conducted research related to machine learning and biology, including cancer and genetics, and took various science classes. Jin notes that Harker’s network of formative mentors helped instill in him a unique sense of innovation and motivation to further advance in STEM. “There were just a ton of different amazing support systems, and just kind of a ton of awesome role models who sort of paved the way for us,” Jin said. “As freshmen, we were able to go to the research symposiums and listen to the topics of the juniors and the seniors. Harker really invests a lot of resources into doing those support systems, having the right teachers in place to really allow students to thrive and pursue their passions.”

After spending a couple of years at Facebook working on search ranking and core growth, Jin decided “to scratch [his] entrepreneurial itch” and to make a big-

ger impact on the world, especially in the healthcare industry. His childhood in Silicon Valley inspired him to create change through a startup company. Deciding to take a risk, Jin, with the help of one of his friends, Shashwat Kishore, then started his own company, Dorsal Health, which aims to provide cheaper and more efficient care for people with musculoskeletal and chronic pain conditions.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Q&A WITH ANDREW

Q: When did you first discover your interest in STEM?

Q: What inspired you to enter the healthcare industry?

A: “[I was] able to take the Advanced Placement Computer Science class in freshman year.

That really kicked off my personal STEM journey.”

A: “I wanted to do something more tangible, where I could actually see my work translate into the real world and affect real people in a shorter time span.”

Girls Programming League inspires female students to compete in annual programming competition REFLECTING ON THE EVENT “I liked how the keynote speaker was really honest about her journey in CS. She said that she made a lot of mistakes, but it was all part of the learning process” PR

O

VI

DE D B Y J U LIA

KABIR RAMZAN (10) HARKER DEV MEMBER

PROVIDED BY ALEXA LOWE

ALEXA LOWE (12) PROGRAMMING CLUB CO-PRESIDENT

After the morning competition concluded, Shobana Radhakrishnan, Director of Engineering at Google TV, delivered a keynote speech about her journey in computer science, challenges she faced along her career path, and the skills she

IN

K

“[The challenge] not only encourages [participants] to try out competitive programming, but also to hear about professionals”

N

Garnering 76 teams across 45 schools and a total of 120 participants, the Girls Programming League (GPL) and the Harker Programming Club (HPC) co-hosted the fourth annual GPL challenge through Zoom on Sep. 19 to promote interest in computer science among female and nonbinary students.

The event, with a theme of computer science and entertainment, consisted of a programming competition between teams of up to three middle or high school students and speaker sessions. Students could choose to participate in both activities or to only attend the latter. “[The GPL challenge] is a programming competition geared towards girls in middle school and high school,” HPC co-president, Alexa Lowe (12), said. “It not only encourages them to try out competitive programming, but also to hear about professionals who have chosen a career in computer science.”

The challenge began at 8:00 a.m. with

a two-hour long competition. Students of all programming skill levels could attend.

Each team of students had 90 minutes to solve a set of ten programming problems, with novice and advanced teams working on different problem sets.

SUSAN KING HPC ADVISER

D BY SUSA

ella yee & catherine wong

DE

SPEAKING FOR CHANGE Panelists Dr. Pei Cao, Jenny Lin, Lynn Root and Pavitra Rengarajan (’12) speak at the GPL Challenge on Sept. 18. The event invited female and nonbinary students and centered around themes of computer science and entertainment.

“We have remarkable people who have given a lot of energy to this effort for mostly people they don’t know” VI

SABRINA ZHU

LI

O

“[Bell schedule] has helped me know the schedule every day, which is quite important for knowing when my classes are and going to them at the correct times during the day,” Kailash Ranganathan (12) said.

The HarkerDev staff have also taken advantage of the time away from campus to develop a variety of new projects, including an app for drop-in college counseling. The College Counseling Drop-In app, or CoCo for short, is slated to release in September this year, along with a Bus Schedule app that allows students to check daily Harker bus routes and pickup times.

“One part of HarkerDev is [that] we have an amazing team,” Kabir Ramzan (10), a HarkerDev member, said. “We have lots of members who all share that same passion of creating applications to help the community, so we’re able to work together to make that impact. As a result, we can maintain a lot of different complex applications simultaneously just because we have the people to do that.”

All of HarkerDev’s projects can be found at dev.harker.org. Recruitment for the club will be announced at the start of second semester, and students interested in joining the club can email dev@harker. org if they have any questions.

JULIANA LI (9) HPC MEMBER

NA

PROVIDED BY KABIR RAMZAN

“We have lots of members who all share that same passion of creating applications to help the community”

PR

HarkerDEV

margaret cartee & sabrina zhu

Andrew Jin (‘15) applies problemsolving at his healthcare startup

PROVIDED BY ANDREW JINN

Blooming from the STEM covers Harker alumni thriving in STEM

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021

G

gained through these experiences.

In the afternoon, participants engaged in an interactive panel session with leaders at Youtube, Spotify, Netflix and Instagram. During the session, panelists spoke on technical topics, such as ranking and recommendation systems, as well as their personal experiences as women in the computer science industry. The event concluded with an awards ceremony.

Officers of GPL and HPC organized the event behind the scenes. While the front end team focused on publicizing the event and organizing registration, the back end team wrote contest questions and tested the grading system.

Even with the preparation, unexpected factors out of the officers’ control led to a server crash with the contest’s grading system, but the officers were quick to adapt to the circumstances.

“It was amazing how fast the officers were brainstorming how to deal with [the server crash],” said Susan King, upper school computer science teacher and HPC adviser.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY ARJUN BARRETT

STEM

VOLUME 23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021

SOS: SAVE OUR SEAS

Global Reset covers climate change news relevant to our community

Climate change disrupts local marine ecosystems

WINGED POST 15 What does climate change do?

ocean

ACIDIFICATION seawater pH has decreased by 30% over the past 200 years

rising

TEMPERATURES upper meters of oceans increase by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit per century

coastal

EROSION 24% of the world’s beaches erode over 0.5 meters every year

ALYSA SULEIMAN

ocean

KELP FORESTS Monterey Bay Aquarium visitors watch native species, including the giant kelp, in one of the establishment's exhibitions.

The aquarium protects marine species by providing information about climate change and maintaing research and surrogacy programs.

DEFINITION Ocean acidification (n): Carbon dioxide entering seawater and lowering its pH cies. As of 2016, 1.8 million people visit the aquarium every year.

“It really is a great special place,” visitor Timothy Treadwell said. “It's a great tool to wake people up and get an aware-

“[Clean] up trash you see on the ground, because, even if you don’t think about it, that can get in a storm drain and flow out straight to the bay” NIKA LEBEDEV (11) MARINE BIOLOGY CLUB CO-PRESIDENT

to be a protected area along California’s coast and covers a total of 2,096 square miles of the Pacific Ocean.

Increasing damage left by climate change harms MBNMS and its ecosystems. Carbon dioxide, released into the atmosphere from emissions, increases ocean acidification levels. Now, the ocean is already 30% more acidic than it was before the burning of fossil fuels popularized. And when waters acidify rapidly and at unprecedented speeds, species may experience sharp declines in populations or

even go entirely extinct.

Oceans have been warmed by 0.14 degrees Fahrenheit per decade over the past century. As of 2020, 5652 marine species were considered threatened, with 300 categorized as critically endangered. “[There may be] some [changed] migration in species that are trying to find more of those cooler waters. Those could be animals traveling further up north in ranges that they're not used to being in before,” Monterey Bay Aquarium sustainability manager Claudia Tibbs said.

The aquarium provides information related to sustainable seafood, plastic pollution, and climate change. According to Tibbs, the aquarium, since 2017, has been committed to formalizing a sustainability program along with their already existing mission to reduce the sources of ocean plastic pollution.

After one year break, the upper school also relaunched the Marine Biology club this year. The club hopes to hold lectures about marine species and plan to host beach cleanups. Additionally, the club encourages community members to take certain steps to protect Monterey Bay. “Watch what you’re eating, where it’s from, especially seafood. In addition, even at Harker, [clean] up trash you see on the ground, because, even if you don’t think about it, that can get in a storm drain and flow out straight to the bay,” Marine Bio club co-president Nika Lebedev (11) said.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

oxygen content has declined by 2% since the 1950s Data from NOAA, Scientific Reports, and IUCN

THE AQUARIUM: FAST FACTS LOCATION: 886 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA 93940 HOURS: every day from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Reservations are required during the pandemic

TICKET PRICES ADULT (18-64) $49.95 YOUTH (13-17) $39.95 CHILD (5-12) $34.95 SENIOR (65+) $39.95 Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium

IN A

ZH U

GIANT KELP Macrocystis pyrifera

ZH U

IN A

SA BR IN A

ZHU

- Endangered - Live in kelp forests - Feed on crabs, snails, urchins, and more - Can grow up to four feet long - Spend hours a day grooming fur

- Not endangered - Live in open waters - Feed on pollacks, larvae, and plankton - Can grow up to fifteen feet long - Can sting and paralyze prey

BR

BR

SEA OTTER Enhydra lutris

SA

SA

PACIFIC SEA NETTLE Chrysaora fuscescens

- Not endangered - Make up kelp forests, provide safe habitat - Rely on photosynthesis for energy - Can grow up to 175 feet long - Have gas-filled pockets to float

ALL ILLUSTRATIONS BY SABRINA ZHU

560 billion tons of CO2 absorbed. 30% increase in the acidity of surface waters. A roughly 50 times faster rate of change in oceanic pH. 5652 marine species considered threatened. This is the damage our waters have sustained in the last 250 years.

Yet, nestled within the towering coastal oaks, pines and cypress trees and frigid Northern Californian waters of the Monterey Bay, the community of environmentalists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium strives to provide an ocean sanctuary.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium, opened in 1984, educates the public about the marine ecosystems in Monterey Bay. The aquarium holds ten permanent exhibits and plans on opening a special exhibition, Into the Deep, next year. Within these displays, there are a total of 207 animal spe-

ness going in their minds of what's in the ocean and what mankind is doing to it.”

The ecosystems featured in the aquarium are found in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary (MBNMS).

This sanctuary was designated in 2012

PROVIDED BY NIKA LEBEDEV

sabrina zhu & alysa suleiman

DEOXYGENATION

Source: Monterey Bay Aquarium DESIGN BY SABRINA ZHU

16 WINGED POST

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 STEM VOLUME

Moderna announces new ‘combo’ vaccine

Booster shot can protect against COVID-19 and the common flu

STEM SCENE arjun barrett

AUSTRALIA’S SURVEILLANCE

I LL U

I LL

US

NASA’s Mars rover Perseverance has successfully extracted a sample of a Martian rock, “Rochette,” on September 1. Perseverance collected another sample from the same rock on September 8.

The samples are two of around 35 samples that NASA hopes to collect from the Jezero Crater. Rochette contains volcanic minerals, which will make radiometric dating possible. Analysis of the samples could answer questions about the existence of life on Mars.

“SMART” GLASSES N

IO AT TR

Facebook develops “smart” glasses I LL

US

Facebook released its first line of smart glasses on September 9. The RayBan Stories, starting at $299, are augmented reality (AR) glasses that can play music, take phone calls and capture photos or videos. The glasses also include a voice assistant named Facebook Assistant that can help capture hands-free photos. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that this launch is part of the company’s initiative to create a “metaverse” of virtual experiences.

R

HA

THEW

D

BY

M AT

DR. MATTHEW HARLEY BIOLOGY TEACHER

E

BY

FIO

NA

“I would understand if [people] are suspicious at first, but I do think that it is going to boost the vaccine turnout” FIONA YAN (10) PUBLIC HEALTH D E CLUB OFFICER ID PROV “I don’t think this is going to improve or hinder the percentage of people that are willing to take vaccines” A

M

S V AT H R A

SA PROV

ID

ED

SASVATH RAMACHANDRAN (12) RESEARCH CLUB OFFICER

How a 50 cent part is killing a trillion dollar industry Global semiconductor shortage hurts more than the tech sector

Scan to read full article

arjun barrett As the world transitions out of a pandemic, prospective car buyers have been dismayed to see that new cars are in short supply. Toyota, Honda and Volkswagen have all cut production by as much as 40%. Manufacturers are struggling to buy a key component of their cars: the microprocessor.

Microprocessors power every modern computer and smartphone, and less powerful chips are used in a variety of products. Although semiconductor chips are usually as cheap as the raw metals they contain, manufacturing them is a delicate and often expensive process.

The primary cause of the shortage has been the pandemic. As people turned to electronics to connect at home demand for microprocessors swelled.

“Even before the pandemic, the demand for electronics had grown quite a bit,” Jai Durgam, CEO of the IC design company Eteros Technologies, said.

“There was a boom in gaming and cryptocurrency that required huge amounts of processing power. There just wasn’t enough supply for all the orders.”

Hardware will be in short supply until the shortage subsides, which researchers believe could take multiple years.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

Perseverance rover collects its first Martian rock

IO AT TR

N BY AREL YS U

N

ID

BY

N BY AREL YS U IO AT TR

US

MARTIAN ROCK

“Most flu vaccines are already a [combination] of multiple strains,” upper school biology teacher Dr. Matthew Harley said. “Having one of these mRNA vaccines either as is or [as a] new version along with some flu vaccines - there’s no reason not to do that and to help prevent the spread of both of those illnesses.”

Data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) shows that the Pfizer-Bi-

PROV

RAN

I LL

China has restricted gaming time to three hours per week for citizens under 18 years of age. Young gamers will only be allowed to play from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. Video game publishers and studios will be required to employ age verification with real names for all Chinese players outside of the permitted gaming hours. State officials have stated that the goal is to counteract gaming and technology addictions in teens.

DEFINITION Spike protein (n): a protein that sticks out of the surface of a virus and allows it to enter a host

“I think the reception will be fantastic.

People that don’t have negative stigma against it will recognize the science”

ND

China limits online gaming time for minors

HOW DO YOU THINK THE PUBLIC WILL RESPOND?

HA

N

Moderna announced the development of a new booster vaccine that protects against both COVID-19 and the influenza virus on Sept. 9, with testing expected to begin over the next six to 12 months. The vaccine, also referred to as mRNA-1073, “encodes for the COVID-19 spike protein and the Flu HA glycoproteins,” which lie on the surface of influenza viruses.

oNTech and Moderna mRNA vaccines remain effective in deterring severe cases of COVID-19, preventing approximately 90% of infections. However, the ability of these vaccines to protect against milder cases wanes over time as antibodies diminish.

As a result, some studies have proposed booster shots. Only those who have already received an mRNA vaccine are permitted to receive a booster shot, after a recommended period of eight months.

Although uncertainties abound about the approval of a booster shot, Moderna forges ahead with innovating technologies, such as a more extensive shot that includes vaccinations against respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV), which causes mild symptoms similar to the common cold but can severely affect infants and the elderly. In the future, Moderna envisions an annual booster shot that provides updated immunizations against current COVID-19 variants and influenza strains.

“The COVID virus won’t go away. Instead, it’ll become like a common flu virus,” Public Health Club officer Fiona Yan (10) said. “Given that this virus is going to be around for a long time, I think that the vaccine will make an impact even after COVID peters out.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

C

GAMING IN CHINA

emma gao & kinnera mulam

Y

ST R

The Australian government passed the Surveillance Legislation Amendment (Identify and Disrupt) Bill 2021 on August 25. The bill, intended to disrupt cybercrime, created three new types of warrants: data disruption warrants, network activity warrants and account takeover warrants. All three warrants can be obtained either in court or via an emergency authorization process, which does not require court approval, prompting pushback from digital rights activists.

N BY AREL YS U

ILLUSTRATION BY SABRINA ZHU

IO AT

N BY

NICOL

Australia passes controversial surveillance bill

LE

ET IA

N

What are microprocessors?

Microprocessors are small electronic devices that monitor a computer’s functions on a single integrated circuit. They usually include the logic and control units.

What are they found in?

All computers and smartphones have microprocessors. Less powerful ones are employed in electric toothbrushes, refrigerators, television sets, and much more.

DESIGN BY SABRINA ZHU

WINGED POST 17

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 SPORTS VOLUME

Fall sports blaze through start of seasons

Fall Sports Home Game Calendar

Girls tennis team places second in San Diego Invitational Tournament

Oct. 5 - Varsity Girls Tennis vs Menlo School at 4:15 p.m. at the Blackford Campus Oct 5 - Varsity Boys Water Polo vs. Gunn High 4:30 p.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center Oct. 5 - JV Boys Water Polo vs.

Gunn High at 5:45 p.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center Oct. 5 - Varsity Girls Water Polo vs. Gunn High 4:00 p.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center Oct. 7 - Varsity Girls Water Polo vs. Castilleja School at 4:30 p.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center

ALYSA SULEIMAN

Oct. 9 - JV Boys Water Polo vs.

Palo Alto at 11:30 a.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center

STAYING HYDRATED Zeke Wang (11) drinks water during the varsity football team's game against Valley Christian, which they lost 32-18.

Girls Golf

N

ERICA CAI

TIFFANY CHANG

Cross Country The cross country team has participated in two meets this season thus far - the Lowell Invitational on Sept. 11 and the Ram Invitational on Sept. 25. The team will compete next at the Artichoke Invitational at Half Moon Bay High School on Oct. 2.

RIGO GONZALES (11)

"[The Ram Invitational] plays into the rest of the season as a chance for the athletes to see how they stack up against other teams outside of our division. It gave them a chance to [go against state level competition]."

OLIVER ROMAN (9)

Water Polo The girls varsity and boys junior varsity and varsity water polo teams currently have winning overall records of 8-6, 8-5 and 8-2, respectively. All three teams will face Gunn High on Oct. 5 at home at 4:30 p.m.

"We have an experienced crew that grinds the other teams down. I’d like to see us not be cocky because the JV team wins most of their games, but still you really have to come out hard at the start of every game.”

PR

W

AT

IC

A

OF C MM U N O

C A C AI

D BY SARA

E RI

DE

CE

VI

MIA PURNELL CROSS COUNTRY HEAD COACH

ALYSA SULEIMAN

LAKSHMI MULGUND

JESSICA TANG TIFFANY CHANG

NORAH MEHANNA (9) MEMBER OF VARSITY VOLLEYBALL TEAM

FI

O N

SARA WAN (11) MEMBER OF GIRLS TENNIS TEAM

IO

F

PR

“Everyone on the team is really fun.

We have a lot of inside jokes, and that makes practice really enjoyable. [Our captain] Anishka Raina (12) brings a lot of energy and is also in charge of [playing music using] the aux as well.”

C

ANISHKA RAINA (12)

The varsity girls tennis team, who won CCS last year, are currently 4-0 in league play.

The girls placed second in the San Diego Invitational Tournament last weekend. They will travel to Castilleja to play an away match this Thursday at 4:00 p.m.

OF C MM U N O

Girls Tennis

NORAH MEHANNA (9)

AT

IO

N

Oct. 9 - JV Girls Volleyball vs.

Castilleja School 12:30 p.m. in the Athletic Center Oct. 9 - Varsity Girls Water Polo vs. Menlo-Atherton at 1:45 p.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center

"We hang out during our free time, and we have team lunches. Even if we come back from a game where we got our butts kicked, we go to practice the next day with a lot energy and a mindset to improve."

CE

OU

JESSICA ZHOU (11) MEMBER OF VARSITY GIRLS GOLF TEAM

The freshman, junior varsity and varsity girls volleyball teams currently have league records of 0-8, 3-6 and 2-7, respectively.

All three teams still have seven games left to play on their league schedules.

FI

YA

ZH

A

D B Y A A D IT

D B Y J E SS IC

DE

AT I

DE

VI

UL

VI

O G

JESSICA ZHOU (11)

“We have a relatively new team, and we're still getting to know each other.

I think we have a shot to repeat at CCS Champs. It’s going to be hard, but I can see our game improving [a lot] as we play more together.”

O

AADITYA GULATI (12) WIDE RECEIVER ON THE FOOTBALL TEAM

Volleyball

O

“The motivation from [our losses to Lynbrook and Valley Christian pushed us through our game against Crystal Springs. We used all of that built-up anger and really fought hard to win, and I think that showed on the field.”

PR

AADITYA GULATI (12)

Coming off a CCS Championship last year, the varsity girls golf team currently has a league record of 4-3. They have nine more league matches to play before the WBAL Championships, which will be held at 11 a.m. on Oct. 25 at the Sunnyvale Municipal Golf Course.

F

The football team defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 54-46 last Thursday. They will play Priory this Friday and then return home to face off against Marina High on Oct. 9 for the annual Homecoming Game.

O

Football

Oct. 9 - Varsity Boys Water Polo vs. Palo Alto at 12:30 p.m. in the Singh Aquatic Center

VICTOR ADLER BOYS JUNIOR VARSITY WATER POLO COACH

Oct. 9 - Varsity Girls Volleyball vs. Castilleja School at 2:00 p.m. in the Athletic Center

Oct. 9 - Varsity Football vs.

Marina High School at 6:00 p.m. on Davis Field Oct. 11 - Varsity Girls Golf vs.

Castilleja School at 3:40 p.m. at the Bay View Golf Club Oct. 12 - Varsity Girls Tennis vs.

Sacred Heart Prep at 4:15 p.m. at the Blackford Campus

SPIRIT WEEK Oct. 1 Spirit Night When: 3:30 - 6 p.m.

Where: outside Manzanita What: karaoke, photo booth, food and lip sync prep

Oct. 4 Mind Games

What: live sudoku, word games, riddles, eagle painting judging and winners announced

Oct. 5 Dodgeball/Tug Of War Preliminary Rounds When: long lunch Where: Davis Field

Oct. 6 Trivia Day When: lunch and 3:30 - 5 p.m.

Who: groups of two to five can sign up using SAB forms

Oct. 7 Rally Day

Where: long lunch What: lip sync, dodgeball, musical dots, relay races

Oct. 8 Scavenger Hunt Who: groups of 2-5 people

DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN

50th anniversary of Title IX New Women in Sports Club works to increase support for female athletes

AR

N

TREASURER OF WOMEN IN SPORTS CLUB

AR

EL Y

SU

ARELY SUN

N

STRIKING A POSE Sarah Leafstrand (12), Ashley Barth (12), Nikela Hulton (12) and Kate Leafstrand (12) smile on Davis Field. The four founded the Women in Sports Club this year.

these years, they claim to have personally experienced differences between the perception of male and female athletes.

As sophomores, Sarah, Kate and Ashley played on the varsity girls soccer team, which placed first in league that year. Despite their success, they noticed a contrast between public support for the girls soccer team and the boys soccer team: although both teams were playing at a high level, many more students would attend the boys games.

“There was such a difference that really stood out to me between how many people were going to our games when we were undefeated and winning league,” Kate said. “There would be basically nobody in the stands, and then I would go to the boys games, and it was completely full. And the difference is pretty shocking.”

Gender-based inequalities continue to exist in the professional sphere of

Rupert Chen (11) avidly conquers marathons feat—to prepare, Rupert followed a 11week training program on Runcoach, an app designed to help runners optimize their training.

“It syncs with apps like Strava to analyze your running history and then creates a plan to take you to your target time, but based on whatever constraints you give it—for instance, you can switch

“There’s something very different about running long distance versus short distance: you have to be very mentally strong when running long distance and you can’t really go off of that physical sprint mentality”

PROVIDED BY RUPERT CHEN

Rupert completed the San Francisco Full Marathon on Sept. 19, first among the 16 and under age category and 182nd among the 3180 total participants. The race began at 5:40 a.m. near the ferry building, taking runners across the Golden Gate Bridge, into Golden Gate Park and through Mission District before concluding by the Bay Bridge.

Although this was his first full-length marathon, Rupert is no stranger to endurance exercise: until third grade, he lived in New York, where he trained for and participated in several century bike rides.

He took up running more seriously after moving to California, completing a half marathon without any sort of training in fifth grade and joining the cross country team in sixth grade.

“There’s something very different about running long distance versus short distance: you have to be very mentally strong when running long distance and you can’t really go off of that physical sprint mentality. You have to be mentally engaged and mentally prepared to finish,” Rupert said.

That added demand for mental fortitude is what drew Rupert to long-distance athletic events in the first place. As an avid Classics enthusiast, he quotes the Roman author Juvenal in describing how endurance exercise helps him achieve “mens sana in corpore sano,” which translates to “a sound mind in a sound body.”

Tackling the marathon was no easy

NIKELA HULTON (12)

“There was such a difference that really stood out to me between how many people were going to our games when we were undefeated and winning league. There would be basically nobody in the stands, and then I would go to the boys games, and it was completely full. And the difference is pretty shocking”

CROSSING THE FINISH LINE tiffany chang & claire bauschlicher

SU

Nearly 50 years have passed since the approval of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in academic activities.

At Harker, this discrimination seems to be gone: girls are offered 12 sports throughout the school year, and boys are offered 12 sports as well, 13 if football is counted.

In the 2018-19 school year, roster spots included a total of 236 girls and 275 boys for all fall, winter and spring sports. This year there are 94 girls and 85 boys signed up for fall sports, according to athletics director Dan Molin. But these objective numbers may not always tell the full story, as presented by the founding of the new Women in Sports club. Athletes Sarah Leafstrand (12), president; Kate Leafstrand (12), vice president; Nikela Hulton (12), treasurer and Ashley Barth (12), outreach manager have been playing sports for their four years of high school, participating in soccer, track, swimming and lacrosse. During

“I’ve personally heard people say ‘girls soccer, it’s not as competitive or as hard as the boys soccer team.’ That’s really pinpointing the fact that there’s a stigma against female sports.”

EL Y

This upcoming year marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of Title IX, which prohibits gender discrimination in academic activities including school sports. In each issue of the Winged Post this year, we will examine a different facet of the groundbreaking civil rights law. sally zhu & arely sun

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 SPORTS VOLUME

RUPERT CHEN (11) RAN THE SAN FRANCISCO FULL MARATHON

around long run days if a certain day of the week works best for that,” Rupert said.

“I felt perfectly prepared because I knew my pacing and I knew that I could hit my goal time, though I was a little nervous for the hills.”

At the beginning of the race, participants were placed in corrals based on

sports. The gender pay gap remains wide; for example, the average basketball player compensation for men is eight million dollars while the average for women is 75 thousand. In 2019, coverage of female athletes on television news and shows such as ESPN’s popular SportsCenter summed to only 5.4% of airtime—3.5% excluding airtime of that year’s Women’s World Cup—, according to a study at Purdue University, while male sports made up the remaining 95%. The study also noted a lack of improvement since 1989, when the percentage of coverage devoted to womens’ teams was 5%. Furthermore, according to a study from St. John Fisher College, beyond quantifiable measures, society regards sportswomen as more feminine and desire a specific appearance, an issue less common among male athletes.

The Women in Sports Club seeks to increase support for female athletes on

KATE LEAFSTRAND (12) VICE PRESIDENT OF WOMEN IN SPORTS CLUB

campus through their club initiatives, such as by having club members support girls teams by attending their games to match participation at boys games or speaker events featuring various female collegiate or professional athletes, including American Olympic mountain biker Kate Courtney. The club officers hope that such speaker events, college panels and fun community-building events that show the success of different female athletes will decrease the stigma around female sports.

“I’ve personally heard people say ‘girls soccer, it’s not as competitive or as hard as the boys soccer team’ or ‘they’re not playing as well’ or ‘their techniques aren’t as good just because they’re girls,’” Nikela said.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article

The APEX repeater profiles Harker athletes who compete at the highest level in their respective sports. This installment features Rupert Chen’s (11) experience running in the San Francisco Full Marathon on September 19. anticipated finish times. Due to some organizational flaws, Rupert ended up starting behind the pacing group for a 4:20 time despite planning to run a 3:30 time.

This mixup had both benefits and consequences for his performance.

“For the first four miles when it was flat, I didn’t really mind it because I was passing people so it was very fun,” Rupert said. “But then crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, I got stuck behind a pacing group that I shouldn’t have been behind. It was a bit maddening to be going 40 seconds slower than I was trying to, and I couldn’t get in front of them because of the bridge.”

Although his plan for pacing fell through, Rupert was able to accomplish all of the overarching goals he had set for himself prior to the marathon.

“I had several overlapping goals: first, to finish; second, to be faster than the men’s median time, which is [around 4:30:00]; then, to be faster than four hours and then, to be faster 3:30:00. And I was faster than 3:30:00, so that’s all of them, which I was happy with,” Rupert said.

More than anything else, completing the marathon provided Rupert with a feeling of satisfaction: a sense of relief knowing that it could be done and that his training paid off.

“Finishing the race, I motivated myself by thinking, after I finish this, I never have to do it again. But it didn’t take long for that to wear off. I’d love to do another one, and I want to eventually do an ironman—I just have to nail down the swimming portion,” Rupert said.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article

PROVIDED BY RUPERT CHEN

18 WINGED POST

IN THE MOMENT Rupert Chen (11) runs in the San Francisco Full Marathon on Sept. 19.

DESIGN BY MARK HU

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 SPORTS VOLUME

Our favorite photo selects of Harker sports, chosen by our sports journalism team

LAKSHMI MULGUND

FREEZE FRAME

WINGED POST 19

STRONG START Adam Sayed (10) and Kyle Li (9) warm up right before the junior varsity boys race at the Ram Invitiatonal. The team will participate in the Artichoke Invitational on Oct. 2 at 9:00 a.m.

PERFECT PUTT Khanhlinh Tran (9) putts the ball during the varsity girls golf team’s win over Notre Dame-Belmont on Sept. 2.

ALYSA SULEIMAN

LAKSHMI MULGUND

POWER AND PRECISION Anushka Mehrotra (11) swings during the girls tennis team’s match against Notre Dame-Belmont.

ALYSA SULEIMAN

FLY EAGLES FLY The cheerleading team cheers after a Harker first down during the football team’s game against Valley Christian on Sept. 10. The cheer team participates in every home football game.

ERICA CAI

TIFFANY CHANG

NOT IN MY HOUSE Freshman Oliver Roman blocks a pass from an opposing player during the junior varsity water polo team’s match against Los Gatos on Tuesday. The boys team won the game 13-3.

ESHA GOHIL

SCRAMBLE DRILL Rohan Gorti (11) rushes with the football during the varsity football team’s match against Lynbrook on Sept. 3. The football team currently has a record of 2-2.

TIFFANY CHANG

UP TEMPO Liza Shchegrov (12) swings from the middle during the varsity girls volleyball team’s match against Cupertino High on Sept. 10. The varsity girls team lost the match 3-0.

CARTER CHADWICK

DEFENSE FIRST Summer Adler (9) reaches for the ball during the varsity girls water polo team’s match against Mountain View on Sept. 9. The girls team defeated Mountain View 17-10.

TO THE HOUSE Maddux Carlisle (12) breaks a tackle during the football team’s game against Valley Christian on Sept. 10. The team will play Marina on Oct. 9 in the annual Homecoming Game.

DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN

20 WINGED POST

23 • ISSUE 2 OCTOBER 5, 2021 BACK PAGE VOLUME

emily tan, julie shi & edward huang

ILY

N TA

Vazhaeparambil (12), treasurer of Green Team, said.

Likewise, because they spend hours each day caring for the flora on campus, the groundskeepers hope for students to be mindful of their impact on the gardens; when students tread through plants, they create walkways without realizing their impact on the existing landscaping.

“Help me keep my plants alive. Some students do not realize this, so they make a shortcut [through the gardens], and they start to kill some plants at the corners,” Justo said. “We can’t go tell the kids, ‘Don’t do it,’ because we don’t have the right.”

Students can also do their part in keeping the campus healthy and tidy by properly disposing of their trash and being mindful of walking through landscaping or tracking tanbark and other debris onto the sidewalk.

“Be aware of walkways and surroundings,” Pacheco said. “We do everything we can to make this a beautiful place for you guys to come to every day—help us keep it that way.”

EM

IN ON THE GROUND FLORA Groundskeeper Jose Hernandez prunes dead matter off shrubs in the Quad on Sept. 16.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

ILY

AN

T

Interview with Luis MayorgaPerez originally conducted in Spanish

EM

For the grounds team, the workday starts early—pre-sunrise, 6:00 a.m. early.

That’s when Director of Grounds Steve Pacheco arrives at his office before hopping into his truck and heading over to one of the Harker campuses.

“I’m always striving to make [the grounds] look better,” Pacheco said. “Parents expect a certain beauty, and so I take a lot of pride in providing that every day.”

Within the next hour or so, lead groundskeeper Urdelin Justo and groundskeepers Luis Mayorga-Perez and Jose Hernandez start off their own workdays.

“I try to pick up all the trash on the floor to keep the area clean, so when you come to study, you see a pleasant space,” Mayorga-Perez said.

Besides the daily maintenance of weeding, pruning and cleaning, the team also carries out beautification projects.

“Nothing’s going to be the same,” Justo said. “If we cut some branches, you’re always going to see something [new] all the time.”

Beneath the surface, the grounds team manages the infrastructure that

keeps campus flora healthy. In addition to around 90% of the plants being California native, according to Pacheco, the team has also been gradually implementing changes to make maintenance more drought-friendly, such as by modifying the old spray irrigation into a drip irrigation system to save water.

From time to time, administration will also make requests for an extra pop of color in certain areas or for practical addons such as additional picnic tables in the orchard, a project that recently began with the help of ASB. They plan to finish this project in early November.

“We’re adding around five more tables for the orchard where students can come to sit, study, eat lunch and enjoy the flowers and the greenery around them,” ASB treasurer Aaditya Gulati (12) said.

Harker’s student-run environmental organization, Green Team, also aims to revitalize a garden on the roof of Nichols Hall that has been neglected for several years already. Students can access this little-known garden via a flight of stairs outside the building, although the door to the garden is currently locked.

“It hasn’t been cared for in a few years, so that’s why it’s something that Green Team wants to focus on this year. And it’s a lot of work caring for the garden,” Thresia

SETTING THE STAGE Groundskeeper Luis Mayorga-Perez evens out a layer of sediment in the orchard on Sept. 20 to prepare for the addition of another picnic table.

ROUGH AROUND THE HEDGES Lead groundskeeper Urdelin Justo reaches over a shrub to pick up pruned plant parts in the Quad on Sept. 16.

EM

ILY

TA N

L AL IO AT

ILY

TR US ILL

EM

TA N

NS

• Lead groundskeeper • 22nd year at Harker • Main focus: cleaning, pruning, taking care of plants, etc.

• Daily hours: 7:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

• Favorite part of job: always doing something different

LUIS MAYORGA-PEREZ

• Groundskeeper • 13th year at Harker • Previous occupation(s): computer assembler at Victron Inc. • Fun fact: came to the U.S. in 1990 • Favorite part of job: painting lacrosse lines onto the field

EMILY TAN

EMILY TAN

URDELIN JUSTO

JOSE HERNANDEZ

• Groundskeeper • Fourth year at Harker • Main focus: fixing irrigation, cleaning, pruning, taking care of plants • Favorite part of job: taking breaks (just kidding!)

• Favorite part of campus: the orchard

A SWEEPING SCENIC SIGHT A panorama of the orchard and picnic tables at the Saratoga campus on Thursday.

EMILY TAN

• Head of Grounds • Second year at Harker • Main focus: managing the all grounds of Harker properties • Previous occupation(s): golf professional, golf superintendent, director of grounds at Monte Vista Christian School

EMILY TAN

PHOTO TAKEN FROM LINKEDIN

STEVE PACHECO

N TA LY

MI

E BY

INDOOR SHOWERS Groundskeeper Jose Hernandez waters the flora inside Dobbins Hall with a watering wand on Sept. 17.

DESIGN BY EMILY TAN