Winged Post Volume 22, Issue 1

WINGED POST

THE HARKER SCHOOL 500 SARATOGA AVE.

PAID

SAN JOSE, CA 95129

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL

VOL. 22 NO.1

500 SARATOGA AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

ORANGE SKIES ABOVE THE BAY AREA Historic wildfires blaze across western US, forcing Harker community members to evacuate lucy ge news editor

PROVIDED BY PATTY MARSETTE

ESHA GOHIL

Over 7,800 fires have already rolled through 3.3 million acres in California in this historic wildfire season, forcing over 38,000 people to evacuate and damaging over 4,200 structures, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom during a press conference on Sept. 16.

The SCU Lightning Complex, east of San Jose, is now 98% contained, and the CZU Lightning Complex in the Santa Cruz Mountains is fully contained. Meanwhile, the August Complex Fire, which started in the Mendocino National Forest, is 39% contained, and the Creek Fire in Fresno and Madera County is 32% contained.

Despite high containment numbers, Newsom encouraged residents to remain “mindful” of the wildfires during a press conference on Sept. 8.

Upper school computer science department chair and physics teacher Dr. Eric Nelson, whose house remains intact in Boulder Creek, evacuated at 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 18 and monitored the progress of the fires near his house through satellite.

“All it is is red, orange and yellow dots, that’s all I see,” he said on Aug. 25. “But I can interpret the motion of those dots and watch over 3-hour increments as the fire moves A HOME LOST Lower school academic through the mountains and through my neighborhood.

APOCALYPTIC COLORS Orange-tinged smoke covers the East Washington and Oregon.

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School community embraces vulnerability in virtual Challenge Day news editor & aquila editor-in-chief

Nearly 900 upper school students and faculty attended a Challenge Day assembly over Zoom on Monday to learn about the importance of empathy and awareness in the community.

The event included several activities within the two-hour period: participants answered “would you rather” poll questions, listened to the Challenge Day facilitators share their stories, raised their hands to a series of prompts — a spin-off of the traditional “cross the line” exercise — and offered their own reflections.

“I would say the most memorable activity is the ‘raise your hand if you..’ one, where you got to see just how many people [have] the same issues that you do,” upper school English teacher Ohad Paran said. “Especially when you see everybody on the same screen, and people raising

their hands, you can see that we have a lot in common, even if we might seem superficially very different.”

“I thought it was a great event to at least force ourselves to think introspectively on how we’re doing and evaluate what we can do to make our own lives better” PROVIDED BY ROHAN THAKUR

lucy ge & anna vazhaeparambil

ROHAN THAKUR (11) HONOR COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE

This was the first mandatory Challenge Day, which resulted in a greater number of attendees. During the event,

facilitators challenged community members to write a letter to someone in the school and take the time to reflect on their own personal goals for the year.

“I feel like a lot of people aren’t really talking about what they’re going through in reality,” Rohan Thakur (11), who also attended the student leader Challenge Day event on Aug. 10, said. “I thought it was a great event to at least force ourselves to think introspectively on how we’re doing and evaluate what we can do to make our own lives better. It also forced ourselves to think about other people, and it seems like we’re losing that in quarantine.”

Throughout the event, students and faculty used the Zoom chat feature to send messages of comfort and support to those who chose to share their experiences and be vulnerable.

“It was a really good space for people to share,” Laurel Davies (9) said. “Just having people be okay with talking about themselves, I felt like that brought everyone closer in some small way.”

And as I watched that over the last week, it’s like watching a tree fall on a child in slow motion. It’s really miserable, because you can’t do anything about it.”

Upper school English teacher Beverley Manning’s house was burned down by the CZU Lightning Complex. Visit tiny. cc/bmfundraiser to donate to a fundraiser organized on her behalf by upper school director of community service Kerry Enzensperger, director of alumni relations Kristina Alaniz and director of sports medicine and sports performance Jaron Olson.

Upper school biology teacher Dr. Thomas Artiss, whose house is still standing in the Bonny Doon area of the Santa Cruz Mountains, evacuated on Aug. 19 after receiving an alert at 1 a.m.

After initially staying with friends in Scotts Valley, Dr. Artiss relocated to a family member’s condo in Santa Barbara.

“My wife and I had already discussed what to bring in case this happened, so I was pretty efficient in grabbing important documents, photos and a few keepsakes,” he said in an email interview.

Senior Sophia Gottfried evacuated from her house in the Sky Londa area of San Mateo County at midnight on Aug. 20.

After flying to stay in a family-rented house in Florida and attending Zoom classes from there despite a difference in time zones, on Sept. 12 she and her family returnd to California.

“The first few days [of evacuating], everyone [in my family] was extremely stressed,” she said. “It was just that atmosphere of panic. We were so relieved when our front got contained fairly quickly.”

Go to p. 10 for more.

Academic classes expected to stay remote for first semester due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns aditya singhvi aquila managing editor

As Santa Clara County loosens coronavirus restrictions with declining case counts, the Harker administration is considering resuming certain activities by the end of September but expects that academic courses will stay remote through the end of first semester.

The upper school began offering after-school outdoor fitness programs in stable cohorts of 12 students each last Tuesday, currently the only inperson option for students. According to head of school Brian Yager, other extracurricular activities that require inperson interaction — such as robotics, performing arts and certain community service clubs — may be allowed to resume on-campus as early as Sept. 29.

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DESIGN BY ARYA MAHESHWARI

2 WINGED POST

VOLUME 22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

‘Art has prevailed’:

NEWS

Performing arts prepare new versions of shows IRENE YUAN

sara yen

IRENE YUAN PROVIDED BY RACHELLE HAUN

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DR. DAVID HART INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC TEACHER

“We’re learning a lot of new things and it’s an exciting time. [Online class] is taking us beyond the confines of the regular classroom — we have a different kind of confines, but it creates opportunities for new creativity” PR O

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Online matriculation marks start of 2020-21 year

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Like the typical winter concert, students will have the chance to talk about each piece and showcase what they have been working on throughout the semester in virtual concerts.

Theater teacher Jeffrey Draper said the fall play will be recorded on video,

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“Now more than ever, we need music in people’s lives. When humans have gone through different times of struggle, we have a boundless capacity for expressing ourselves”

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“We’re starting to brainstorm a complete overhaul on how we choreograph using the screen”

some clips potentially recorded in the theater and others on Zoom. Beyond its film nature, the fall play will take on a new format this year as a collection of one-person mini-shows, based on the style of Anna Deavere Smith, an actress famous for her one-woman shows.

The dance show could range from completely in-person to fully online or a combination of both. Dance teacher Rachelle Haun said the choreographers will adapt their dance compositions to the strengths of Zoom.

“We’re starting to brainstorm a complete overhaul on how we choreograph using the screen [and] utilizing the cool things that we can do in this medium,” Haun said.

For the spring musical “Les Miserables,” Director of Performing Arts Laura Lang-Ree has three different versions planned: a movie, fully costumed with props and mics sent to students’ homes; a recorded on-stage version; and a normal on-stage version with a reduced audience count.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

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tal music teacher Dr. David Hart is dividing jazz band and orchestra classes into smaller chamber groups to facilitate interaction. Dr. Hart plans to hold virtual concerts with a collage of videos and audio from each player, starting with the annual upper school holiday show.

MORE FROM PERFORMING ARTS FACULTY

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KICKOFF The Conservatory program held its virtual kickoff on Aug. 26, introducing an unusual year for the arts.

ART IS JOY (TOP) Director of Performing Arts Laura Lang-Ree introduces the new Conservatory hashtag for the new school year.

LES MISERABLES (BOTTOM) The 2021 Spring Musical was announced during Conservatory kickoff.

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The end of last year was a devastating time for much of the upper school performing arts department. Both the orchestra trip to Carnegie Hall and the spring musical “Damn, Yankees” were canceled due to COVID-19’s seeming wrath.

Yet, performing arts quickly rebounded and held a video release for the Conservatory’s Senior Showcase and a virtual orchestra and jazz band concert dedicated to the class of 2020, both on May 29.

With health at the forefront, the department will adapt the upcoming year’s performances depending on Santa Clara County regulations. Potential versions include pre-taped performances over Zoom, on-stage recordings stitched into video or normal on-stage productions with a limited audience.

“When we had one day to turn around and teach online, it was such an unknown,” said Susan Nace, vocal music teacher and director of Camerata and Cantilena. “Where we are now, it’s not as scary, and we’re seeing a lot of possibilities because we don’t have that fear holding us back.”

Despite the overt flaws of online learning, performing arts are utilizing the new platform to explore new mediums.

Although options are being kept open, vocal performance groups are preparing for the possibility of being pre-recorded in some capacity. The vocal music classes and orchestra are experimenting with Soundtrap, a digital collaborative tool used to create music where students can asynchronously lay down tracks and edit the music to their liking.

Nace said shifting class time to hold individual appointments with each student last spring allowed for much improvement, and she looks forward to doing the same this year.

Similar to Nace’s change toward more individualized classes, instrumen-

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THE OATH Associated Student Body Vice President Arusha Patil recites the matriculation oath.

A SONG OF HOPE Senior Alexander Kumar sings Andy Grammar’s “Keep Your Head Up” during virtual matriculation.

Upper school students viewed a video put together

by Harker administrators, student council and honor council on Aug. 25 during the online matriculation ceremony.

Head of school Brian Yager delivered the opening speech, encouraging freshmen to look to upperclassmen for guidance and inspiration. Head of upper school Butch Keller touched upon the concepts of “toughness” and “success” and addressed the importance of sustaining momentum for the Black Lives Matter movement. Associated Student Body (ASB) Vice President Arusha Patil read the matriculation oath and ASB President Jason Lin (12) gave a five-minute speech.

Jason praised the Harker community for coming up with innovative ways of virtually bonding during shelter-in-place, from checking in with each other to building a replica of the school campus on Minecraft.

“It is precisely in times of struggle that the true nature of a community is revealed,” he said in his speech. “When we, the Harker community, were disrupted, we revealed our true nature is to care. We cared not just about ourselves, but about

issues beyond the physical limitations of a school campus.”

Senior Alexander Kumar sang Andy Grammer’s “Keep Your Head Up” — “a fitting song” for this uncertain and turbulent time, Keller remarked. The class councils and honor council all prepared short skits to introduce the freshman class to the upper school. Honor council’s skit, based on the theme of Tom and Jerry, encouraged viewers not to plagiarize and to uphold academic integrity. The junior council based their music video on Aladdin’s “A Whole New World,” showing viewers around campus and singing about the different buildings.

“It is precisely in times of struggle that the true nature of a community is revealed” PROVIDED BY JASON LIN

lucy ge

JASON LIN (12) ASSOCIATED STUDENT BODY PRESIDENT

Junior council vice president Ayan Nath, who helped put together the video with his council members in about five days, found that editing the voice recordings and music from home was a “big learning curve.” Although the council was

initially supposed to film the video from school, they had to work from home due to the worsening local coronavirus situation.

“If there’s another school event that we have to [produce a video for] in the future, I think we’d be much more prepared,” Ayan said. “We’d have a much better idea of what we should be doing, what we shouldn’t be doing, and things like that. The biggest takeaway is that we gained a lot of experience.”

“It’s a different experience because you’re doing it with your advisory instead of the whole school, but I think the video made it feel like you were with the whole school,” sophomore Ethan Joseph said.

“Even though it was online, you still felt like part of the community.”

Although upper school chemistry teacher Dr. Mala Raghavan missed being able to see advisees in person and cheer on the freshmen as they walked in, she did enjoy the matriculation ceremony and the benefits of being online.

“Every year, we can’t hear the skits if you’re sitting in the back and you don’t know what’s happening and it’s not very clear — all of that was great this time,” she said.

After virtual matriculation, students attended their first class meeting of the school year. Freshmen also attended a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion assembly and their tech orientation after class meeting.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY LUCY GE

WINGED POST 3

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 NEWS VOLUME

“A lot of people are still doing community service even though this year, the hours have been waived due to COVID-19. It hasn’t slowed people down one bit. That shows the Harker community really cares” P R O VIDE D

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Extracurricular activities and programs transition to remote learning techniques

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HOW ARE PROGRAMS ADAPTING TO A REMOTE YEAR?

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“The first conference is on Sept. 19, it’s going to work in a combination of Zoom, Discord and breakout rooms. It is going to be a bit tough for partners to communicate, but Discord could help facilitate communication” P R O VIDE D

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KRISH MANIAR (10)

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CAMPUS PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HARKER MODEL UNITED NATIONS

“If virtual parties are not feasible, we want to either send over some activities or even just kits [to families] so they could be having their own birthday parties, because it still means a lot to us that they’re having that same experience” P R O VIDE D

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MINALI KAPADIA (11)

PRESIDENT OF MAKE A BIRTHDAY WISH CLUB

PROVIDED BY LISA BAROOAH

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“We are planning to still have the blood drive in-person, and based on how we’re doing second semester, we would coordinate the logistics for how people can get to school and make sure that everything is safe”

isha moorjani assistant news editor

With the 2020-21 school year beginning remotely, both students and faculty are experiencing the changes that come with having extracurricular activities online. Many of these extracurriculars relied on in-person interaction and activities, yet each one has thought of unique ways to provide members with similar experiences.

DECA This year, DECA Launch was held online, featuring activities such as an Innovation Challenge and a Roleplay Tournament, two aspects from the original launch that were able to transition online.

Another activity was the scavenger hunt, which became a way for students to bond and get to know each other, despite being on Zoom.

“We transitioned [the scavenger hunt] into a scavenger hunt bonding activity … One of the activities was ‘Make

an origami butterfly’ and another one was ‘Have one of the people in your group pitch a household item for thirty seconds,’” Lisa Barooah (12), one of the DECA CEOs, said.

According to the DECA conferences page, the Western Region Leadership Conference will be held virtually from Nov. 9 to Nov. 13, and the Ultimate DECA Power Trip will be held virtually from Nov. 13 to Nov. 15.

“The conference experience was mainly something that we might be missing out [on] because the preparation for DECA can be done over Zoom or you can Facetime, but the in-conference experience is something that I don’t think we’ll get to convey to the freshmen this year,” Lisa said. “Everyone who’s ever done DECA can tell you the conferences are the most fun part.”

Robotics Robotics hosted a virtual summer camp to raise interest among students, and they are planning to do software

BINGO (LEFT) DECA Launch attendees play a bonding activity in August.

CADATHON (TOP RIGHT) A Harker robotics computer-aided design (CAD) project receives live feedback.

CLUB FAIR (BOTTOM RIGHT) Director of Student Organizations Eric Kallbrier works on putting students into breakout rooms during club fair on Sept. 11.

and design training remotely during the off-season. The robotics program is unsure about what will happen to the season, which begins in January.

Speech and Debate Almost all of the speech and debate tournaments will be held virtually this year. The travel experience is gone, and bonding with students has become more difficult.

However, the Speech and Debate program has found ways to use online learning as an advantage.

“We have an incredible array of alumni and assistant coaches who were spread out around the country,” upper school Speech and Debate teacher Scott Odekirk said. “In a lot of ways, there’s some new stuff that we’re able to do that actually improves the creative environment and the preparation process because we’re able to incorporate people that would’ve never had an opportunity before.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

aditya singhvi aquila managing editor

Cont’d from page 1.

California recently began tracking coronavirus case numbers through a four-tier ranking system for counties based on two metrics: an adjusted case count per 100,000 individuals and the positivity test rate. On Sept. 8, Santa Clara County was moved from Tier 1, the most restrictive, to Tier 2. As of this Tuesday, schools are permitted to resume in-person learning with certain restrictions.

The next phase of reopening the school, currently planned for Oct. 19, will involve providing optional on-campus spaces for students to conduct remote learning activities in well-ventilated areas such as Nichols Atrium and the Zhang Gymnasium, as well as outdoors in the quad and orchard. If that dynamic works smoothly, head of school Brian Yager says, the administration may consider bringing a very limited amount of academic activities — such as labs for science classes — back on campus in November.

“We’re planning on everything staying remote for the academic program the entire first semester,” Yager said. “Things

have been changing so rapidly, both in the climate around us of COVID as well as the governmental regulations, [so] it feels like any planning we do becomes obsolete within a couple of weeks.”

The administration has also enacted several key safety changes to prepare for the possibility of in-person activities, including installing hospital-grade HVAC systems across all four campuses.

Even as in-person aspects of school resume, the administration remains mindful of students and faculty who feel uncomfortable given the inherent risk.

Students staying at home will continue to have access to content, and accommodations will be made for teachers who do not feel comfortable teaching in a classroom setting.

“We need to be at a place where not only do we have a safe program, but we also have teachers who are comfortable working in that program. We can only make so many accommodations before it becomes illogical to be open,” Yager said.

“We have to work through the discomfort that people might feel and find ways to do that productively.”

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INFOGRAPHIC BY ADITYA SINGHVI

Harker admin considers gradual transition into in-person activities

COVID-19 RATES The graph depicts new cases in Santa Clara County over time since June 7, plotting the total new cases per day in light blue and the average number of new cases over the last 7 days in dark blue. The virus spread most rapidly in the county

DATA FROM COUNTY OF SANTA CLARA OPEN DATA PORTAL

DESIGN BY LUCY GE

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22 • ISSUE 1 NEWS VOLUME SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

Supreme Court Justice RBG dies at 87 tion rights and affirmative action. She is survived by her two children, four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

As the leader of the liberal wing, Ginsberg’s death has ignited a contentious political debate over her successor, shining a spotlight on the Supreme Court as the presidential election rapidly approaches in less than six weeks.

President Trump has said he will nominate a woman to the Supreme Court at 5 p.m. on Saturday with Judge Amy Coney Barrett emerging as frontrunner. If the Senate votes to confirm the nominee in the coming weeks, the bench will swing to a 6-3 conservative majority, which will surely impact major holdings as the Supreme Court prepares to rule on widely disputed matters like Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act.

varsha rammohan & anna vazhaeparambil

lucy ge news editor

Students drove by the upper school front loading zone on Aug. 22 and on Saturday to receive supplies for the upcoming school year.

Masked faculty members put bags into trunks and waved the students on.

Students received supplies from their teachers, advisors and coaches, including items like lab kits, anthologies for English classes, composition notebooks, workout equipment, choir folders, physics worksheets and art supplies.

Saturday’s distribution day also included curbside checkouts for students who wanted to read books in the upper school library catalog while attending school virtually from home.

For many students and Harker families, distribution day was a rare chance to visit the upper school campus during remote learning.

“I actually got there pretty early and didn’t see anyone, but I recognized some of my teachers and got to say ‘hi,’” Samvita Gautham (10) said. “It feels like you’re back on campus for the first time.”

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a pioneer for gender equality and women’s rights, died on Sept. 18 at the age of 87 from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer, according to a statement released by the court.

Playfully known as the “Notorious RBG,” Ginsburg was the second woman appointed to the Supreme Court, where she served for more than 27 years. Before her appointment, she led the American Civil Liberties Union’s Women’s Rights Project in the 1970s and worked for the U.S. Court of Appeals for Washington, D.C. Ginsburg was known as a feminist and cultural trailblazer with a consistently progressive record on issues like abor-

IN MEMORY Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Friday at 87.

Ginsburg, the second woman on the Supreme Court, served for 27 years.

Classes participate in virtual bonding activities during spirit kickoff

Upper school implements bell schedule changes and Zoom guidelines

lucy ge news editor

nicholas wei & sally zhu

Students attended spirit kickoff in their class Zoom rooms and participated in activities prepared by the Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) and the Student Activities Board (SAB) on Aug. 14.

After advisors took attendance, students engaged in opportunities to earn spirit points, including a game of guessing students’ baby photos, a Kahoot with fun facts of members of the class and an escape room puzzle in breakout rooms.

Although having everyone participate in breakout room activities was a challenge, HSLT and SAB officers reported seeing collaboration in some rooms.

POINTS HSLT VP of Athletic Affairs Elvis Han Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. (11) encourages juniors to gain spirit points.

humans of harker staff writers

The upper school has adopted a modified bell schedule for the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year. All instruction will be taking place online due to the coronavirus pandemic, prompting the administration to release new Zoom guidelines for remote learning last week, helping students balance screen time and optimize productivity.

Many teachers have explored various websites and tools to keep students connected and engaged during Zoom classes.

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LUCY GE

PREPARED Upper school girls basketball coach Daniza Rodriguez helped hand out supplies on Saturday. Masked faculty members put bags into trunks and waved the students on.

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

aquila editor-in-chiefs

PROVIDED BY SUPREMECOURT.GOV

Students receive supplies for school year during Ruth Bader Ginsburg leaves behind legacy of womens’ rights advocacy distribution days

changes cause national mail Postal pandemonium: USPS delays, vote by mail concerns varsha rammohan & arushi saxena aquila editor-in-chief & aquila managing editor

USPS Postmaster General and CEO Louis DeJoy was appointed by the Board of Governors in May despite concerns about a conflict of interest as he had previously served as a major donor to the Republican Party and a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.

On July 10, DeJoy implemented new measures for the USPS such as cutting overtime pay and banning late delivery trips, which led to delays in mail deliveries. Concerns also mounted after the organization made plans to remove 671 mail-sorting machines, infrastructure that will be essential to the collection of mailin ballots for the November election.

Despite DeJoy issuing a statement in late August that the Postal Service will be able to handle any amount of election mail, USPS General Counsel and Executive Vice President Thomas J. Marshall sent letters to 46 states and Washington, D.C., warning that the organization cannot guarantee that ballots cast by mail will arrive in time to be counted.

John Lynch (12), who identifies as a conservative, supports moving the election out to the end of December to allow sufficient time for votes to be cast, but believes that an extension beyond that would be a constitutional violation.

“It seems that most of the problem is actually on the states. They need to give the postal service more time to deliver the ballots. 92% of mail, the post office can get in time,” John said. “They deliver a ton of mail, so the added volume isn’t a huge deal to them. But, that means that 8% of ballots may not come in on time.”

Santa Clara County has offered several alternatives to ensure that ballots are counted. To submit a ballot, voters can go to a vote center, a drop box (there are over 98 in the county), go to the Registrar of Voters office for early voting or place their ballot in the mail.

DeJoy’s statements came in the midst of President Trump’s attacks on the process of voting by mail. Trump tweeted that the process of mail-in voting will lead to “the most inaccurate & fraudulent election in history,” in a tweet that has since been flagged by Twitter for violating its rules about civic and election integrity.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

HOW TO VOTE BY MAIL IN CALIFORNIA • Fill out your mail-in-ballot, which all registered voters will receive at your home address ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE TIAN

Recent changes in the leadership to the United States Postal Service (USPS) caused shockwaves across the country as postal workers and voters scrambled to manage widespread mail delays and concerns about voting in the upcoming election.

• You can either return your ballot to a polling place or the office of your county election official, drop off your ballot into one of your county’s ballot drop boxes, authorize someone to return the ballot on your behalf or mail it by Oct. 20 to your county elections official.

STAMP ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU INFORMATION FROM HARKER YOUTH ACTIVISM CLUB DESIGN BY LUCY GE

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WeChat, TikTok bans in US delayed Judge issues injunction against executive order, U.S. government could appeal to 9th Circuit court irene yuan multimedia editor

The Trump administration’s bans of WeChat and TikTok, two Chinese-owned apps, from U.S. app stores, announced last Friday, have been delayed. On Sunday morning, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in Northern California issued an injunction against the executive order regarding WeChat, agreeing with WeChat users that the ban curbed their First Amendment rights and that shutting down

a primary communication platform in the Chinese community would cause significant hardships. At this point, the U.S. government could appeal to the Ninth Circuit court to overturn this decision.

The ban on TikTok has been pushed back by a week after President Trump said on Saturday that he approved a deal between TikTok and American companies.

As part of the deal, a new U.S.-based company would be created, with up to 20% owned by Oracle and Walmart. Restric-

Global News aditya singhvi & saurav tewari aquila managing editor & sports reporter ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN

tions such as those placed on WeChat will also be put in place for TikTok on Nov. 12 if the government’s national security concerns have not been resolved.

These proposed bans came after President Trump issued two executive orders on Aug. 6 that prohibit U.S. citizens or permanent residents from transacting with the owners of WeChat or TikTok, citing national security concerns as the reason for the orders that took effect on Sept. 15.

The executive orders essentially gave American companies 45 days to purchase the U.S. operations of TikTok, originally placing pressure on Microsoft and ByteDance Ltd (TikTok’s parent company) to work out a deal. Microsoft later said that it would not be buying TikTok’s U.S. operations. ByteDance went on to be involved in talks for a deal with Oracle.

The national security concerns that prompted the orders lay in the security and privacy of data of the social networking apps. While the two are vastly different, with TikTok focused on sharing videos and WeChat handling several functions such as messaging, payment and taxi, both collect extensive user data. U.S. officials are concerned about the Chinese government having access to the data of U.S. users and using the apps to spread propaganda.

With 100 million Americans using TikTok to connect, inspire and express creativity the ban would “strip the rights of [its] community.” The app is popular among teenagers and young adults, and many creators rely on it as a source of income and a place to reach large audiences. The scope of the app is not limited to its users alone, with its videos being reposted onto other social media platforms, and its trends being followed by many in daily life.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Amazon rainforest devastated by wildfires As California battles wildfires throughout the state, the Amazon forest is also in the height of its fire season. Fires hit an 11-year high last year, according to National Institute for Space Research (NISR), Brazil’s space research institute.

However, despite a pledge from Brazillian president Jair Bolsonaro to tackle the destruction, the number of fires last month were just 5.2% less than in August 2019, according to the NISR. Bolsonaro has already sent the army to the forest to clamp down on fires and deforestation, but is also a climate change skeptic who cut down budgets for government environmental agencies and rejected help from other countries at last year’s G7 summit.

The forest provides about 20% of the planet’s oxygen and is home to indigenous peoples, many of whom have already been displaced.

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22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 GLOBAL VOLUME

Deadly ammonium nitrate blast destroys Port of Beirut Over 170 die as Lebanese governmental overhaul sets off rebuilding efforts in aftermath

RUBBLE On Aug. 4, a deadly blast destroyed the port of the city of Beirut, killing over 170 people and wounding over 6,500 more.

aquila managing editor

On Aug. 4, a deadly blast destroyed the port of the city of Beirut, killing over 170 people and wounding over 6,500 more. The explosion was prompted by a fire which ignited 2,750 pounds of incorrectly stored ammonium nitrate, which was stored in a warehouse at the port for seven years after a ship was stopped by Lebanese authorities.

While the explosion was not a deliberately planned attack, possible negligence in storage of the compound led to the arrest of several port officials, according to the Lebanese Transparency Association. Since the blast, search and rescue teams have continued searching the rubble for missing people.

Lebanese American Grace Hajjar’s (‘20) cousin, Elsa Hajjar, was in Lebanon at the time of the blast, shopping for wedding dresses. Standing on the fifth floor of a glass building in the near vicinity of the warehouse, she saw the explosion take place, as well as the chaos in its aftermath. “[Elsa] was in her flight or fight mode

for hours afterward, and despite glass cuts all over her body, she helped other people for hours before she could get help,” Grace said. “All the medical staff could do was dump water all over her wounds and plaster gauze on her face because there were so many people who were super hurt.”

“[My cousin Elsa] helped other people for hours before she could get help” PROVIDED BY GRACE HAJJAR

arushi saxena

GRACE HAJJAR (‘20) LEBANESE AMERICAN WITH FAMILY IN BEIRUT

Six days after the blast, the Lebanese cabinet stepped down as fury in the capital spurred massive protests. On Aug. 31, the country’s president designated Mustafa Adib, Lebanon’s ambassador to Germany since 2013, to be the next prime minister.

His responsibilities include the rebuilding after the explosion, solving the country’s

Tariq Rami, a Lebanese American administrative staffer at San Jose City Hall who also volunteers to help Middle Eastern immigrants with assimilation, worries that aid efforts will be halted by turmoil in the country, but is hopeful that through unity, the country can work together and support each other in these trying times.

“Lebanon has been through so much these past few years. I understand the frustrations of my people back home, but at a time like this, I think we need to have faith in each other above all,” Rami said.

“While I believe that the correct leaders can help restore mutual trust between the government and the people, I think that at the moment, we need to focus on rebuilding and making sure that we put sustained efforts behind bettering the lives of everyone there.”

Those who want to donate can contribute to Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church’s emergency relief fund, Impact Lebanon’s Beirut disaster relief crowdfunding fundraiser or International Medical Corps’ donation page for Lebanon.

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Official statistics released late August show that India’s economy contracted almost 25% in the second quarter, which ended in June. The contraction was one of the worst in any nation during the pandemic, partially due to the major impact of the coronavirus on the infrastructure industry, where India now spends almost 8% of its GDP. Although the government began easing lockdown industries in late May and leading into June, manufacturing was still down in June. What makes India’s recession particularly difficult is that they had one of the fastest-growing large economies prior to the pandemic, and it may take years to recover.

ILLUSTRATION BY RYAN GUAN

PROVIDED BY GRACE HAJJAR

India suffers setback due to pandemic

Xi Jinping critic sentenced to 18 years in prison The Chinese government sentenced a prominent critic of President Xi Jinping to 18 years in prison on charges of corruption on Tuesday. The critic, Ren Zhiqiang, was found guilty of accepting bribes and embezzlement in a trial closed to both the public and press, according to NPR News.

In February, he published an essay that criticized Xi without explicitly naming him, indirectly terming him “a clown with no clothes on who was still determined to play emperor.” Ren’s harsh sentence continues a pattern of silencing notable critics of the Communist Party under President Xi Jinping, who has led the country since 2012. The Party published guidelines last week that asserted greater control over China’s private sector, promoting consistency in political beliefs.

DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI

ILLUSTRATION BY PRAMEELA KOTTAPALLI

6 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 FEATURES VOLUME

Youth activism stands out in BLM movement OF THE PEOPLE

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Music filled the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza, as hundreds of people gathered on June 19, or Juneteenth, to protest systemic racism against African Amerians and to demand that the city defund the the police department and invest in a people’s budget. In addition to the community vigil held on June 4, students are exploring other ways to participate in activism.

POWER OF ART Members of Art Club stand behind their art, part of a Black Lives Matter street mural organized in Palo Alto on June 30.

“Having the opportunity to form a group that really focuses on something that I feel has been lacking for a while is really important to me”

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

“Tell me why they want to beat us black and blue and bloody red.

Keep us down and working for a system with no d*mn respect.

Politicians commanding the legal crumbs with no refresh, Out of breath, hoping that my life is EMILY TAN more than just a death —” Xanubis, a 19-year-old rapper of Black and Pacific Islander descent, perLAURIE JIN (10) STUDENT ACTIVIST formed to the cheers of the crowd, pouring his anger and hurt into his music.

Having grown up in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood — which has “We are in such a privileged position a majority of non-white residents and a that we [can] take the time to 31% poverty rate, according to census data from 2014 — Xanubis saw firsthand how research, expand our views and get the police have hurt members of his cominvolved in politics. Politics involves munity, allegedly being trained to fear you whether you want to be involved them and treat them like “monsters.” Folor not” lowing the deaths of George Floyd, BreonEMILY TAN na Taylor, Ahmaud Abery and other unETHAN CHOI (12) armed African Americans who were killed CO-FOUNDER OF by police officers this year, Xanubis used YOUTH ACTIVISM CLUB his platform as a musician to demand change in the system.

“It’s dirty out here. It’s a militia, it’s a [expletive deleted] army. They don’t “I wasn’t always the biggest activist, look at us like people,” he said. “This isn’t so once I started informing myself, it something that goes away overnight, but became a lot easier to also advocate it’s definitely very emotional for me to do this [performance], because I feel like this for those issues” is the catalyst, this is part of the change.”

EMILY TAN A growing number of teenagers DEFNE across America, like Xanubis, have been AVKAROGULLARI (9) speaking out and helping create momenSTUDENT ACTIVIST tum for the Black Lives Matter movement these last few months. Even within the Harker community, several students have organized fundraisers, compiled resourc“Going to speaker events and es or worked closely with administration supporting diversity at Harker is really to start a conversation about race and raimportant. Educating young people cial discrimination at a local level. The Stuto stand [up for] African American dent Diversity Coalition (SDC) — created

by Brian Pinkston (12), Dylan Williams people [is crucial]” (12), Natasha Yen (12) and Uma Iyer (11) EMILY TAN in July — collaborates with the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee to UMA IYER (11) VICE PRESIDENT OF lead this charge forward.

YOUTH ACTIVISM CLUB “Having the opportunity to form a group that really focuses on something that I feel has been lacking for a while is really important to me,” said Dylan, who is “[We need to] listen without biracial and identifies as Black and white. judgement to other people’s realities “We want to help educate our communiand develop empathy. Change starts ty on the different cultures, problems... with young people” the living experiences of Black and Brown EMILY TAN people, just to give a voice to the underrepresented in our community.”

MARK JANDA Some of SDC’s initiatives will include HISTORY DEPARTMENT creating affinity groups for Black and LatCHAIR inx students, hosting events and round-

“Being a part of this movement is really important because it pertains to your future, and you can’t be one of those people who are just waiting for everything to get better”

SPEAKING UP A girl raises her sign during a Juneteenth rally in San Francisco, protesting systemic racism towards African Americans in the United States.

DYLAN WILLIAMS (12) CO-LEADER OF STUDENT DIVERSITY COALITION

er (12), Arya Tandon (12), Maria Teplova (12), Natasha and Allison Lee (10) — as well as art teacher Pilar Agüero-Esparza and history teacher Roxanna Pianko — collaborated with 15 other local art groups to spell “Black Lives Matter” in block letters in front of the Palo Alto City Hall.

“Art is a very powerful means of passing on a message, illustrating a message,” said Elliot, who identifies as white. “It’s a really easy way to bring community together, no matter the language, no matter the backgrounds and places we come from.”

Art Club painted the first “A” for the mural. Natasha, who identifies ethnically as Chinese, appreciated the chance to work alongside artists from around the Bay Area. She also worked with Dylan and Farah Hosseini (12) to create a document in June with BLM resources for Harker students to educate others about allyship.

“Racism and all these social issues are really big issues to tackle, but I think focusing on our local communities and smaller communities is really important, because it’s also grassroots movement,” she said. “I just hope that, especially now, things will start to move forward and that we can start to see change — change that’s been needed for a long time.”

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MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

aquila editor-in-chief

tables geared towards education and celebrating cultural heritage months with speaker events and assemblies.

“The goal right now for the SDC and the affinity groups is to create a foundation for longevity,” said Uma, who identifies as Indian American. “The SDC is not a club, and neither are the affinity groups.

And that is really important to us, because DEI issues at Harker should not have to be renewed.”

Others at Harker have also joined the conversation. To show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, Art Club contributed to a street mural in Palo Alto on June 30. Students Elliot Kampmei-

STANDING STRONG An Asian American woman holds up a sign denouncing racist cops at a Black Lives Matter protest in Saratoga on June 6.

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

anna vazhaeparambil

PROVIDED BY DYLAN WILLIAMS

WHAT OUR COMMUNITY IS SAYING:

NEW GENERATION A boy sits on his father’s shoulders as they listen to the speakers at a Juneteenth rally in San Francisco.

DESIGN BY EMILY TAN

WINGED POST 7

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 FEATURES VOLUME

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

8 new teachers join upper school community New teachers look forward to getting to know their students this year as our community says goodbye to Alan Simpson-Vlach, Dr. Anne Douglas, Keiko Irino, Mary Palisoul, Dr. Smriti Koodanjeri, Dr. Ruth Meyer, Clare Elchert and Scott Engelhardt

michelle liu

MICHAEL WILT MATH

Dr. Neil Shaw will be teaching Chemistry and Honors Chemistry this year. Before coming to Harker in 2020, he taught chemistry in Virginia. He enjoys Legos and going to concerts when it was still possible.

SUSANNE SALHAB ENGLISH

Susanne Alissa Salhab will be teaching English 1 and English 2 this year. Previously, she taught English at the International Baccalaureate program. Salhab has lived in the United States, Italy, Jerusalem, India, Estonia, Scotland and Portugal.

Michael Wilt is teaching Honors Geometry and Honors Algebra 2 this year. Previously, he taught at Bridges Academy in Los Angeles. He was on a German talk show once in the 1990s when he was in an exchange program.

PROVIDED BY CHRIS GATTO

PROVIDED BY NEIL SHAW

PROVIDED BY SARAH ROBERTS

Sarah Roberts is teaching Introduction to Journalism. Previously, she was a student at University of California, Berkeley, where she graduated in 2020 with a degree in linguistics. Her favorite book is 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami.

DR. CHRIS GATT0 HISTORY

Dr. Chris Gatto is teaching World History 1 and U.S. History this year. Before coming to Harker, he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. One of his goals for this year is to get to know his students as if classes were in person.

NORIYO IKEDA JAPANESE

PROVIDED BY NORIYO IKEDA

Jaco Wong will be co-teaching the upper school orchestra this year, as well as band, string orchestra, jazz band and full orchestra at the middle school. Wong enjoys visiting art galleries and cooking in his free time.

DR. NEIL SHAW CHEMISTRY

PROVIDED BY SUSANNE SALHAB

JACO WONG ORCHESTRA

PROVIDED BY JACO WONG

Bridget Nixon is teaching English 1: The Study of Literary Genres and English 3: Survey of American Literature this year. Previously, she taught English in Holland. She loves chocolate and enjoys reading and spending time with family.

SARAH ROBERTS JOURNALISM

PROVIDED BY MICHAEL WILT

BRIDGET NIXON ENGLISH

PROVIDED BY BRIDGET NIXON

design editor

Noriyo Ikeda is teaching Japanese 2 and Japanese 5 classes this year. Previously, she taught Japanese at a middle school in Palo Alto. She enjoys hiking, spending time with family, traveling, dancing flamenco and cooking.

Kamala Harris’ nomination paves way for women of color in politics!

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

aquila editor-in-chief & asst. features editor

KATHY FANG

NICOLE CHEN

STANDING ON STAGE

FOR THE PEOPLE

FEARLESS Sen. Kamala Harris looked out at the crowd gathered in her hometown, Oakland, on Jan. 27 to bid.

According to the United States Census Bureau, women make up 50.8% of the country’s population, Black people make up 13.4% and Asian people make up 5.9%.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s selection of Harris as his running mate for the 2020 election signifies the first time a Black and South Asian-American woman has had her name on a major party ticket.

In her speech at the Democratic National Convention last month, Harris talked about the influence her mother Gopalan had on her and her sister. She said, “[My mother] raised us to be proud, strong Black women. And she raised us to know and be proud of our Indian heritage.”

Harris’s status as a mixed-race daughter of immigrants and the significance of her interracial marriage are a testament to the country’s rapidly changing ethnic and cultural fabrics as American cities attract more and more foreign-born populations along with the nationwide reckoning with racial violence and discrimination this past summer.

Protima Pandey, director of the Office of Women’s Policy for Santa Clara County and a managing attorney who identifies as Indian, spoke about the struggles she faced while working as an attorney in a workplace dominated by older, white men.

“There are few women of color who are also lawyers, [which] motivated me to work harder. The court clerk remembered everyone by their first name, but they had trouble remembering a name like Protima,” she said. “In the last three months, the sense of urgency for this importance of diversity has increased.”

In addition to feeling hopeful that the nomination could act as a means of establishing more representation for Black and South Asian groups, these women look to future generations who can lean on Harris’s leadership and trailblazing legacy.

Patricia Burrows, the dean of the middle school and a member of the Di-

versity Committee, identifies as Taiwanese-American and connects strongly with Kamala Harris’ story of being a child of immigrants.

“I have people asking me where I’m from because the sound of my voice doesn’t seem to jar well with the picture that my face represents,” she said. “I find it remarkable that my daughter is growing up in a time where she has so many different kinds of leaders to choose from, and having someone in a position of power who understands these ideas of an immigrant and an immigrant family is really comforting.”

Pandey looks at the nomination as having “changed the landscape” of the national stage.

“You are part of the fabric of this country and being part of this means giving back to the community” PROVIDED BY PROTIMA PANDEY

varsha rammohan & sarah mohammed

PROTIMA PANDEY

DIRECTOR OF THE OFFICE OF WOMEN’S POLICY FOR SANTA CLARA COUNTY

“We have to start to remember that living in this country, students like you are not an outsider. You are part of the fabric of this country and being part of this means giving back to the community to make our voices heard,” she said. “Think about why we need to be in those spaces so that our representation needs to get counted.”

Brian Pinkston (12), who identifies as Black, is working with the Harker administration to foster diversity and inclusion as part of the Student Diversity Coalition.

“We need to create more support groups for people of color and right now we’re having the Latinx and Black student unions established as separate affinity groups [at Harker]... I would say [as advice for youth of color wanting to pursue activism] find a group to get your message out there” he said.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

DESIGN BY SARAH MOHAMMED

8 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 FEATURES VOLUME

Despite being a fifth-generation farmer, Tara Beaver Coronado, 29, didn’t plan on going into agriculture. Growing up on her parents’ farm, she always loved the outdoors but later considered a job as a teacher, eventually becoming a nanny.

During a two-week vacation, she returned to her parents’ farm to help with their corn harvest and experienced a “lightbulb moment” in which she knew that agriculture was her true calling. She then quit her job, taking on the uncertainty of becoming a farmer.

Coronado got the idea for her current enterprise, Beaver Vineyards — now a 50acre Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in Northern California — while participating in the California Farm Academy program in 2015.

“I just started thinking [about] what [resources are] around me,” Coronado said. “I found local farmers that had vineyards, and I called them constantly with questions. They really helped me go from an open field into a vineyard.”

Since planting her vineyard in April 2018, Coronado just completed her first harvest in late August of this year, a threenight culmination of two years of work.

“I’m just on a high from [the harvest]; it’s like it’s Christmas for me. I have put in so much work for the past two and a half years, and now I’m seeing it finally happening,” Coronado said. “That’s just been such an amazing feeling, so I’m getting a reminder right now of how much I love farming.”

Coronado also appreciates the freedom of being an entrepreneur and the feel of working outdoors, despite not being able to take vacations. In fact, Coronado describes farming as an entire lifestyle, with work days lasting 10 to 12 hours in contrast to a regular nine-to-five job.

“Being a farmer is really hard; you’re often underappreciated, but that’s not why we’re farming,” Coronado said. “A lot of us [farmers] are doing it because we love the land, we love being outside and we really can’t imagine our life any other way.”

On the flip side of the freedom and excitement from harvests, careers in agriculture can also be extremely financially difficult. According to Coronado, many farmers need to take out a loan to purchase equipment, land and more, thus raising the risks associated with entering the agriculture industry.

“You get used to working hard, so that part isn’t necessarily the hard part: it’s the money,” Tara said. “It’s expensive, and you don’t make that much money in the end.”

“A lot of us [farmers] are doing it because we love the land, we love being outside and we really can’t imagine our life any other way” TARA CORONADO OWNER OF BEAVER VINEYARDS

Despite farming’s fundamental role in sustaining our society, Coronado noted that many people are unaware of not only the processes behind the production of food but also the work behind the production of other crops like cotton that are then turned into clothing. For that reason, she has created large social media platforms with thousands of followers each on YouTube (Beaver Vineyards), Instagram (@ beavervineyards), TikTok (@tarabcoronado) and more to share her journey.

“I’m on social media because I think a lot of people have no idea what we do in farming or where their food comes from,” Coronado said. “I use social media as a positive platform to show people what we do everyday, and I feel like I’ve

gotten a lot of positive feedback from that.”

Coronado also advocates for female empowerment in the agriculture industry.

As the first woman in her family to run a farm on her own, Coronado strives to be an inspiration for aspiring female farmers.

“I’m just really proud to be the first woman [whose] husband is not in farming [in my family],” Coronado said. “I also want other women to know that you don’t have to marry a farmer or rancher to get into it. If you want to do it, you can do it.”

According to the 2017 Census of Agriculture from the Farm Bill Law Enterprise, the average farmer is 57.5 years old, and women only consist of 36% of all producers, even though female workers make up 48% of significant decision-makers on farms. As both a young adult and a woman, Coronado has received offers of help from neighboring farmers, who hope to encourage more members of the younger generation to enter the industry.

“A lot of people I talk to, we talked about how it’s not a competition within [agriculture]. Even if you grow the exact same crop, we’re not in competition,” Coronado said. “We are a community; we’re doing this together.”

Because of the high risk inherent in the industry, Coronado advises aspiring farmers with no background in the industry to reach out to organizations that help first-generation farmers start enterprises.

Coronado hopes that more of the younger generation enter the industry.

“Find something that you’re really passionate about and that you know you really want to do because it gets so difficult.” Coronado said. “I do feel like [the younger farming community is] sharing this positive light of [agriculture] that is going to attract more people, so I hope that we can keep that up.”

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Campus Compass THE MATRICULATION BOOK

IN WRITING The Matriculation Book stands on display outside the Dobbins

PROVIDED BY KRISTINA ALANIZ

features editor

Tara Coronado advocates for agrarian lifestyle, encourages others to join field

PROVIDED BY TARA CORONADO

emily tan

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

Farmer

isha moorjani & sally zhu assistant news editor & humans of harker staff writer

Since 1998, students each year have signed the Matriculation Book on their first day of high school to start their legacy as a true Harker student. Today, the book is in Dobbins Hall, with multitudes of names buried inside its pages. First developed by former Head of School Diana Nichols in 1998, the year of the first matriculation ceremony for Harker’s earliest graduating class, signing the book has since become an integral Harker tradition.

“It gets everybody on the same page, in terms of the Harker way,” said Catherine Snider, the first music teacher at the upper school and now the Communications Manager at the Office of Communication.

Signing the Matriculation Book is a tradition that each Harker student completes to honor the Matriculation Oath, a reminder of Harker’s morals; its recitation introduces students to the enriching qualities they will develop at Harker.

“I understand that fellowship within The Harker School community comes with enormous opportunities and responsibilities,” the Matriculation Oath states.

“I agree to follow a healthy lifestyle and contribute to the best of my ability to the general welfare of the Harker community.”

From participating in spirit events to continually learning in and out of the classroom, the students’ exposure to what Harker means on the first day of school sticks with them throughout their experiences.

“All the formalities you had to go through during the ceremony [were pretty daunting], but when we got around to actually signing the book, that was when it truly cemented that I was at The Harker School,” Nicholas Yi (12) said.

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VINEYARD VIBES Tara Beaver Coronado examines a grapevine from her farm, Beaver Vineyards, a 50-acre Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in

PROVIDED BY NICHOLAS YI

PROVIDED BY TARA CORONADO

“When we got around to actually signing the book, that was when it truly cemented that I was at The Harker School” NICHOLAS YI (12) NEW TO HARKER AS A FRESHMAN

Campus Compass is a feature column that dives into the history and significance behind the places and objects that have made Harker what it is today. This edition highlights the history of the Matriculation Book and oath.

WINGED POST 9

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 LIFESTYLE VOLUME

LIGHTS, CAMERA, & ZOOM FASHION alysa suleiman

PROVIDED BY CHANCE

HEWITT

a&e editor

The air was crisp and cool, the perfect level of humidity and air conditioning soaking into clean walls, the dozens upon dozens of chairs, the in-season outfits of haute couture people filling the rows.

And, of course, the gleaming catwalk.

Ah, there was nothing like Paris Fashion Week, I smiled, thinking, sinking into my seat and absentmindedly sipping sparkling water from a flute glass.

Suddenly, the raucous noise of my alarm cut through the air, and I fell back through the seat into an endless void, the incessant beeping grounding me to reality. My eyes shot open, and I sat up in bed. I was dreaming about Paris Fashion Week... again.

Sighing, I swung my legs over the side of my bed and stood up, stretching away the last of my fictitious dreams before ambling over to my closet to prepare for another day of Zoom school. Most days, I find it difficult, even unnecessary, to put in the effort of an outfit that would normally give me the energy I needed to boost through an eight-hour school day.

49.8%

of our community nap on a regular basis, with 33.2% napping 1-2 times a week, 11.8% napping 3-4 times and 4.8% more than 5 times a week.

Simple tips for effective breaks Look outside every 20 minutes to retain longdistance vision

Data according to a Winged Post survey with 187 responses from students and faculty

Do 30 jumping jacks during passing periods

Achieve flow state through exercise or meditation

Yet, Zoom doesn’t seem to have fazed some students, who instead see the new online learning environment as a motivation to continue their passion for fashion efforts.

Dressing up everyday is not uncommon for Shreya Balakrishnan (10), who channels her artistic creativity in both her graphic arts class and outfits, says that choosing a good outfit “just makes [her] feel really happy.”

“When I pick out an outfit I like, I feel like I can be confident and truly just be myself, and it’s honestly the best feeling in the world,” Shreya said.

Most people tend to tailor their outfits to a specific aesthetic after finding their niche, but Shreya, like her artistic creativity, varies her look on a daily basis.

Changing color palettes and day-today style switches might be Shreya’s thing, but Justin Fung (11) likes to keep his outfits more “minimalist.” By rotating and piecing together “core basics”, such as a solid-color shirt or neutral-toned shorts, Justin finds that his “rotation[al] pieces always provide him with an outfit to wear.

“I think I’ve always been drawn to minimalism,” Justin said. “In terms of

LY SUN

Keep your naps under 20 minutes

ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS little details make a big difference in showing your personality when people only see half of your body [on Zoom],” Justin Fung (11) said.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARE

Every day since quarantine started, you find yourself exhausted after spending a day hunched over a screen, taking meeting after meeting. After school, you dive headfirst into a mountain of work, draining the rest of your energy. At the end of your hard work, you reward yourself with a long nap to compensate for the late-night study session.

Taking the time to rest can often be difficult, especially when we often prioritize the completion of tasks over making space in our schedules for brief respites.

Director of Health Services Debra Nott suggests allocating specific times to disconnect from our work.

“I think we all know the importance of taking breaks, both for physical and emotional reasons. So why is it so hard to make it happen? I think it’s because we plan our work, but we don’t plan our rest,” Nott said. “It’s too easy, at the end of the day, to realize we have spent 90% of our time seated.”

Nott also emphasizes the importance of using breaks to maintain eye health.

Because humans have developed to become adept at what we do most, when we spend too much time reading or staring at a screen, our eyes become accustomed to focusing up close, resulting in a loss of distance vision.

An alternate method of resting our eyes is napping, an ever-popular mode of relaxation that has become even more useful during quarantine. According to Dr. Manpreet Singh, an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Lucile Salter Packard Children’s Hospital in Palo Alto, napping can help with sleep deficit and therefore can provide benefits

for brain development in teens.

“Catch up sleep [is] really important for your brain development and your body if it’s needing more sleep. It’s probably first and foremost a developmental need,” Dr. Singh said. “Your brain is growing, so getting those naps in is actually really good for your brain development.”

However, not all naps have positive effects as longer slumbers can cause sleep inertia, a state of grogginess and disorientation after awakening from deep sleep, and can dysregulate your natural sleep cycle.

“If [naps] disrupt your sleep schedule too much, and it causes you to stay up later, and then you’re in that same vicious cycle, you end up losing the value of that restorative nap,” Dr. Singh said.

While we often view breaks as a chance to relax and “recharge our batteries,” many breaktime activities provide numerous benefits in other aspects of wellness. Psychology teacher Dr. Julie Turchin also highlights the mental benefits of exercise.

“For a lot of people, exercise puts you in a state that we call flow, which is almost like a meditative state. It’s something that you can do that engages your body and your mind but not in a way [where] you have to think really hard, but you’re also not bored,” Dr. Turchin said. “And it turns out that spending time in that flow state is good for our well being and mental health too.”

According to Headspace, an online healthcare company, among the benefits of achieving flow state are a heavy sense of concentration, a sense of clarity, freedom from worry and positive emotions such as happiness, qualities that enhance learning abilities and overall mental health.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

clothing, I feel like it’s nice when people don’t know what brand you’re wearing.

It’s more about the way the clothing is dealt, where it’s the cut, the dimensions.”

Justin finds that minimalism has “shaped his personality.” Instead of brand logos or graphics, he looks for simple colors and patterns.

“I feel more confident when I look a certain way, and so I think that that’s important in helping me deal with the stress of class,” he said.

Like Justin, Chance Hewitt (12) also prioritizes comfort to get through a long day of on-screen school. His usual outfits consist of Adidas shorts, lightweight t-shirts, hoodies and socks.

“I’m not really too concerned with the way I present myself completely on Zoom because I just want to be comfortable, especially since I’m inside all day,” Chance said.

As the fall semester continues online, students find that fashion can still be a constant outlet of personal expression.

Though our social interactions are limited, it does not mean that our outfits have to be.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

PROVIDED BY SHREYA BALAKRISHNAN

arely sun lifestyle editor

42.8%

PROVIDED BY JUSTIN FUNG

TAKE A BREAK Planning your day in quarantine

of our community started napping more frequently than they did before quarantine

CONFIDENCE IN CLOTHING “My style changes based on my mood,” Shreya Balakrishnan (10) said. “Sometimes I’ll dress pretty grungy, or dress pretty cutesy, or Y2K or skater.”

DESIGN BY ARELY SUN

10 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 STEM VOLUME

Global Reset highlights topics related to climate change and how they pertain to the Harker community in every issue of the paper, talking about the challenges they present and promising solutions.

ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN

California struck by record wildfire season

News update

At least 26 lives lost, over 3.6 million acres burn as dry weather conditions bring fires with new intensity

mark hu & anmol velagapudi STEM editor & reporter

3.6

VENUS

IL

ILLUSTRATION

BY ARELY SUN

million acres of land burned as of SEPT. 21 TI RA

ST

LU

Scientists detect signs of life on Venus

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SU AN D M K

AR PROVIDED BY KERRY ENZENSPERGER

HU

26 FaTALITIES AS of Sept. 21

THE MAP REPRESENTS THE LARGEST EXTENT OF THE RIVER FIRE, L.N.U. LIGHTNING COMPLEX, S.C.U. LIGHTNING COMPLEX, C.Z.U. AUGUST LIGHTNING COMPLEX AND AUGUST COMPLEX. INFORMATION FROM THE FIRE INFORMATION FOR RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (FIRMS), A PART OF NASA AND CAL FIRE

HOW SHOULD THE HARKER COMMUNITY RESPOND? “I think the biggest thing that people can do is just be prepared. Don’t take the problem lightly.

Your health is at stake, and just be aware of that. Take care of yourself [and] take care of the people around you.”

P R O VIDE D

BY

S

AC

HI

SACHI BAJAJ (12)

BAJAJ

GREEN TEAM CO-PRESIDENT

“After the fires started making the air quality worse, I have seen some neighbors put out buckets of water for wildlife to drink, which I think is a great idea for us to help out nature during these times” P R O VIDE D

BY BR

IA NC

BRIAN CHEN (10)

HEN

SCIENCE BOWL TEAM MEMBER

“It’s really important to keep track of what’s going on, especially if the fires are growing — or even if they aren’t — and just to be aware of where they’re located and what communities are being impacted by it” ARYA MAH

ES

H W AR I

NATASHA YEN (12) GREEN TEAM CO-PRESIDENT

BURNED DOWN English teacher Beverley Manning’s house in Santa Cruz was burned to

S.C.U. Lightning Complex spreading east of San Jose, evacuation orders were put in place as precautionary measures.

“I think the biggest thing that people can do is just be prepared,” Sachi Bajaj (12), co-president of the upper school Green Team, said. “All these wildfires are a wake-up call. Our planet is deteriorating; climate change is real. Your health is at stake, and just be aware of that.”

Being aware of the dangers is one of the first steps that people can take to stay safe, in addition to having an emergency supply kit readily available before immediate evacuation is needed.

“It’s really important to keep track of what’s going on, especially if the fires are growing — or even if they aren’t — and just to be aware of where they’re located and what communities are being impacted by it,” Natasha Yen (12), co-president of Green Team, said.

Though firefighting efforts against large wildfires that have ignited often fall outside the reach of individual people in the community, many preventative opportunities for community efforts exist, both during and before peak periods of wildfire risk.

“On a individual homeowner and community scale, creating defensible spaces and doing fuels management projects in the area, like controlled burns — those are really important,” Dr. Appel said. “[And] you need a lot of buy-in from everybody. On red flag warning days, people need to be cognizant: listen to Smokey Bear when they say only you can prevent forest fires.”

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mark hu & arya maheshwari STEM editor & editor-in-chief

Fires have swept across California with over 3.6 million acres in land burned, as of Sept. 21. The state is dealing with the effects of a heatwave that prompted the California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state’s electric power system, to declare a temporary Stage 3 Emergency on Aug. 14.

Both the recent heatwave and the effects of Santa Ana and Diablo winds, formed by high-pressure air masses in the Great Basin, create dangerous conditions that spark fires and intensify existing ones.

Increased amounts of dried-out vegetation due to the drought-like conditions this year then contribute to the rapid spread of the fires. and the winds, one in Southern California and the other in Northern California, create the perfect conditions to spark and spread the fires.

“It’s a combination of longer, hotter, dryer seasons, but also these many, many decades of suppression leading to overgrowth of the forest,” Dr. Eric Appel, assistant professor of materials science at Stanford University and Center Fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, said. “There’s just too much in the way of fuels in the forest, and so that’s what allows these fires to become so catastrophic.”

As the fires drew closer to students and faculty homes, with the C.Z.U. August Lightning Complex spreading through San Mateo and Santa Cruz County and the

ALYSA SULEIMAN

“We’re going to be spending some resources making sure our property and our house are fire-safe. [But] it was really reassuring to know that there are people who care and want to support you in these times of need” M A RK H U

CHEMISTRY TEACHER, EVACUATED HOME DUE TO WILDFIRES

ESHA GOHIL

ANDREW IRVINE

LOOKING INTO THE DISTANCE Smog is visible in the Bay Area sky on Sept. 9.

CLUBS

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

Y EL

AR

STRUCTURES destroyed as of SEPT. 21

Astronomy Club holds speaker events

The upper school Astronomy Club held two guest speaker sessions with a Q&A with Dr. Eugene Chiang from UC Berkeley on Sept. 4 and a talk with Dr. Bruce Macintosh from the Stanford Kali Institute on Sept. 9. Dr. Chiang spoke about his experience as an astronomer, and Dr. Macintosh talked about his research on extrasolar planets. Club members participated in the interview and Q&A led by the club’s officers.

APPLE

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

BY

7,097

Apple releases new products in virtual launch

Apple’s new Apple Watch Series 6 was unveiled at an event on Sept.

15. It has a series of new health tracking improvements, including an electrocardiogram (ECG) app, which is capable of generating an ECG similar to a single-lead electrocardiogram to record the electrical signal of the heart to check for different heart conditions. Apple also released Apple One, a subscription bundle that includes Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade and iCloud storage.

STE Wi M PROVIDED BY SALONI SHAH

N

O

On Sept. 14, astronomers released a paper on their detection of phosphine, a chemical released by microbes, in Venus’s atmosphere, leading scientists to believe that the planet could host life.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted, “It’s time to prioritize Venus” in response to the discovery.

WiSTEM creates opportunities for education

WiSTEM has partnered with WiSER, a non profit organization with the goal to educate Kenyan girls for free, to sponsor Hilari Rodham Kaheri through high school. Through club fundraisers and earnings from the Harker Symposium, WiSTEM has donated about $300 each year to cover tuition, supplies and boarding for Hilari. Over the last four years, the WiSTEM members and Hilari have gotten closer and last May, Hilari graduated from the WiSER School.

RED SUN The sun appears red in Mountain View on Aug. 18 due to a layer of smoke.

DESIGN BY MARK HU

STEM

WINGED POST 11

VOLUME 22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines undergo testing

THOUGHTS FROM SUMMER RESEARCH “My favorite parts in the past few years were lunch breaks, and that wasn’t really possible” PROV ID E

D

BY

SIDRA XU (12)

SIDRA XU

COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AT STANFORD CARDIOLOGY LAB

“It’s a bit harder to bond than it is in person. But over eight weeks, it generally got better” P R OV ID E

D

BY

ALEX LAN (10)

A LEX L A N

VIRTUAL REALITY TO AID DISABILITIES AT SIP (UC SANTA CRUZ)

“Usually I work in wet lab, so it was a lot of learning new things for me, new methods of conducting research” PROV ID E

D

BY

NATASHA MATTA (11)

NATASHA

M

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH AT HORIZON ACADEMIC

DR. LEE RILEY PROFESSOR OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES AT UC BERKELEY

AstraZeneca’s approach involves adenoviruses to express the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The AstraZeneca trial uses a chimpanzee adenovirus, considered harmless to humans. The AstraZeneca Phase 3 trial was paused on Sept. 8 to determine whether an “unexplained illness” for one of the volunteers was caused by the vaccine.

President Trump has indicated that he expects a vaccine to be produced “in record time,” with the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) urging governors to be prepared to distribute

ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN

Phase 1

Vaccine is tested with a small group of healthy people. Low starting dosages are given.

Phase 2 ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN

“This is not going to be the last pandemic with the coronavirus. You have to come up with a new vaccine every few years against different strains”

Clinical development of vaccines

The test group is expanded to include more people, especially those from the vaccine’s intended target population.

Phase 3 ILLUSTRATION BY ARELY SUN

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to expand, scientists around the globe are racing to develop and test an effective vaccine that can be approved for widespread use.

In the United States, three companies — Moderna, Pfizer and AstraZeneca — have been conducting Phase 3 trials.

Phase 3 trials are the last step before a vaccine can be approved, with 30,000 volunteers participating in a study testing its efficacy. For a vaccine to be considered effective, it must protect at least 50% of those vaccinated, according to the FDA. Operation Warp Speed, a U.S. government initiative to deliver 300 million doses of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine by January, has helped companies speed through the traditional three-phase approval process.

“They’re just accelerating each of the steps within the three phases. There’s no reason why they can’t do a faster approval with other vaccines...other than just the bureaucracy,” said Dr. Lee Riley, a Professor of Infectious Diseases at the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley.

The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines rely on using messenger RNA (mRNA) to induce an immune response. No mRNA-based vaccine has ever been fully approved.

“They take a piece of mRNA which encodes one of the proteins that the SARS virus makes which is called a spike pro-

a vaccine by Nov. 1. Rushing a vaccine without sufficient data could have severe consequences, as even a rare adverse side effect could scale to affect thousands.

“Vaccines are given to people who are completely healthy, so you don’t want any adverse events to happen and severe side effects to occur,” Dr. Riley said. “So the assessment of [a vaccine’s] efficacy is really much more rigorous than the approval process for drugs.”

Once a vaccine is approved, likely “early next year” according to Dr. Riley, the next challenge will be manufacturing and distributing the vaccine. The COVAX initiative, backed by the World Health Organization, has been working to ensure equitable access to future vaccines.

Within the U.S., the CDC released three documents to state health officials detailing logistical preparedness measures, including cold storage, for two vaccines that align closely with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.

Within the documents, the CDC asked states to identify vulnerable populations who would receive the vaccine first.

“One thing that we really have to recognize is that this is not going to be the last pandemic we’re going to see with the coronavirus,” Dr. Riley said. “You have to come up with a new vaccine every few years against different strains of the coronavirus. These are the issues that we now need to be thinking about.”

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Thousands of people receive the before approval for widespread use.

Summer research shifts to virtual setting Remote projects provide substitute for traditional in-person internships sabrina zhu assistant STEM editor

Despite new challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, upper school students conducted science research during the summer. Though several popular research programs like the California State Summer School for Mathematics and Science (COSMOS) and the Research Science Institute (RSI) were canceled, others like the Science Internship Program (SIP), hosted by the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and internships with university and company laboratories successfully moved to virtual settings.

SIP, which usually takes place on the UCSC campus, was directed to operate entirely remotely. Many projects could easily be completed online, but those that could not were adapted or replaced.

Over the course of the eight weeks of SIP, Alex Lan (10) helped develop a 360-degree virtual reality game designed to assist adults with developmental disabilities.

“The way our internship worked is that we met with our actual mentor twice a week virtually,” Alex said. “Otherwise, we had a team meeting everyday for one to two hours just to do work.”

“I’m really impressed at how Harker students tried to find alternatives when their internships were cancelled or changed in ways that enabled work only in a virtual space” ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

aquila managing editor

tein,” Dr. Riley said. “The mRNA actually goes into the host cells, then uses the host cell machinery to translate the mRNA into proteins [that get] expressed outside of the cells and induce the antibodies.”

ADITYA SINGHVI

aditya singhvi

ANITA CHETTY SCIENCE DEPARTMENT CHAIR

Sidra Xu (12), who usually works in-person to do scientific research in the summers, transferred online. Continuing into her third year of an internship with a Stanford lab, she implemented ma-

chine learning to classify progenitor heart cells, and she was able to stay in contact with her team members through text and email.

“Since most of [my research] is already on my computer, it didn’t really feel different,” Sidra said. “But some of my favorite parts in the past few years were lunch breaks, where you can meet with others at the cafeteria, and that wasn’t really possible.”

Anita Chetty, the upper school science department chair, was impressed with how quickly upper school students adapted to new changes and obstacles despite many in-person opportunities becoming unfeasible.

“I’m really impressed at how Harker students tried to find alternatives when their internships were cancelled or changed in ways that enabled work only in a virtual space,” Chetty said. “I’m very impressed with how resilient they are and how they still tried to get the most that they could.”

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DESIGN BY SABRINA ZHU

TA AT

12 WINGED POST

OPINION

DIVERSIFY YOUR READING

nicole tian

MICHELLE LIU

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

by Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong presents a story of an unconditional yet wrenching love between the speaker and his illiterate Vietnamese mother. In a letter to his mother, Little Dog exposes his experiences with his racial, sexual and class identity.

Between the World and Me

by Ta-Nehisi Coates

MICHELLE LIU

NICOLE TIAN

Dana Franklin, a modern Black woman, is repeatedly transported back to the antebellum South to a plantation owned by her white ancestor. Butler uses time travel to examine the impacts of slavery on the modern world.

Under the Udala Trees

by Chinelo Okparanta

Coates writes to his son of his own experiences as a Black man in America. He offers that this country has always denied his son the freedoms that come so naturally to others and provides his reality and history of living with a black body.

Ijeoma comes of age during the 1960s in Nigeria, a country torn with civil war. While in refuge, she falls in love with a girl from a different ethnic community. “Under the Udala Trees” balances a love story constricted by war and society.

Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 1460, effectively requiring all California State Universities to implement an ethnic studies mandate: students would have to take one of four ethnic studies courses to meet graduation requirements.

Even before the recent bill shed light on ethnic diversity in the curriculum, a study conducted by members of the Stanford Graduate School of Education analyzed emerging ethnic studies programs in the San Francisco Unified School District. Results showed a correlation between the ethnic studies courses and improvements in attendance and grades. If such benefits are possible, why does our own school remain so reserved in our approach to curriculum diversity?

The usual lack of response to Martin Luther King Jr. Day presents perhaps the most glaring negligence, but many more examples abound. Putting up posters for Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month was an informative project to acknowledge AAPI history, but it failed to adequately highlight Asian contributions to our society.

Out of the 27 authors covered in the 2019-2020 Anthology of British Literature, only six were women and zero were racial minorities, falling short of sufficiently exploring experiences across gender and racial divides. Especially at a school where a majority of the student demographic is not descended from European societies, works from authors of color can teach us about the role of ethnic cultures in constructing our identities.

Simply adding one text is not inclusion, but tokenism. Pairing it with the historical background of the experiences authors write about, however, will open up discussions about ethnic cultures.

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brian pinkston guest writer

PROVIDED BY BRIAN PINKSTON

eart of Harker: The necessity of activism

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE TIAN

NICOLE TIAN

Kindred

by Octavia E. Butler

NICOLE TIAN

PROVIDED BY KATHY FANG

Citizen

by Claudia Rankine

Homegoing

by Yaa Gyasi

Rankine combines lyric poetry with visual media to depict everyday and systemic racism that dehumanize the other and eliminate the recognition of individual personhood, instead confining race to a limited stereotype.

NICOLE TIAN

Expanding ethnic studies in curriculum as required classes opinion editor

“Homegoing” follows the impact of colonization and enslavement on generations descended from two half-sisters, one who remained in West Africa and another taken to America.

VOLUME 22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

In this day and age, it seems nearly impossible to be an active citizen in our world without being exposed to many types of media promoting some form of activism. As our signatures are requested for petitions, it can be easy to become desensitized to this barrage of informative slides and causes to donate to, but we must remember to ask ourselves: “What sparked the need for their publication?”

It is too simple for us to sit back, provide commentary and take care of minimal tasks while turning away whenever discomfort presents itself.

But to my fellow activists, I ask you to continue to embrace discomfort and create tension. As the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” And that is the final goal of our activism: to create growth and foster change. Substantive activism is not easy, nor by any means is it meant to be. But that is why it is effective.

The dedication and commitment that it takes to repeatedly immerse ourselves in uncomfortable situations will inevitably lead to change.

As a Black man, I strive to be an ide-

alist, yet I am limited by my system of reality, which places me in the firm grasp of invisibility. When I was brought into this world, I had no choice whether I would be seen as the normative, or forever be hyphenated. My identity was given to me, and it began to manifest over many years.

As a Black man, I strive to be an idealist, yet I am limited by my system of reality, which places me in the firm grasp of invisibility Two interactions with my parents, both of whom are idealists limited by the conditions society placed upon them, frequently come to mind in light of current events. The first is too graphic to be given to a school audience, but I feel compelled to share the second.

In the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown, my parents found the strength in themselves to tell me the protocol for police interactions. They explained to me, an 11-year-old Black boy, some police will see me as a threat because of the color of my skin, and a few may go out of their way to harass

me. They explained that no matter what a cop says, the most important course of action is for me to follow their command.

Be light and jovial, yet not too happy. Act servile yet not obsequious; the responsibility rests with you to assess the situation and act perfectly so as to not end up a trending hashtag. Their explanation? Better to go through a court than to be dead.

This experience is unfortunately all too familiar to Black children. I am still appreciative for my parents’ choice to educate me on the reality of the situation, yet ideally these conversations would become archaic, no longer serving a purpose in an ideal society.

The news of the deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd are shocking, yet all too familiar. They echo the names of Michael Brown and Eric Garner, the same proclamations of ‘not guilty’, the same gasps for air as they struggled to say these three words: “I can’t breathe.” When cries for help start to be recycled by similar victims of police brutality, there is an ever increasing need for activists.

This is why I fight. This is why we fight. This is why the movement known as Black Lives Matter exists. The world we live in is not perfect; rather, it is far from it. We may never achieve our ideal utopia, but through the collective actions of individual activists, we will continue to knock on the door of equality.

DESIGN BY NICOLE TIAN

WINGED POST 13

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 OPINION VOLUME

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.

2018-2019 NSPA Pacemaker 2017-2018 NSPA Pacemaker 2017-2018 NSPA Best-in-show publication 2017-2018 Gold Crown-winning publication 2016-2017 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2016-2017 Silver Crown-winning publication 2015-2016 Gold Crown-winning publication

SRINATH SOMASUNDARAM AND NICOLE TIAN

Welcome to Volume 22!

EDITORIAL: THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST Police fatally shoot 900 to 1,000 people each year, yet only 35 officers have been charged for related crimes in the past 15 years. The rate of fatal shootings is especially high for Black Americans, and reparations are rare.

188 days after Breonna Taylor’s killing, the city of Louisville, Kentucky, has reached a $12 million settlement with her family. Last week, the four former Minneapolis police officers charged in the killing of George Floyd appeared in a

As a school, we must not only continue calling out racism in our community, but also examine concrete methods of change pre-trial hearing, with the trial scheduled for March of next year. Iowa governor Kim Reynolds restricted police chokeholds, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo approved a series of police reforms. So far, around half of the fifty states have passed laws regarding police reform.

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

arya maheshwari & sara yen

These landmark settlements and changes in legislature are the tip of the iceberg at a chance to implement systemic changes to challenge systemic racism. From civil rights activists to elected officials to all of us as citizens, from the government to the local level, now is the moment to persist with reform.

As a school, we must continue to call out racism in our community and examine concrete methods of change. Are students comfortable with reporting racism, and if they are, who would they report it to? What disciplinary behavior will follow? Mitigating racism in the community begins with clear guidelines around responding to such bigotry. In an interview with Harker journalism, a Black alumna stated that other students responded badly when she called them out for racist bullying and received the response “kids will be kids” when she and her mother communicated racial problems.

Supporting Black Lives Matter comes with the responsibility to stand up on our own campuses. Cease to brush off racism as “jokes,” and hold racist actions accountable. Only through accountability can we begin to advance toward a vision of equality.

editors-in-chief

We’re super excited to bring you this year’s first issue of the Winged Post! This is only the second issue that’s ever been mailed out to the upper school — we’re definitely living in unprecedented times.

And although everything seems flipped upside down, expect the paper to be what it’s always been. We hope to serve as a source of dependability and connection. On or off campus, we’re still a community — we aim for these stories to link us all no matter where we are.

With the pandemic, the election and so much to come, the year ahead will certainly bring challenging issues and obstacles, but we don’t want to shy away from them. Through a diversity of sources, perspectives and topics, we aim to dive deep into crucial concerns, from the local to the international, with an emphasis on highlighting inequity.

We want to tell the stories that best serve you, our readers and our community, and we strive to be a platform for elevating voices. As always, we welcome and encourage all feedback and suggestions. Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at wingedpost2020@gmail.com, with any thoughts you have — let’s start some conversations!

Keller’s Corner PROVIDED BY LORI VILLARREAL

Aquila A&E Editor Alysa Suleiman Aquila Sports Team Vishnu Kannan Kushal Shah Muthu Panchanatham Saurav Tewari Humans of Harker Editor Saloni Shah Humans of Harker Managing Editors Erica Cai Esha Gohil Humans of Harker Team Nicholas Wei Sally Zhu Reporters Arjun Barrett Sriya Batchu Aastha Mangla Anmol Velagapudi Visit The Winged Post online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on instagram with the handle @harkeraquila

Stepping up and speaking out

Gen Z defines itself through adversity butch keller guest writer

EDITORIAL: THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST Completely reliant on technology.

The “snowflake” generation. A lack of focus. Such common stereotypes may pervade characterizations of Generation Z, but the reality extends beyond.

What do we look like through our own eyes? We have been endlessly trapped by a time range, compared with analyses of older generations and their defining moments: wars, disasters, crises.

But what about by ourselves?

Our seniors were just entering their second semester of high school when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School abruptly and undeniably altering national discourse surrounding school safety. Every student has experienced the endless turmoil surrounding the deadly and destructive California fires each year. Even our freshmen have navigated the first few weeks of high school seeing their class only through Zoom and not even stepping foot on the upper school campus.

Our regularly planned lives have been completely derailed, and we are still waiting for the assurance of a normal

ILLUSTRATION BY NICOLE TIAN

Editors-in-Chief Arya Maheshwari Sara Yen Managing Editor Srinath Somasundaram News Editor Lucy Ge Assistant News Editor Isha Moorjani Features Editor & Graphic Designer Emily Tan Assistant Features Editor Sarah Mohammed Lifestyle Editor & Social Media Editor & Graphic Designer Arely Sun Opinion Editor & Graphic Designer Nicole Tian STEM Editor Mark Hu Assistant STEM Editor Sabrina Zhu Sports Editors Vishnu Kannan Muthu Panchanatham Photo Editor Esha Gohil Multimedia Editors Michael Eng Irene Yuan Design Editor Michelle Liu Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editors-in-Chief Varsha Rammohan Anna Vazhaeparambil Aquila Managing Editors Arushi Saxena Aditya Singhvi

schedule. The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest adversary our generation has encountered; we have been isolated in our homes without a hug from friends or family for the past six months.

However, these challenges have not pinned us down. Instead, they have become integral opportunities for Gen Z’s creation and manifestation of our own self-definition. We are a generation more committed to effecting civic change than any generation before us. Again and again, we have collectively turned difficulty into paths for the future not just out of want. Youth organizers brought student protests to the streets, leading national and international movements regarding gun restrictions and climate change awareness. Student journalists are at the forefront of reporting on COVID-19 at their institutions. All of us, just by social distancing and doing our part, have changed, transformed.

These obstacles — the pandemic, the politics, the pressure — have not weakened us. Rather, they have transformed us and helped us define ourselves.

I am delighted that you are taking the time to read the first edition of our community’s wonderful Winged Post.

Welcome to our first time Winged Post readers! I hope for the members of the Class of 2024 that this is the first of many Journalism publications that you will look forward to reading in the next four years. From my point of view, the Winged Post serves so many more purposes that the paper you hold in your hand. The teamwork, dedication, integrity, time, collaboration and pride in bringing ideas to life in this issue are matched in few endeavors that our students attempt. So much behind the scenes work goes into this finished product. We are proud of every journalist from those that develop the concepts, proof the drafts and create the layouts.

The process is one that fosters so many of the fundamental building blocks that create successful people.It has been stated, “The Winged Post is the reflection and chronicle of who we are together, as the Harker community.”

I am thankful for the student leaders who are setting the right examples for the younger students. I am also appreciative of the leadership and watchful eyes of Ms. Roberts and Ms. Austin. With them at the helm, the Winged Post will inevitably continue to be a bright spot in the upper school community.

Be well and enjoy reading the Winged Post.

DESIGN BY NICOLE TIAN

14 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 SPORTS VOLUME

School sports delayed until December Spring sports will end in May to midJune, with some seasons extending past the end of the school year. sports editors Students who play multiple sports High school sports for the upcoming will have to decide if their sports have school year will only start in December been moved to the same season. The CIF 2020 or January 2021, according to the has announced, however, that they will be California Interscholastic Federation’s suspending Bylaws 600-605 for the 202021 school year. As a result, students will (CIF) announcement on Monday.

The three usual high school sports be able to participate in school and club seasons – fall, winter and spring – will be sports at the same time.

“We understand the difficulties this condensed into just two seasons: season presents to everyone, but we hope you one and season two.

According to the Central Coast Sec- remain patient and flexible as we try to tion’s (CCS) revised calendar, season one provide the best athletic experience under sports, which include cross country, foot- these circumstances,” upper school athball, volleyball and water polo, are slat- letics director Dan Molin said, in response ed to start on Dec. 14. Season two sports to the CIF’s update.

All boys and girls teams for the same – such as baseball, basketball, lacrosse, soccer, softball, tennis, track and field, sport will now play in the same season, golf and swimming will begin near rather than just basketball and soccer. Acthe end cording to Dan Molin, this adjustment will of Feb- lead to some logistical challenges in terms of time and space on the field and gym. ruary.

The likelihood of fans attending games in full capacity is yet to be determined. Summer workouts and athletic activities authorized by the school will continue until season one sports begin.

When high school sports resume, teams will likely follow safety protocols specific to their region during games, but these SPRINT protocols will depend on the situation at Grant Miner the time. (‘20) sprints “Like many other multi-sport athduring the letes, I’m going to have to choose between last stretch my two sports: track and soccer. But honof his estly I’m just grateful that I am going to race at be able to play school sports at all,” junior Crystal Springs. Ashley Barth, a midfielder on the varsity girls soccer team and a long-distance runner on the track and field team, said.

“I’m definitely leaning towards soccer.

The soccer program is on a roll right now, so I know that these teams are ready to get back to training and working towards another winning season.”

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

vishnu kannan & muthu panchanatham

LOOSE BALL Nick Coulter (12) forces a fumble against St. Vincent de Paul during last year’s Homecoming game.

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

DRIBBLE-DRIVE Maria Vazhaeparambil (12) drives to the basket in the varsity girls basketball team’s game against Mercy.

5.3%

22.5%

1-2 32.6%

3-4

39.6%

WORKOUT FREQUENCY DAYS PER WEEK FROM 187 RESPONSES Yoga/ Dance 12.3%

Strength 11.2%

KATHY FANG

UP AND AWAY Olivia Guo (12) looks on after swinging at the golf ball during a league match last season.

SIDE STEP Lexi Wong (10) weaves through defenders in the varsity girls’ soccer team’s game against Pinewood.

Staying healthy and fit while in quarantine

0

5+

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

KATHY FANG

FOLLOW THROUGH Arjun Akkiraju (‘20) prepares to shoot the ball into the net during a league match last year.

Mix

52.5%

Cardio

24.0%

TYPES OF WORKOUTS FROM 179 RESPONSES Data for both charts come from a survey sent out to the upper school student and faculty body on Sept.

16. The Winged Post plans to send out a survey for each issue of the paper in order to engage with our community.

kushal shah & saurav tewari

4 tips for home workouts

sports reporters

Having been quarantined at home during this pandemic for months on end at this point, staying both mentally and physically fit during our time at home might have been challenging, to say the least. Out of 187 responses from our community, the wildfires as well have affected the workout routines of 56.1% of us.

Yet, despite these uncertain and unfortunate circumstances, it’s still important to prioritize mental and physical health, while also managing time effectively in order to keep up with school work and extracurriculars. Many doctors recommend for teenagers to exercise for at least one hour a day and for adults to exercise at least half an hour a day, but out of 187 responses from our community, 37.4% exercise less than half an hour a day.

This past summer, although workouts were not required for Harker student-athletes, practices and workouts were still open to any students wanting to improve their athletic performance. Of course, Harker’s summer sessions were in accordance with local ordinances — all coaches and participants wore masks, and all members were screened for temperature.

But, for those of you who were unable to attend these workouts or have been struggling with maintaining a healthy lifestyle during quarantine, fear no longer: by showing you what some student-athletes have been doing over quarantine, here are some tips and suggestions on how to remain healthy and positive during this difficult time.

1

Set goals for yourself

2

Maintain a healthy diet

Setting goals can prepare you for success. Don’t just set longterm goals; create smaller ones too so you feel good about your progress at each milestone.

Workouts are only half of the equation: maintaining a satisfying, yet healthy diet goes a long way in making us healthier and happier in the long term.

“One of my goals was to get between 20-25 miles each week, mainly long runs. I live near many hiking trails so I like to run on dirt instead of concrete to prevent injuries like shin splints,” varsity soccer athlete Kara Kister (10) said.

“Everyone has a unique relationship with their body and the food they eat. Everyone will be healthy in their own way. Don’t listen to someone else for the sake of it, find what works for you” football captain Rohan Varma (12) said.

3

Do what you enjoy

4

Establish a routine

Regardless of the workouts you choose, it’s important to foster a good relationship with exercise rather than forcing yourself to do it.

Establishing a workout routine is key: the more consistent you are with your workouts, the easier and more enjoyable they will be.

“If you love to take your dog outside, do it more! If you love playing basketball [at the] park, go for it.

Try something outside your comfort zone. Keep [an open mind]: you never know what you will end up enjoying,” Rohan said.

“I exercise everyday and try to stick to the same schedule. It’s important to be consistent because then my body has a standard amount of time to rest and build back up before my next workout,” Dhruv Saoji (11) said.

DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN AND MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

WINGED POST 15

22 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 23, 2020 SPORTS VOLUME

hear us

respect us

love us

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

see us

ONE KNEE DOWN This illustration shows the professional athletes who have kneeled or boycotted to protest racism towards Black Americans in light of the Jacob Blake shooting.

sports editors

Athletes in professional sports leagues across the nation have boycotted their games in light of the shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The NBA was the first league to do so, temporarily postponing all playoff games scheduled for Aug. 26-28, before resuming play on the Aug. 29, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

A white police officer shot Blake, a 29-year-old African American man, seven times as he leaned into his car, while attempting to settle a domestic dispute, according to a report by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Blake is alive but paralyzed from the waist down and has undergone surgery. Since then, protests have begun in Kenosha.

“I was not surprised about this unfortunately. Murders of innocent black people have been happening for a very long time now and I have become kind of used to it,” said Brooklyn Cicero (11), an

African American athlete on the varsity girls basketball team. “I know it’s terrible,

“Murders of innocent Black people have been happening for a very long time now, and I have become used to it. I know it’s terrible, but that’s how people like me have been groomed to react in situations like these” PROVIDED BY BROOKLYN CICERO

vishnu kannan & muthu panchanatham

BROOKLYN CICERO (11) AFRICAN AMERICAN ATHLETE

but that’s how people like me have been groomed to react in situations like these.”

On the night of Aug. 25, a 17-year-old

white male allegedly shot and killed two protestors, ages 26 and 36. The shooter has since been charged with first degree intentional homicide by Kenosha County Prosecutors.

Players have collaborated with the league to create a set of initiatives to increase voting access and oppose racial inequality. The NBA has committed to use league facilities across the country as voting locations for the 2020 election during the pandemic.

Kenny “The Jet” Smith, an African American sports commentator on TNT and former NBA player, walked off the TNT set on live television to show his support for the players’ actions. The boycotts have affected almost all the other professional sports leagues, most notably the MLB, WNBA and MLS. In response to athletes across the country protesting for change, league and government authorities will continue to look inward to determine their future course of action.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

H U B E R A ND R O S EN B A U M

2

PROTESTORS KILLED

5

NBA GAMES BOYCOTTED

21 VOTING CENTERS OPENED IN NBA FACILITES

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

Professional sports leagues boycott games in light of Jacob Blake shooting in Kenosha

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

HOWARD NICHOLS COURT Inside the Zhang Gymnasium resides Nichols Court, where volleyball and basketball athletes have competed since August 2017. The gym’s retractable bleachers can seat many fans.

SINGH AQUATIC CENTER The Singh is the site of Harker’s swimming meets and water polo matches. The pool itself is swimming lanes and 10 race blocks.

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM PROVIDED BY MARK KOCINA

ROTHSCHILD PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Opened in February 2018, the RPAC is the center of Harker’s performing arts scene. In addition to numerous class and dressing rooms, the RPAC contains the Patil Theater, which can seat up to 463 people.

PROVIDED BY MARK KOCINA

renovated, in the summer before the 20182019 academic year.

PROVIDED BY MARK KOCINA

DAVIS FIELD Inaugurated on Sept. 14, 2007, Davis Field is home to Harker’s soccer, football, and lacrosse matches. The

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

HELEN ZHU

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Remembering our fields, stages, courts and pools

DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN AND MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

22 • ISSUE 1 BACK PAGE VOLUME SEPTEMBER 23, 2020

w o h

s s ’ L t e ? e m i t

! t tar

Although decreasing screen time is important, some TV might be just what you need to unwind and relax after school.

Follow this flow chart to find out what to watch next!

IL L

US T

RA TI O

N

BY

AR E

LY

SU N

S

16 WINGED POST

What type of story are you in for?

Fictional

Kinda in the feels :(

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

Lift mood or crying sesh?

*pew pew*

hand me the tissues

magic and spells!

The Legend of Korra

•

The Untamed

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

The Witcher

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

••

Street Food Asia •

Tiny House Big Living •••

let me get my eyeshadow

Queer Eye •

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

Minimalism or fab makeover?

•

Our Planet •

•

simplicity is best

fruit cake and sponge rolls

wonton and kebabs

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

Key

• = Netflix • = Hulu • = Amazon Prime Video • = TV

nah, just ate

let’s blast to the past

War or racial history?

The Great British Baking Show ••• hit me with that blitzkrieg

diversify my shows

Greatest Events of WWII in Colour •

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

•••

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

ehh

ILLUSTRATION BY AASTHA MANGLA

Arrow

*stomach growls*

Which cuisine?

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

stabby stabby

#greenthumb

••••

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

rawr xd

heck yeah

Hungry?

Schitt’s Creek

Superheros?

Monster hunts or feudal-era sword fights?

Nature or history?

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

Fantasy or action?

Something serious

Light-hearted

a laugh would be nice

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

Adventurous!

What are you up for?

Real

ILLUSTRATION BY ALYSA SULEIMAN

What’s your mood?

13th •

DESIGN BY SARA YEN